Deconstructed Fish Tacos

Thursday 30 October

...without the tacos.  A couple of nights ago we shredded up a half head of red cabbage and relaxed it using a marinade of a little sugar, kosher salt, and a drizzle of rice vinegar.  Following the lead of Mazunte, tonight we added mayo and a quarter of a minced chilpotle pepper in adobo, for a dose of taste and heat.  Result: very new-Mexican red cabbage slaw.

Then we cubed a couple of avocados and tossed them in lemon juice, with chopped cilantro, diced red onion, and a little salt.  

And finally we layered the red and the green in our best cooking rings - crabmeat cans with the top and bottom removed.

Oh, and there was the fish: albacore steaks from the grill pan, with a zesty squirt of lime.  Smokin'.

Jean-Robert's Table

Wednesday 29 October

Over the years, we've dined at many of Jean-Robert de Cavel's enterprises.  His new-ish Jean-Robert's Table is in the space that belonged to the Bistro on Vine back when we (and he) were new in Cincinnati, and he's turned it into another fine dining experience.

We were hosting our Onassis speaker and his wife, Frank and Linda Holt.  So Barbara and Jack were the only non-Holts at the table.

We ordered a Domaine des Clairneaux Sancerre Rosé to start, and our attentive servers brought excellent crusty baguettes and butter.

There was a special four-course menu "All about Apples" for only $45, so one of us got that, while the other ordered off the menu.

Our apple first course was a duck confit salad with apple (of course), endive, and radicchio, with a poached egg in cider dressing on the side.  The other was a "duo of rabbit confit," one in a roll with  hazelnut and dried cherries, the other a sort of rabbit pancake, with a side of tiny broccoli and cauliflower florets, and a pair of mustard sauces to dip in.

The apple second course was haddock with a cider demiglace, plus a fondue of napa cabbage and apple with bacon, shiitake mushrooms, and an edamame purée so pure that it wasn't even green.

We needed a red for our hearty mains, so ordered a bottle of Chateau Pezat Bordeaux Superior - which it was.  The apple main was superb beef tenderloin with apple-onion compote, root vegetable with pecans, and an apple mushroom potato croquette.  Our other main was "3 Little Cochons": pork belly, ribs, and tenderloin, with Bourbon sauce, country potatoes, garlic confit, braised cabbage, and mushrooms.

Our ending apple dessert was only called "assortment of sweet apples," or rather, assortment of apple sweets: a semifreddo, a turnover, and some other tiny exquisite thing. 

The company and conversation were sparkling, and so was the food and the service.  In fact, everything but the wine, which wasn't supposed to be.

Kale Salad Variation

Tuesday 28 October

In fact, the kale and the dressing were much like those we made the Saturday before last; kale keeps quite well if it's washed, de-stemmed, and stored in the crisper with a damp paper towel in a plastic bag.  But this time we tarted it up with avocado, anchovy, artichokes, and... olives (the only things that didn't begin with "a").

We Smelt Beets

Monday 27 October

We fried us up a batch of smelts, using our most successful recipe to make them nice and crispy - and a pound is all you need.

On the side, we served some chilled roast beets marinated in white balsamic, decorated with shavings of ricotta salata, and topped with rosemary oil and pink Himalayan salt.

A winning combination.

Southwest Crab Soufflé

Sunday 26 October

We had eight or nine slightly tired poblanos from a trip to Jungle Jim's discount corner.  We had roasted them, but they fell into shreds, and couldn't be stuffed.  And we also had half a can of Trader Joe's crab.  So Jim and Joe got together (with the help of a cowboy named Monterey Jack and little Ms. Cilantro, from the garden) to produce a Southwestern crab soufflé.

Holt whipped up the ingredients according to his usual procedure, but for the New Mexican feel, used masa rather than flour.

It puffed up perfectly, and was moist and fluffy all at once, which is all you can ask of a soufflé.

Leftover Kielbasa and Cabbage

Saturday 25 October

We were heading off for an opera studio performance at CCM (Hindemith's Hin und Zurück and Weill's Mahagonny-Songspiel - just your normal day in Weimar, ca. 1927).  Monday's leftovers made a quick exit possible, and the weather was so mild we could walk hin und zurück.