Saturday, November 6, 2010

Ladies night blues....where are the ladies at?lol

So yeah it's been a few days....Other than the situation at work trying take the wind out of my sails, things are going great. Had a last minute special at work on Thursday night, which was only due to me showing up at work and not having some basic essential ingredients available to make my original recipes in mind. Ugh! I can't even get into my frustrations at work right now! It's like someone handcuffed you tightly and kicks you into the deep end of the pool, with a cinder block strapped to your back, while saying "Good luck!" and then walking away.

Anyways, on Thursday night I decided to keep it really simple and do some spicy polenta crusted mahi over some sweet citrus curry cous cous(large cous cous) with a orange ginger beurre blanc drizzle.

I took about 2 quarts of cooked cous cous and added orange and lime zest to it(about 1 tbsp each). I then diced one small red onion, caramelized it and mixed it into my cous cous(grande). I then added about 1/4 cup of sugar, tsp fresh tarragon, 1/4 cup fresh scallions, 2 tablespoons curry powder, salt and pepper to taste. I sauteed 1 cup of cous cous mixture for 20 seconds and finish with some butter(about 1 tbsp).

While the cous cous mixture is sitting off to the side, I combined 1/2 cup polenta with 1/2 tsp coriander, 1/2 tsp celery salt, 1/4 tsp paprika, 1/8 tsp cayenne, and 1/2 tsp of garlic powder for my breading. I then placed a piece of mahi down into the bread crumb mixture to coat one side. Then I got about 1/4 cup olive oil really hot in a saute pan and dropped the mahi into the oil(breaded side down) and cooked for approximately 2 minutes or so. Then I flipped it over in the pan. The crust should be a tannish-golden brown color. I then placed in the 450 degree oven for about 3 minutes or so to finish cooking it.

As always, we have a very limited number of ingredients and produce to work with, so I grilled some asparagus tips (4" tips) for my vegetable.

For the orange ginger beurre blanc, I took a cup of orange juice(fresh), 1/4 cup of sugar, juice of two fresh limes and reduced in one saute pan, while in another I placed two tbsp olive oil(got hot), then dropped in 2 shallots minced, 1 tbsp of ground ginger, 1 oz. lemon juice, 1 cup of chardonnay(white wine), and reduced til thickened some. When the first pan is reduced to almost a syrup-like consistency as well, combine the two and bring to a boil, take of heat and strain out the liquid and return liquid to the pan. Then, off heat, drop about 1-2 oz. of cubed unsalted butter into the liquid(which should consist of about 1 and 1/2 cups worth) and either use an immersion blender or whisk your ass off in a stainless steel(or glass) mixing bowl to incorporate the butter into the sauce. This will serve to thicken the sauce, as well as to give a sort of smooth or velvet-like texture.

With everything prepared, I placed my cous cous mixture on center of the plate, my grilled asparagus tips across the center pointing to one corner, with the mahi leaning up against it(crust side up), pointing towards the other corner and drizzled the orange ginger beurre blanc across the crust. Actually all came out delicious but it was a dead night so I only sold a couple, and a couple employees ordered one as well. All in all, a good feature to run for the evening, just dead ladies night.....

1 comment:

  1. don't let the incompetence of some (many) people at work slow you down, keep up the good work and fight for what you want, you can do it!

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