Swordfish Castilian

Tonight I made Swordfish Castilian, a recipe from James Beard's New Fish Cookery. Named for the Castilian cuisine of Spain, a region marked for their fruits, stews, grilling, and seafood. This was an interesting dish that brought together a swordfish steak, pan seared, then topped it with a Castilian style tomato stew, all served over rice. Here is the recipe breakdown.

Components
-Swordfish
-Tomato stew with Cilantro and Chile Powder
-Sauteed green peppers and lemon

Preparation and Service
-Sautee peppers and top with lemon juice set aside
-Stew tomatoes with spices and cilantro for 30 minutes
-Cook Swordfish with some salt and pepper, then top and simmer in sauce
-Serving: bed of rice, steak on top, peppers next, then stew on covering the rest

Impressions
Wow this dish was really heavy. A swordfish steak is a pretty heavy protein, and being served over rice and with a heavy stew, it left me feeling bloated and stuffed. Also, I feel fish usually has a good flavor and should be accentuated by lighter flavors. I felt the heavy stew really masked the swordfish, overpowering the steak.

Next time...
-Coat the swordfish with olive oil, salt, pepper, a little chile powder and cumin, then grill rather than pan sear.
-For the topping, grill onions, peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Toss them for a grilled variation of a traditional Castilian pipirrana salad.
-For sauce lemon and lime juice with olive oil, garlic, oregano, parsley, and cilantro to create a light vinaigrette to top the whole dish
-Service: searve with a fruit salad and cous cous.

Final Thoughts
I would score this dish a 6.5 out 10. It was good. The swordfish was beautiful, fresh, and cooked medium-well, leaving it moist and flavorful. The stew was a delicious and flavorful(and when served with the girlfriends chicken, was actually a good marriage). However, too many strong flavors, with the combination of a heavy fish, heavy stew for sauce, and a starchy rice base, it was just too much. Next time, lighten it up. However, the recipe was a good basis for potential flavor marriages and service. Hmmm... I guess this gives me an excuse to cook more so it can't be all bad.

PS. I'll try and remember to take photos in the future because this is a little bland and lacking in color.

Roasted Broccoli

Broccoli is normally disgusting. Most people will overcook and its mush, or undercook it and its chewy and dry. They bury it in a cheese sauce to try to make up for the blandness. Well this weekend, cooking for my girlfriend's parents, I made good broccoli. Here we go...

As many heads of broccoli as you want. Put them in a roasting pan and drizzle with some olive oil, tossing to coat. Kosher salt, black pepper, and more tossing. Roast at 350 for about 15 minutes, tossing halfway. Sprinkle a little (no need to overdue it) parmesan cheese over the top and roast another 5 minutes. BOOM. FLAVORFUL BROCCOLI. Is your mind blown? Because mine is.

The Elusive Foodgasm

As a student of the Culinary Arts, it is almost mandatory that I become a pretentious food snob. Its a natural side effect of constantly studying food, cooking food, discussing food. Basically, my life is food, so I should of course have some standards when ever I'm around food.

Everywhere I go, I'm critiquing the food, the atmosphere, the garnish, the service. Whenever I'm cooking, I'm tearing my food apart, analyzing what could have been better. Where my ingredients the best I could have used? Were the flavors blended at their best? My mind is always racing. It never ends. Most of the time I'm satisfied. I'm not excited but my cooking, the restaurant, the food, it passes. Sometimes there are disasters. But every so often, something amazing happens with the food. I'm always looking for this pinnacle of existence, the peak of culinary. I'm looking for the next foodgasm.

This blog is my quest to find these foodgasms. If its food, I'll (hopefully) write about it. Books, restaurants, ingredients, chefs, schools, all of it. And of course recipes. Lots of recipes. Lets see what happens.