Tossing in a couple of ways I've been cooking fillets lately - simple, utilitarian, and you can prep it up then when everyone is at the table enjoying the appetizer, you can sneak away and do the cooking in 5 minutes. These are usually tilapia, halibut, cod, or other whitefish. Salmon doesn't taste right if cooked this way, to me. Miso-marinated and simmered - Make a miso soup, cool it to room temp - Marinate fish for 1 hour. Can be fillets or small steaks, less than 6 oz - Meanwhile, bring to boil 1 cup sake, 1 cup miso, 2 TBSP mirin, 1 TBSP soy sauce, 1 TBSP sugar. Turn down to a high simmer and reduce for the hour that the fish is marinating. Should reduce by appx 1/2 to 2/3. If desired, mix 1 TBSP cornstarch with a little water and add that to the sauce. Adjust taste with sugar and salt. - Remove fish from the miso marinade, bring the marinade to a full boil for a few minutes, then turn down to a high simmer and add the fish back. Simmer fish for 5 minutes only. Longer simmering will produce tougher fish. - Place each piece of fish in a small bowl. Add a little of the simmering liquid, to keep the bowl and fish warm, but not to cover the fish. Pour the sauce over the fish. Garnish with something pretty and serve. Milk simmered - Pat fillets dry and salt lightly - Melt two pats of butter to coat bottom of a pan - Optionally, sautee some minced garlic or onion in the butter - Raise heat, place the fillets in the pan and cook for 30 second per side on med-high heat - Pour 1/4" of half-and-half in the pan, turn down heat, simmer for 5 minutes for 1/2" fillets, a few minutes longer for a thick fillet - Remove fish to plate. If desired, thicken liquid with some flour and add another pat of butter plus salt to taste, to use as a pan sauce. Parsley or a little plop of bright green pesto looks nice with this. Wok fried - assumes fillets - coat fillets with cornstarch and salt, knock off excess - Mix up a sauce from 2 TBSP rice wine, 1 TBSP soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 TBSP finely minced ginger, 1 TBSP finely minced garlic, 1 TBSP cornstarch, 1 TBSP chopped green onions, 1 TBSP fine diced red bell pepper (this last is just for color). I like some hot sauce too. - Place wok (a cast iron pan works too) on high flame, leave to heat for 4 minutes. Pour in enough veg oil to be 1/2" deep at center of wok (if using a flat-bottom pan, don't try for 1/2"), leave on high heat until oil starts to shimmer and then to smoke - Slide two fillets into the hot oil (slide, don't splash!), tilt the wok so that the hot oil gets to all parts of the fillets, after 30 seconds flip the fillets (flipping away from you!), after 30 seconds remove the fillets to blot on paper towels. Replenish oil if needed, heat to just smoking, cook two more fillets, etc. - When all fillets are cooked, place them on serving dish. Pour off the oil, return the wok to heat up, then pour in the sauce. Cook until liquid is bubbling and garlic is fragrant but not burned, pour sauce over fish, and serve. - If you want the fish more cooked or more thoroughly sauced - or if they are thicker fillets - lay each fillet in the wok with the sauce just long enough to cook to your desired doneness. I like my fish just barely cooked, personally, so for me this step would be 5 seconds.

Awesome spoons. Here's a link to my favorite soup featuring kale. http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-chicken-soup-with-kale-131067 Kale and Chicken Stew Serves 6-8 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 5 medium mixed potatoes; diced (I used Yukon gold, red and purple) 1 teaspoon fresh thyme 4 tablespoons olive oil Kosher salt freshly cracked black pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium onion; chopped 1 large shallot; minced 2 carrots; peeled and diced 6 cups chicken stock 2 sprigs fresh thyme 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese; finely grated 5 cups chopped kale 15-ounce can cannellini beans; drained salt and pepper to taste Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan. Rub with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. In a separate sheet pan, toss the potatoes with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes are tender. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred the meat. Cover and set aside. Warm the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and shallot and sauté, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the carrots and cook 15 minutes until softened. Add in chicken stock, thyme, chicken, potatoes, Parmesan, salt and pepper bring to a simmer. Add the kale and beans and simmer for another 20 minutes, until the kale is tender and the beans are hot. Lpink's note: I don't roast the chicken and potatoes ahead of time. I saute them in EVOO and then just cook them along with everything else.

Love a mustard sauce on pork. The last pork gravy I made was shallot, apple, leek, capers and pickled mustard seed. (I'll pull up and post the pickle recipe...I need to make some more tomorrow) Fridge pickles. I leapt up and made a quick batch last night. The Persian cukes in the crisper were still good....they often get slimy in a few days. A few hundred bloggers all have the same recipe. Most just copy each other over and over, lol. ( and give their life story along with recipes, : ) I like NY deli half sours. Some can be a bit acrid. Might be the left on stem ends or the skins or the variety. End of the growing season pickles are much different than the early season. NYC picklers only offer fresh fermented pickles once a year. One spear is usually enough for me. Fresh non-fermented I could eat the whole jar. Try a test batch. You can taste in an hour, after two hours and again the next day. If I have a half jar left after 24hours, I top off with a bit of fresh water. Dilutes the vinegar a bit and great on sandwiches and salads all week. Often I don't make a dressing. Just pickles, splash of evoo, lemon and feta or crumbled blue, goat cheese, etc. Basic recipe, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup water, bay leaf, whole black peppercorns, mustard seed, fresh or dried dill, celery seed, pepper flakes, clove of garlic smashed. Pinch of sweet, pinch of salt. *I use ac vinegar, maple syrup or honey. Lots of variations. Use what you have, less or more. We hate sweet so I often don't use it. Here is one of many, (zip through the life story to the recipe) I just picked link random but the method is similar. PICKLES Baby Persian cukes work great and any other root veg like beets, radish, onion, carrot. (peel carrots)

Post 100! FOAS, as you can tell I am a dog person!! Love your Octoberfest meal. We went out the other day and shared a sausage platter and some pretzels in honor as well. As Zac was with us, we ate outside with him under the table. The waitress commented on his self control as platters of sausages were passed by him (we never feed at the table) and brought him an entire to-go portion of sliced meats. He was one happy dog! Sleeve, I love all those vegetables. You definitely inspire me to add more to my cooking. I took a look at butcher box. I really like the convenience of having things delivered and how you can customize your box, but the prices are a lot higher than we can buy locally. I can imagine that the shipping costs add up. I am on the fence, but may give them a try if local quality or supply diminishes. Jasdip, your cast iron chicken looks delicious and healthy. My schedule is slowing down and will thankfully stay low until the end of the year. So, I am back to cooking more. I made this baklava for Garrett's Halloween party today. It is his favorite and we got to have the extra pieces for dessert last night. We also had one of the best lamb roasts we have ever made a few nights ago. I forgot to photograph it. We've been using the wireless probes and an App which tells us exactly how long to cook for our desired level of doneness. I hadn't thought we needed to step it up, but apparently we did. I've noticed that it tells us to take it out of the oven before it hits the target temperature and then rest while the internal temperature continues to rise. We served it with a freshly made mint sauce. Yum! Last night was more sushi, in honor of the last homegrown cucumber of the season. This was Ahi from Hawaii and Ocean Trout from Scotland. The free delivery is a game changer for us, making it easy to have for a mid week dinner. I worked all day, but had the fish delivered at 5pm and we were eating dinner by 6pm.