Well, CrummyCook night last night, and Debbie and I decided to do a Black Salt run coupled with braised-in-butter Brussels sprouts.
I got swordfish, and saw a ujiki salad at the fish market, so I impulsively picked it up, hoping to recreate my magic with the original oeuvre.
Sadly, reality intervened. We didn’t have any capers or anchovies, just green olives and anchovy paste. Almost good enough, but not very savory or piquant.
And the ujiki – I’m sorry to say – pushed Debbie’s seaweed button too hard. She said it wasn’t “just” the taste, it was the texture as well: “seaweed squeaky-crunchy doesn’t whet my appetite”, she said, or words to that effect.
Here it is. I thought it was OK, but she was right: not piquant enough.
Here’s the fish. Great as usual.
The Brussels sprouts also were challenged. The idea of them is to slowly cook sprout halves in a stovetop pan in butter. But we had too many halves to fit into the pan, put them in anyhow, and ended up with half braised ‘n browned and half steamed. Debbie put in some chopped pecan, which improved things, but not the best we’ve ever had.
Sigh.
Debbie made a salad, which was tasty and didn’t come in for criticism and self-criticism
Criticism and Self-Criticism
Well, pretty obvious stuff, I guess:
- Don’t improvise until you’re a Less-Crummy Cook
- Don’t be carried away by “mere” impulse
- Respect the seaweed orientation of your culinary audience