Generally, I try to post items that reflect my untrained and moderate culinary successes, or things other people make that I find tasty and pretty.
This is not one of those entries. Last night;s menu was meant to snub the current weather. It was summery! and light! and (supposed) to be delicious! It even looks pretty…
But you know what? Until you taste it, you don’t know if it is good or not. I was in the mood for ceviche. I have made it before using this recipe. I have had great success with that recipe. It is tart and sweet and spicy and everything that a ceviche should be. Yesterday, when I was writing up my grocery list, I was in the mood for ceviche. I then made a fatal mistake. I remembered a recipe that I saw in the NYTimes a few weeks ago. It was about using vodka to cook fish. I thought it sounded interesting, and decided to try it myself.
The recipe calls for a lot of citrus vodka and scallops, avocado, cumin, and cilantro. I followed the directions, and the results were dismal. It looked so pretty and tasted like…. fishy vodka… fish flavored vodka… vodka flavored fish. Now, I’m not one to knock a gimlet or a bloody mary, but vodka isn’t something I really want to chew. Maybe my palette isn’t developed enough, or maybe I just don’t enjoy raw-fish orange-vodka stew. I’m sticking with my main man Mark Bittman, over at the Times. Whenever I stray, I seem to end up with something really gross.
In other news, the watermelon salad (1/2 watermelon diced, 1/2 jalepeno chopped, 1 teaspoon salt, chill for an hour) was delicious and is proving to be a perpetual summer favorite. The combination of hot, sweet, and cold, is refreshing without being boring ( a big problem I have with cucumbers, although I do like them)
Gerard also made some Salsa Verde!
We roasted 2 Serrano peppers:
Used a pound of tomatillos and a clove of chopped garlic, cooked it down with some olive oil, salt and adobo.
Blended it with 1/2 cup of cilantro and one more clove of garlic
We let it cool, and then we enjoyed it. With chips, not ceviche. Then we had passionfruit sorbet. I have never like passionfruit until recently. I hate the scent in chemical products, but in real life, it is great to eat!
*As a side note, we are trying to salvage the rest of the ceviche by straining out the vodka and covering it with lime juice again. I will have to see how it looks after work.
gogochicago 