Visitors and a Little Food

We are back now after a short hiatus as Vanessa's mom and sister came out to visit. We went to Paris for a few days and hung out in London for a bit before laying low back here in P-town. We made some pretty good food while they were here, but I didn't have time to write a lot of it down. I'll follow with one recipe after a few travel pics here...




The Food


The cool thing about this was the springy-ness of the flavors... good acidity from the fruit and coolness from the mint with the oiliness of the swordfish really balanced each other out. Great for springtime with fresh, clean flavors.

Grilled Swordfish with Salsa di Giovanna

Juice of one lemon
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
3 garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
4 mint leaves, roughly chopped
5 oregano leaves, roughly chopped
600 g swordfish, 4 fillets

Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl and add 3 times the amount of olive oil. Season with SOME of the salt and pepper and stir in the garlic, oregano and mint. Set aside.

Heat a griddle or frying pan until very hot and season the swordfish on both sides with some more salt and pepper. Place the fillets in the pan and cook for about 1 minute on each side, until golden. This will leave the fish slightly pink in the middle (which is good). You can cook it more if you want to. Divide the fish between the plates and spoon the sauce over the top.

Asparagus with Citrus, Parsley and Garlic

675 g asparagus
2 tablespoons lemon zest
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, fresh, finely chopped
2 tablespoons mint leaves, chiffonade
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon salt, preferably sea salt

Snap off the fibrous bottom part of each stalk of asparagus (it will break off naturally where it becomes very tough, provided that you grasp the very bottom of the stalk with your fingertips).

Bring 4 quarts (4 liters) of water to the boil in a large pot, and add 3 tablespoons of salt. Set up an ice bath next to the stovetop. Drop the asparagus in the boiling water and cook until crisp-tender, about 1 1/2 minutes. Remove and immediately submerge in the ice bath to cool for five minutes, moving the stalks frequently to make sure no hot spots remain. Add more ice if it all melts.

Remove the asparagus and drain on paper towels, then transfer to a large bowl. Add the zests, lemon juice, mint, parsley and olive oil and toss gently to mix well. Arrange the spears in a platter and pour the mixture remaining in the bowl over them. Sprinkle with the sea salt and serve.