More than you ever wanted to know about Alabama native Joe Watts
Made this soup several weeks ago. It is sort of like a gazpacho soup, but all the chopped vegetables are floated on a toasted slice of bread. Regardless, it was an absolutely delicious bowl of soup! Perfect for summer and great with those excellent Alabama tomatoes.
Dinner Saturday night:
Potatoes sliced thin and crisped in the oven, panko breaded okra, cucumbers soaked in rice wine vinegar and spinach sauteed with garlic and shallots. And the steelhead trout, brushed with Alabama honey, soy sauce and ground peppers.
Have been getting some great fish from Snapper Grabbers lately. Last night’s black snapper was amazingly fresh and delicious. Simple preparation.
I learned a great trick from Cooks Illustrated–I should have thought of it myself, but oh well: sprinkle about 1/8th to 1/4 of a teaspoon on each filet of fish along with any spices to help it brown better in a skillet. The small amount of sugar caramelizes on the fish and adds a nice little crispness. This fish has a sprinkling of sugar and a bit of Cajun spice blend and was seared in a cast iron skillet with just a splash of olive oil and a bit of butter. Served over mashed sweet potatoes with simple steamed asparagus over that. Simple and tasty.
Made a surprisingly quick and tasty dinner last night.
Had a green tomato that I soaked in buttermilk before coating with a combination of Italian breadcrumbs, cornmeal and flour. I then re-dipped in buttermilk lightly and added a crust of panko breadcrumbs.
I chopped and seeded a fresh tomato (really beautiful one, at that) and combined it with a handful of chopped fresh basil, a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of kosher salt. (I let this sit for about an hour to develop flavor)
I added a handful of fresh arugula to a plate and drizzled it with sherry vinegar and the extraordinary Italian olive oil that our Parisian friends shared with us on our recent trip. I sliced some fresh mozzarella and added one slice to the top of the arugula.
Heated about an inch of canola oil (olive oil would be great, but didn’t have any) to high and added the green tomato slices. Cooked until nice and brown, about 8 minutes or so (turning a time or two).
Pulled out, drained briefly and immediately placed on top of the cheese. Another slice of cheese and then a final tomato slice. Topped with the chopped fresh tomatoes and basil. Very, very good!
So very good. More photos to follow later! This was the first picture posted on the way home from a wonderful trip to Paris, France.
We had a tasty dinner Saturday night as a bit of a reward for cleaning up the house much of the day. I seared a tuna steak and grilled Ann a piece of Copper River Salmon. A bit of arugula tossed with a rice wine vinegar based citrus dressing, and a few panko crusted fried green tomatoes and the first of season fried okra were, to my mind, perfect!
