Filet o Fish

With plenty of ong choy left over from last night, all I had to do was fry up some fish tonight.

Simple, yet oddly alluring and causes salivation...much like me.

Bought a 10 oz. piece of seasoned salmon from Whole Foods for pan frying to make a quick, no-frills dinner. Because I love fried salmon skin, I scaled the filet with this lovely tool. Now sans scales, heat some oil in a pan on medium high heat. As soon the oil is hot, put the fish in skin-side up, i.e., skin facing you. Let cook for 2 minutes. Flip and fry for another 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 2 minutes before eating, which happens to be a great time to snap some pictures.

The middle will be medium-well when removed from the stove and then the carryover heat will finish the cooking process. This cooking method gives you a piece of salmon that's crispy on both sides and very moist and tender in the middle. And the best part is it took very little time. With scaling including, it only took me 15 minutes to cook up. If there was an Olympic event in speed cooking, I think I'd have a shot.

Surf and Chippy Cream

To be truer to my blog's purpose, I'm posting larger pictures from now on.

Tonight, my amazing wife made a wonderful dinner: sea bass with baby spinach and mushrooms. And she did all that in the time it took me to jog 2 miles; whether she's really fast or I'm really slow, I'll let you decide.

The sea bass was baked in a foil pouch on top a bed of baby spinach. To the fish, she added olive oil, soy sauce, rice wine, garlic, herbs, lime juice and fleur de sel with dried garlic and basil. This bag o' happiness was baked at 400ºF for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, she sautéed mushrooms in a buttery red and rice wine sauce. The result: a drooling husband.

Happiness does fit on a plate.

Then for dessert, she made some Nestlē chocolate chip cookies baked to perfection. But it didn't stop there. To the two warm, fresh-baked, ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookies, we added a plenitudinous dollop of Jet-puffed marshmallow cream. The ooey-gooey factor increased exponentially. I dub this the Chippy Cream Delight®. Thank goodness for the 2-mile jog. Now I only need to jog another 4 to burn it off.

As you can see, I put the top cookie on upside-down. This was the outcome of two factors: (1) my excitement about the Chippy Cream, and (2) my wife yelling, "Hurry up and take the picture! I want my cookie!!!"

Sautéed Sardines

You're probably thinking, "Is he serious?" Yes, I am. Everyone should try everything at least once. Foodies try everything twice.

The following dish was taught to me by my pappa. In tried and true male Vo cooking style, it's simple, quick and involves canned goods.

One can of sardines
2 stalks of green onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
ground black pepper to season
cooking oil

Heat the oil in an appropriately sized pan. Once hot, add the onions and garlic and cook for a minute to bring out their flavors. Add the sardines and gently toss in the pan for 3-5 minutes or until warm. Serve with your fave carb.

All the ingredients before "cooking."

The sardines after "cooking." A treat fit for King Poseidon himself.