The other night, I combined a handful of recipes to make tuber-tarot soup (I made this up, haha) out of sweet potatoes, a potato, and half a tarot root (plus other ingredients listed below), steamed broccoli on the side, and then I wanted to make something with fish, but not my usual fish-dish (I sound like Dr. Seuss!) of baked-with-a-bunch-of-flavors fish on top of -insert grain here-...I wanted to have it on toast instead! Surprisingly, nobody else has posted such an idea on the internet, as far as I can tell. So I made this up too. I was quite pleased, because it was my first time feeling creative in the kitchen again for several weeks, and it came out well! With a bunch of tweaking along the way, that is. So if you make them, make sure to tweak the recipes yourself! :)
Tuber-tarot soup:
What is a tuber?
*2 sweet potatoes
*1 russet potato
*1/2 large tarot root (this was my first time cooking with tarot, so I was hesitant to put the whole thing in, but you could try it!)
*1/4 yellow, sweet, or white onion (I used 1/2, and thought it was overpowering)
*1 yellow squash (optional....I used it because it had been hiding in the fridge for too long)
*Ground pepper, basil, salt
*1 shake of cayenne (Jared added this when he got home, it was perfect!)
*4-6 cups of water or stock: Start with 4, then as you're cooking it, if it's too thick, add more. I didn't measure mine.
Bake all four potatoes and tarot in the oven until soft all the way through, about an hour at 375 degrees F. Wrap the onion in foil and set it in the oven for about half that time, so roughly 30 minutes. This brought out the sugars.
Once baked and cooled enough to touch, peel off the skin on all the potatoes and the tarot. Throw away the skins, and add the insides to a soup pot, along with the onion, water, and squash. Boil until everything starts to fall apart a little.
Let cool, and put the entire soup in a blender or food processor, and spin it until it's creamy. Add it back to the pot, add the spices to taste, and cook on medium heat (stirring!!) for about half an hour. Voila!
Fish:
*Thawed or fresh white fish fillets (I used tilapia)
* 1 1/2 tsp Mustard (grey poupon is what we have)
*2 tsp Mango Chutney (or your own creation of sweet/spicy- it could be lots of things!)
*Salt and Pepper
Coat the fillets in oil (I used olive oil) and all flavor-producing ingredients that you have chosen, and add to a pan on medium heat. Wait for them to turn white on the bottom, then flip them over and cook the other side the same way. I usually wait an extra minute longer after they look white throughout before I take them off the heat. It's a fine line, because if overcooked, fish gets tough, but I've found that the extra minute or so ensures that they're not watery/mushy. I've only had this problem with white fish, not with salmon. It might be because we buy most of our fish frozen? (Even though there's TONS of fishing in South Carolina, the grocery stores either have a very pathetic fresh fish department, or none at all...And add to that my paranoia about buying the wrong fish (unhealthy, raised in an unsustainable way, etc.), it's a pretty sad situation that leads to frozen fish. Even with frozen fish, I'm way too picky.
While I'm on the topic, here's a wonderful link to a resource put out by the Monterey Aquarium, where you can look up all kinds of fish and see what you should be looking for in the labeling when you buy them!
Seafood Watch
Garlic Bread:
This is Jared's recipe, and it's the best garlic bread you will ever eat, anywhere!
*Bread (we usually use wheat rolls, sliced into halves)
*1 stick of butter
*Many cloves of garlic, at least 4, minced
*A bit of brown sugar, about 1/2 tsp
Melt the butter, and combine it in a bowl with the garlic and sugar. Place the bowl in the fridge (or freezer if you're in a hurry) until the butter is smooth, but not firm. Spread the mixture over the bread, and toast it butter side-up (definitely not in an upright toaster...either in a toaster oven, or an oven set on broil) until...yes, until it's toasted. Easy!
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