Heavenly Sole and Damn Good Broccoli

Heavenly Sole

I'll bite it off with one of my Mama's famous recipes. I feel good about myself when I get my fish from the local "fresh off the boat" fishery on Harborside, plus it tastes good and is super cheap. This recipe is really fast, almost impossible to screw up, and will make people who don't like fish beg for more. Really, any white fish will do, but I'd recommend thinner fillets.

I'll give amounts for 2 fillets, which should feed 2...

Squirt some fresh lemon on a couple fillets of fish, sprinkle some salt and pepper as you wish, and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then broil it in the oven until it flakes... 10 minutes or so. In the meantime, mix together:

1. 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
2. 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
3. 1/4 cup chopped green onions
4. a couple drops of your favorite hot sauce to taste
5. more salt and pepper, if you feel like it.

When the fish is flaky, pull it out of the oven and just smother it with this mixture. Really. It might seem like you've got way too much, but you don't. Use it all. Glob it on, and you'll still wish you had just a bit more. Put the fish back in the oven for another 2 minutes or so, until the sauce is starting to get that pretty brown color.

Damn Good Broccoli

Now for the side, and not just any side. 3 entirely seperate people have mentioned this recipe to me, claiming it's the best broccoli they've had in their life. For some insane reason, I only just now made it for myself, and probably won't stop making it. Ever. I put this second, but you should get started on it first- it takes longer, and can stand to be reheated while the fish is broiling, if necessary.

You'll want 3-4 heads of broccoli. This is more than enough for 2 people, but you'll want leftovers. The only tricky thing is that it's critical that you make sure the broccoli's dry. Completely. Preheat your oven to 425.

On a cookie sheet, toss the broccoli with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and 4-5 sliced cloves of garlic until it's good and covered. Oven it up for 35-45 minutes until the broccoli's starting to brown.

Diversion: I once saw on Alton Brown that when you crush garlic, you release enzymes that stimulate the creation of the burn associated with garlic. If you don't crush it, the flavor is more sweet. For this recipe, I'd say slice, don't crush.

Once you take out the broccoli, toss it with a few more ingredients:

1. another tablespoon or so of olive oil
2. the zest and juice of 1 lemon
3. 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese
4. some chopped basil*
5. toasted pine nuts*

*4 and 5 are definitly optional... if you really want to treat yourself. But if you're cheap and start making this broccoli every other night for dinner, they can be cut.

Lustful.

Bear with me.

Allow me to express in this introduction what my otherwise useless humanities degree taught me to consider when beginning such a thing.

1. My intention: to stop my new-found habit of polluting facebook with pictures of food via a superficial translocation.

2. My audience: Me, the first time I made any of these recipes. Allow me to break dogma and apologize now for what may seem like condescension, but I'm really a dumbass, and it takes me a couple tries to get most recipes right.

3. Thesis (naturally): Here's some stuff I cooked, and I thought it tasted good, so I want to spread the word.

4. A caveat: Ok, I admit, I'm going through a low-carb phase right now, so my meals will reflect that. It doesn't change the way I cook all that much, but it might explain some ridiculous ingredient substitutions and omissions of a starch component.

5. A second caveat: I'm so damn lazy. I hate measuring stuff, so most of these recipes will include phrases like, "season to taste", "whatever seems right", "eyeball that shit."

I feel better now.