Recipe: Seared Cod, Olive Tapenade, Purple Cauliflower, Asparagus, Baby Heirloom Tomatoes, Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette

NO, YOU DO NOT EAT W/ YOUR EYES. That's dumb. Imagine someone sitting next to you at a restaurant trying to shove some eggs benedict complete w/ it's nuclear yellow hollandaise sauce in their eye socket. Gross. What that person meant when he/she coined that phrase "You eat w/ your eyes first..." was that food should look good, appetizing & it's look should make you want to eat it. A lot of you folks who desire an Epic Meal Time meat monstrosity made of fast food drive thru crap that doesn't really involve real cooking wont find this dish appetizing. Whatevs, like Ice-T once said, "Colors, colors, colors..." That's what this dish is all about. And flavor...

The GC City of Cod

Seared cod w/ green olive+caper tapenade, herb+garlic roasted purple cauliflower, ribboned asparagus+baby heirloom tomato salad w/ meyer lemon vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• Fresh cod fillets
• 4 meyer lemons [4 juiced, 1 tsp zest]
• Handful or 2 of green olives [pitted]
• Capers [1tbs, rinsed]
• Sun-dried tomatoes [1tbs]
• Artichoke hearts [3 or 4 or so...who discovered artichokes as food anyways? Most of it isn't edible & you have a lot of work to do just to get to the good stuff. I would've rather spent my time hunting for a wooly mammoth w/ my spear & itchy loin cloth]
• Italian flat leaf parsley [2tbs, chopped]
• A handful of basil leaves
• Garlic [3 cloves minced]
• Purple cauliflower [1 head rough cut into florets aka mini trees]
• A few sprigs of thyme [chopped]
• A handful of asparagus
• Some baby heirloom tomatoes [the green ones look like mini watermelons...cool]
• White wine vinegar
• Dijon mustard [1tsp]
• Honey [1tsp]
• A few rosemary sprigs [minced]
• 1 med shallot [minced]
• Olive oil
• Sea salt
• Fresh cracked pepper
• Butter
• 80s music ["Hey girl, you're under the spell of them." - Ryan Gosling]

 [Serves 2]

Seared Cod: Season both sides of the cod w/ s&p. Sear 1st side w/ olive oil on med-hi heat for 2-3min. Remember the basics, make sure your pan & oil are hot enough so the fish sizzles when you lay it down. Golden crust awesomeness & it won't stick & crumble like your dreams. Throw a few thyme sprigs in the pan. Aromafication. Flip & sear the other side. Cod is delicate & flaky so please use a decent fish spatula like the one I got in Cinatown SF from that super nice Chinese lady that tried to sell me chopsticks w/ cartoon kittens on them. The fish spatula will help your clumsy hands keep that cod intact & not break down your filets into something that resembles shredded crab meat. About halfway thru searing the 2nd side, deglaze the pan w/ a fresh squeeze of lemon. That'll loosen up all the fond/good stuff stuck on the bottom of the pan. Add a little nub of butter. When that melts, baste the cod fillets w/ that lemony/buttery/thymey sauce stuff until it's cooked thru. Basically, you're done now. The other stuff isn't even necessary. You could just eat the filet w/ lemon butter sauce & be lazy for the rest of the evening. Simple, classic, good. 

Olive Tapenade: Throw the green olives, capers, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley, basil, garlic, s&p, lemon juice & some olive oil into a food processor. Blitz. You could use a mortar & pestle & be rustic like a Food Network chump & tell us about your dream wedding on a southern plantation while mashing away at the tapenade & prepping your chocolate covered deep-fried stick of butter...yuck. Blitzing is much faster though. Add more olive oil in little increments til you get a paste like consistency. Tangy/briny/tart flavor boom! The plastic explosive of condiments & it [tapenade] sounds fancy schmancy. Tell your friends you made a tapenade...you'll get "ooohs" & "ahhhs" & some "who cares". It's just a simple mixed paste of stuff. Make a lot of it if you want. Goes well w/ crostinis, roast chicken, dry wall repair, etc.

Roasted Purple Cauliflower: Toss & coat the florets w/ some olive oil, minced garlic & shallots, chopped thyme, s&p. Roast at 400d 20-25min til you get a little charring/caramelization. The good stuff. Stir/turn over every once in a while. Fresh squeeze of lemon juice out of the oven. Garnish w/ chopped parsley. Done. And It's purple.

Asparagus & Baby Heirloom Tomato Salad: Ribbon the asparagus w/ a potato peeler b/c lettuce is boring. Halve the baby heirloom tomatoes. Combine in a bowl & season w/ s&p. Seriously, season properly every layer of your dish. It's the difference between restaurant food & that bland casserole at your last family get together. Home cooks, listen up...salt enhances the flavor of your ingredients. Just don't over do it like a Chick-Fil-Hate salt-lick sammich. We're all gonna die anyway, might as well eat fresh, delicious & well seasoned eats while you're still on this planet before the aliens invade. Or you can be a wellness aware eating vegan Mother Earth lover & eat bland, sustainable, gluten free, farm-to-table, wheatgrass pancakes topped w/ ethically collected honey bee syrup & essence of foraged balsa wood [The GC: Offending people since 2011...cheers]. Dress w/ the vinaigrette below.

Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette: Combine meyer lemon juice & zest w/ white wine vinegar, dijon, honey, minced rosemary, shallot & garlic, s&p. Emulsify/whisk furiously w/ some olive oil. Fresh. A simple vinaigrette/flavor enhancer that sounds more complicated than it is. A "meyer" lemon vinaigrette just sounds more impressive than a regular lemon vinaigrette...when really, the meyer lemon is just a lemon/orange hybrid tasting thing available at decent markets. 

Plating: Lay down the purple cauliflower florets & ribboned asparagus on the side of the plate. Add the seared cod. Top w/ the tapenade. Place the multi-colored baby heirloom tomatoes around the plate like moons orbiting planet cod. Drizzle the vinaigrette around the plate in a circle b/c like me, you're totally into circular patterns right now. Drizzle a bit of the vinaigrette on the cod & tapenade too. Layering flavors. Garnish w/ chopped parsley. Serve w/ some crisp white wine b/c you're classy & own many leather-bound books.

Simple. Easy. Light. Fresh. Colorful. So 80s. Zack Morris approved. Edible graffiti on a plate.

#CookOrDie

Soundtrack: "Under Your Spell [Pick Your Poison remix]" - Desire