Rosie Makes Fish Soup.

 Fish Soup.

Doesn't sound all that appetizing, does it?

What if I called it Piscine Potage?

Or Multi-Ocean Creature Bouillabaisse?

Mr. Hawthorne and I were at Food Lion

and he picked up the Alaskan Cod on sale.

I cut it up in small chunks.

I heated up a tablespoon each 

of unsalted butter and extra virgin olive oil.

I'm partial to Olio Carli extra virgin.

I dropped the cod filets into the hot butter/oil.

I had previously seasoned them with freshly ground pepper.

Sauté about 3 minutes.

Good splash of Chardonnay.

Steamy!

Steamy!

I want to make this intense,

so I went downstairs to the freezer

 (#1 of 3 in the utility room - Mr. Hawthorne has issues.

And I have to deal.)

and came up with a quart of lobster bisque.

I semi-thawed it out in hot water

and added it to the cod.

 I added in the last of my Lobster Thermidor mixture
I'd made the day before.
Heat through.

Season with a mere sprinkling of Old Bay Seasoning.

I have lobster, shrimp, and cod in here.

More seafood than broth.

I like that.

The thing about cod 

is that it takes on the flavors of whatever surrounds it.

You put cod with shrimp,

it tastes like shrimp.

You put cod with scallops,

it tastes like scallops.

You put cod with lobster,

it tastes like lobster!

This is intense lobster flavor.

Try a bit of saffron if you're a fan.

Lovin' the lobster.

Sometimes I surprise myself.

Rosie Stir Fries.

You know the Hawthornes love a good stir

and, like I've said,

if I want one, I have to do it myself.

I found sirloin kabobs on sale.

I don't think I ever pay full price for meat.

If you scrounge around,

you can find some bargains.
The better ones, I have found,
 are at the Nags Head Food Lion.

Kabobs, of course, are too big for a stir fry.

Slice the meat into bite-sized pieces.

I marinated the meat in my homemade yakitori sauce

while I prepared my vegetables.

If you don't want to make your own

(You should.),

use a store bought ponzu sauce,

or teriyaki sauce, or soy sauce.

About yakitori sauce:

"Yaki" is the Japanese word for "grilled"

and "tori" is the word for "bird/chicken."

It's easy to make

using easy-to-find ingredients -

saki, mirin, soy sauce, tamari sauce,

sugar, garlic, ginger, and roasted chicken leg bones.

And a good homemade yakitori sauce
(recipe at link above)

is richer, thicker, and more flavorful

than any store-bought sauces.

Plus it keeps indefinitely in the fridge.

Some yakitori chefs keep adding ingredients

to their pot of sauce,

keeping an ongoing sauce,

which produces a particularly rich and flavorful sauce.

A lot of chefs dip their skewered food

directly into the pot of sauce,

rather than brushing it on,

so the sauce accumulates additional flavor 

from the hot chicken juices.

When stir frying,

always have your ingredients prepared and ready to go.

I have:

marinated sirloin

broccoli, small florets

carrots, peeled and crinkly cut

celery, sliced on the diagonal

green pepper, diced

onion, wedged

garlic, thinly sliced

Have your wok over high heat

and add 2 tablespoons of peanut oil.

Time:  1:53

Add in broccoli and carrots.

Time:  1:54

Add in celery, pepper, and onion.

 Time:  1:55
Pour a little water down the side of the wok.
The steam helps cook the vegetables.

Time:  1:56.
Transfer vegetables to a bowl and cover.

Time:  1:58.

Reheat wok over high heat and add a little peanut oil.

Add in meat and garlic.

Time:  1:59
Add vegetables back in.

Time:  1:59.
Pour in a cornstarch slurry.
2 TB cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water.

Add about 1/2 cup beef stock.
Stir fry until thickened.

Remove from heat and serve.

Enjoy!

Rosie And Mr. Hawthorne Make Spring Rolls.

Rosie wants spring rolls,

so spring rolls she shall have.

First, I'm making two dipping sauces.

Dipping Sauce #1 for Spring Rolls

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 TB sugar

2 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp rice vinegar

1 small garlic clove, minced

big pinch of dried red pepper with seeds for extra heat

cilantro, chopped

And yes, that's a yellow lime in the picture.

Mix all together.

Dipping Sauce #2 for Spring Rolls

1 small clove garlic, minced

1-inch knob of ginger, juiced

small dried red pepper

1/8 cup Tamari or soy sauce

1/8 cup rice vinegar

1 TB sesame seeds, toasted

a few drops of sesame oil, to taste

I buy the gnarly whole ginger root,

cut it into 1-inch pieces, and freeze.

That way, I always have ginger on hand.

For ginger juice, 

use frozen ginger and nuke it about 20 seconds.

You can easily squeeze the juice out now.

I put mine through a garlic press

and scraped just a little of the pulp in.

Mix all together.

Those little blurry spots are droplets of the sesame oil.

I'm using ingredients I have on hand.

avocado slices in lime juice

 mushrooms, sliced

red onion, sliced

pickled ginger

cucumber strips

carrot, julienned

lettuce

shrimp, sliced

sushi rice with sushi vinegar sprinkled over it while still hot

Soak your rice paper in warm water for about 10 seconds

or until pliable.

And start adding your fillings.

Play with it.

Add whatever you want.

Resist the temptation to over-fill.

Mr. Hawthorne helped

and each roll is different.

 Mr. Hawthorne is a much better roller than I.

I did the first one on the far right
and got worse from there on.
See second from left and possibly third.
Mr. H. did the others.
Nice and tighty!

Slice.

Oh my, but these were good.