Super Snapper

At least once a year a group of my college friends converge on my house for a get-together.  As the only one without a husband and kids, I've got the quiet zone (until they all get here, of course).... and it's pretty much a guarantee that there'll be good food, and lots of it!

It was a gorgeous Northern California day, so they arrived at 3PM, champagne in hand, and we sat in the backyard, sipping and noshing on sourdough, cheeses, fresh fruit, pistachios, and hot smoked salmon....

I don't recommend testing recipes out on company, but I can suffer from "culinary cockiness" from time to time.  So I tried out a couple new things.  I don't venture too far from my wheelhouse when I do this, so I felt pretty comfortable that I could pull it off.  I would never try cooking a cut of meat that I'm unfamiliar with or use ingredients I've never used before, but this day I tried out a couple dishes that let me remain in my comfort zone and branch out all at the same time.


I turned to one of my favorite new cookbooks, Fresh, Happy, Tasty, by Jane Coxwell.  I hadn't made any of the recipes in it yet, but they all look so tasty and fresh that I knew this was my go-to book for my girlfriends.  I coupled my tried and true Green Papaya Salad and Citrus Roasted Asparagus with Coxwell's Tamarind & Coconut Lentils and Green Quinoa-Crusted Bass (but I used snapper - it's in the bass family and was the freshest fish at the market that morning).


The snapper recipe is my new favorite..... you essentially mix a pesto with cooked quinoa, put it in the fridge for a half hour to firm up, top the fish with it and bake it for just 5-6 minutes.  That's my kind of dinner: fast, easy, and delicious.

Jane's recipe calls for toasted pine nuts, but I used walnuts (like I do in most of my pesto recipes).  You pop those in a blender or mini chopper along with a clove of garlic (use a big, fat one!), lemon zest, olive oil, 2 cups of fresh herbs (I used basil, mint and cilantro) and cooked quinoa.  This makes a lovely "paste."

Spread that onto a board covered with plastic wrap, keeping it about 1/4" thick.  Top it with another sheet of plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes to get nice and firm.

After a half hour in the fridge, it will be easy to cut into pieces and top the fish.  To give a little seasoning to the other side of the fillet, drizzle olive oil on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  This goes into a 450 degree oven for only 5-6 minutes (love that.... cuz there was a lot of laughing an storytelling on the back deck, and I hate missing out!)

Give this one a try, peeps.  It's a keeper.  Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner for the family or to impress your friends at your next dinner party.  The crust will keep in the fridge for a good 24 hours, so you can always make that ahead, and then you've got a healthy 5 minute dinner!  I busted out my new spiralizer (it did take 3 of us to figure it out - thanks Renee and Tish for having more patience than me!) to make noodles out of a daikon radish, to give a nice crunchy addition to the tender snapper.

Here's Jane's recipe from her book:

Green Quinoa-Crusted Bass
Serves 4

1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 garlic clove, minced
Zest of 1/2  lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
2 cups tightly packed fresh green herbs ( a mix of parsley, dill, mint, cilantro and basil)
Maldon or other flaky salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Four 4-ounce boneless, skinless pieces of bass

• Toast the pine nuts in a small dry skillet over low heat for about 2 minutes, until lightly browned. 
• Cook the quinoa in boiling water for about 15 minutes and drain.  Place it back in the dry saucepan over low heat and stir for 1 minute to remove excess water.  Remove from heat and let cool.
• Add the quinoa to a blender with the garlic, pine nuts, lemon zest, 1/4 cup olive oil, herbs and salt & pepper to taste.  Blend until it forms a smooth paste.  Check the seasoning and adjust as necessary.
• Lay some plastic wrap flat on a clean work surface and spoon the mixture onto the plastic wrap.  Top with another layer of plastic wrap.  Using a rolling pin, roll the mixture into a rough rectangle that's about 1/4" thick.  This will be your crust.  Place it on a plate in the fridge to stiffen up for about 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
• Remove the crust from the fridge and place it on the work surface again.  Peel off the top layer of plastic and discard.  Them using a knife, cut out 4 pieces of the crust to match the size of you fish.  Rub the fish in a bit of olive oil.  Use a spatula to pick up the crust pieces and place them on top of the fish.
• Season the bottom of a baking sheet with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and place the fish on the sheet.
• Bake the fish for about 5 minutes until cooked to your liking.

Cook Happy!

Now for something completely different!

No salad talk today!  Today I just want to gush about one of the best meals I've had in a very long time.  I went to dinner at Pican last night.  I learned about the restaurant while watching Eye on the Bay a couple months ago, and before the segment was over I was emailing my two friends Sue & Stephanie telling them to get their calendars out; I had found our next "eating excursion."

When we opened the menu, we immediately knew it was one of those places that we would have to come back to again, because there was too much that we wanted to order.  I love struggling with a menu, not knowing which delicious dish to get.  Pican definitely left me struggling.... in the best possible way.

OK this is another one of the 80/20 moments.....heavily engulfed in the 20% realm!  Nothing particuarly healthy about it, but dang was it ever gooooood!

Sue and Stephanie started with Fried Green Tomatoes.  A beautiful stack with radishes, buttermilk-pimento cheese curds, pickled onions and avocado.  I was in love with a fried green tomato sandwich years ago when I lived in Annapolis, but this was hands-down a better use of those green beauties.

I started with  Sea Island She Crab Soup.  I was married to a Southern boy a thousand years ago, and he made me my first bowl of she crab soup (it's the one thing I miss about that guy).  You just never find that soup here on the left coast, so I knew that was going into my belly as soon as possible!  It's a velvety gem with Blue crab, cream sherry, and crab roe.  I could've stopped there and been one happy girl.  And perhaps I should have, because my entree pushed me into the "I have to loosen my belt" phase.

My entree was one of their signature dishes: Pan Roasted Grit-Crusted Gulf Snapper.  It's served with a pork belly and Aleppo pepper carbonara sauce over the most delicate squash "noodles", finely julienned zucchini and yellow squash.  The crust was a litle heavy (so I only ate most of it!), but the flavors and textures were unbelievably yummy.

Sue and Stephanie are dessert girls, while I'm more of an appetizer girl.  They plan their menu choices with dessert in mind. I plan on a starter and then I'm perfectly happy to be done at the entree.  And boy was I last night!  I told them that if I have even one bite of dessert, I will be over the edge and into that bad place where you have to drive home unbuttoning your pants and counting the minutes until you can be prone.

But then they ordered this...

Banana Pudding, with house-made vailla wafers and whipped cream. Stephanie practically got whiplash when she saw it delivered to the table behind us, so I knew that was coming our way. I maintained control for about 3 minutes, watching them ooooh and aaaah over it.  Then I thought I would regret it if I didn't give it a try.  I had the smallest bite and it was like a little piece of heaven on my tongue.  But I did say at the valet stand as we were waiting for our cars, "I need to be prone immediately!"  I made it home quickly and fell into bed.  I was asleep within five minutes! 

And then in the morning I had a bad-ass workout and went for an hour long hike in the hills.  All worth it!!

If you're local, I highly recommend checking out Pican in Oakland.  You won't be disappointed!  And tomorrow I might try to figure out how to make some of the awesome dishes I tasted a little bit healthier!