Wednesday, October 19, 2011

It's a Fluke

The other day I bought a giant bag of crimini mushrooms to go with the giant bag of green beans we'd purchased for an aborted Canadian Thanksgiving dish. Unfortunately the green beans didn't really survive so I was stuck with a tremendous amount of mushrooms and no green beans. What was I to do? Everyone knows there is no other food item that pairs with green beans other than mushrooms.

One thing was for sure, I was truly in a pickle!

Golden Beets with Crispy Roasted Chickpeas and Feta


I started off by making a salad with olive oil, feta cheese, and chickpeas which I roasted in the oven until crispy. I squeezed a little fresh lemon over the top.

Pan Seared Fluke with Pumpkin Mushroom Risotto and Shrimp Butter Sauce


For the main course I got this beautiful whole fluke this afternoon. I seared it in a pan with a little olive oil, salt, and Pepper. Before I did this I put together a risotto with garlic, onion, crimini mushroom, pumpkin, sherry, turkey stock, and butter. I put this on the base of the plate and served the fluke on top with some shrimp which I lightly cooked in butter.

Roasted Mushrooms and Pumpkin


The only problem was that I had so many mushrooms and so much pumpkin that if I'd turned it all into risotto we would be dealing with a Canadian Thanksgiving level amount of leftovers.

I decided to divide everything up before pressing on with the risotto which, truth be told, was still far too much risotto. However, it would be nice that we could both enjoy it for a few days as lunch before finally disposing of the excess when it inevitably spoils in our fridge.

Nostradamus Belgian Brown Ale


After this seafood dinner I cracked open this Nostradamus from Brasserie Caracole. At the time of writing this their website is non-existant, which is fine. If it's going to take any time away from them making a beer this good their website can remain dormant for the rest of human history as far as I'm concerned.

The predominant taste of the beer was of molasses. I thought molasses to be an entirely American flavor and not something the Belgians were fond of as well. This beer is perfect for after dinner with a nice sweetness. If you are going to pair it with food I would recommend that you do not but you tend to do what you want to do.

You've always been headstrong that way.

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