Despite my best efforts, positive thinking, and water drinking it happened: I got sick. It was a quick little 48-hour head cold - the kind where you think your eyes are going to explode. (Fortunately, my eyes did not explode.)
- Walnut Flax No-Knead Bread
- Roasted Beet Risotto
- Poached Catfish
I think the longest paper I ever wrote in college was a 15-pager about the artist Yves Klein. He's the guy in that photo who looks like he's swan-diving from the ledge of the building, you know, this one. He hosted those evenings where women would paint their bodies blue and press themselves against canvas. (He called these anthropometries.) He also did fire paintings. He patented his own color: International Klein Blue, IKB for short. He painted large canvases with this color and only this color. He believed the color blue had no dimensions, it was...beyond.
I like color and I like believing it's "beyond". I like going to hardware stores and collecting stacks of paint samples - and I mean stacks. My preferred designer to collect is Martha Stewart (available at Lowe's,) a close second is Mythic Paint. Not only are their paints non-toxic, but their samples come in sheets. Sheets! Color is calming for me, it's lets me breathe, it's like an inhaler.
Did you know that when added to bread walnuts turn the dough sort of purple-ish? It's true. See:
We can't get enough of this No-Knead Bread, we go through a loaf of two a week. I look forward to eating oven-fresh bread slathered in butter, it's one of the greatest experiences - ever. George made this loaf on Saturday and it set the tone for Sunday. I almost remade the strudel from last time, but the walnuts made me think of beets. (Duh.) So bright, so pretty, so unreal. The color of beets tells me everything's going to be okay. The only acceptable option was going to be either a giant bowl of beets or beets added to something that would become bright pink - a.k.a rice.
With little trouble, a Risotto with Beet Greens and Roasted Beets recipe was located on the NY Times website and we were off and running. The other think I love about beets is that you can eat the whole thing! Roots! Greens! It's all delicious. Bonus: the greens look great in a sea of beet risotto.
Second bonus: living where we do we can get some great catfish locally. Triple bonus: I found an awesome incredibly easy recipe for poached fish. It takes 15 minutes, tops. I've used this recipe for sole, catfish, and tilapia.
Poached Catfish
from Real Simple
1 lb. catfish fillets
3/4 c. dry white wine (water is also acceptable)
2 T. capers
2 T. olive oil
2 T. chopped chives
salt & pepper to taste
Cut each fillet in half, you know, "spatula size". Heat wine in a large skillet, then add fish, drizzle with olive oil and capers. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 4 minutes, they'll become opaque and will flake easily. Sprinkle with chives.
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