Broiled Black Cod, Muffaletta Style

How do you cook when you’re cooking just for yourself? Do you really cook a whole meal from scratch when it’s just for you? I actually do. One of the reasons I like cooking is because I’m picky. For me, getting to cook just what I want, exactly the way I want, is fun. So, I was already completely on board with the premise of Anita Lo’s latest book Solo: A Modern Cookbook for a Party of One of which I received a review copy. This book is devoted to cooking, and cooking really well, for one. It’s about taking care of yourself and making a great meal to enjoy on your own. And, the dishes have signature Anita Lo flavors with lots of Asian and French influences. There’s a nice focus on not wasting any part of the ingredients you use, and none of the dishes take too long to prepare. Of course, they all scale up easily and can be used to cook for more than one. The Shaved Root Vegetable Salad with Smoked Salmon, Capers, and an Egg sounds delicious and would be bright and colorful with a variety of vegetables jumbled together on the plate. For Fresh Pasta with Anchovies, Charred Lemons and Radish, you’ll spend a bit more time if you make homemade pasta, but the dish is made from pantry ingredients and could be whipped up without much planning. The Thai White Curry with Chicken is an adaptable dish that can be made with other proteins and whatever vegetables are in season. And, there’s a note with this recipe about using the remaining amount of coconut milk in Caramelized Banana with Coconut for dessert. Another waste-reducing dish is the Broccoli Stem Slaw that sounds delicious with an avocado and anchovy paste. I kept marking pages for salads, and one more that I want to try is the Kale Salad with Dates and Tahini Dressing. The complete instructions for this salad are: “Mix everything together. That’s it. Then eat it.” Love that. But, when I saw the Broiled Bluefish, Muffaletta Style recipe, I had to start there. I’m a sucker for a briny olive salad. 

For this dish, I cooked for two. Luckily, Kurt likes most of the things I like, and this was as easy to make for two as for one. We don’t get bluefish here, so I used black cod instead. The fish was simply broiled, after being brushed with oil and seasoned, skin side up. The olive salad was made with a mix of olives including Kalamata and pimento-stuffed, giardinera, garlic, minced anchovy or anchovy paste, capers, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and fresh oregano. I added some chopped artichoke hearts and skipped the cubed bread. I was happy to use some homegrown oregano since it’s still going strong and threatening to take over my herb garden. Chopped Calabrian chiles are suggested, and I wish I could have found some. I added crushed red chiles instead. The olive salad was mixed and placed in the center of the plate. The broiled fish fillets were placed on top. 

All the assertive flavors in the olive salad paired so well with the flaky fish. I regretted not making extra olive salad to leave in the refrigerator for snacking with crackers or layering into sandwiches. This book offers a lot of great ideas for putting delicious food on the table in smart ways. Whether you’re cooking for one or several, you’ll be treating yourself and others well, cooking your own balanced meals, and keeping waste to a minimum. 

Broiled Bluefish Muffaletta Style 
Excerpted from Solo: A Modern Cookbook for a Party of One by Anita Lo. Copyright © 2018 by Anita Lo. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher

for the bluefish 
One 5- ounce filet bluefish, skin on 
1 teaspoon olive oil 
Salt and black pepper 

for the olive salad 
Scant 1/4 cup pitted Niçoise or Kalamata olives 
Scant 1/4 cup pimiento- stuffed queen olives 
Scant 1/4 cup giardiniera (Italian jarred pickled vegetables), drained and roughly chopped 
1/2 clove garlic, chopped 
1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste 
1 tablespoon drained capers 
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar 
2 tablespoons extra- virgin olive oil 
1/2 teaspoon chopped Calabrian chili condiment (optional) 
3 leaves fresh oregano, chopped (substitute a small pinch of dried oregano if you don’t have fresh) 
6 cubes day- old plain baguette (optional) 
Salt and black pepper to taste 

Preheat your oven or toaster oven to broil. Rub the bluefish with the teaspoon of olive oil on both sides and season both sides with salt and pepper. Place skin side up on an ovenproof tray, close to the heat source, and cook until skin is lightly browned and crisp and the fish is just cooked through, about 5 minutes, depending on thickness. Use a cake tester or thin knife to test doneness—insert it into the thickest part of the filet, hold there for a solid 3 seconds, then test immediately on your lip. If it is warm the touch, the fish is done.

To make the olive salad, mix the ingredients together, taste, and adjust seasonings. To serve, make a bed of the olive salad and place the fish on top.

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Homemade Baked Potato Tots

When I read cookbooks, I keep my eye out for ideas both big and small. Sometimes, it’s the little things that can really change your cooking or spark inspiration. And, some books deliver on both fronts. That was the case with Valerie's Home Cooking: More than 100 Delicious Recipes to Share with Friends and Family of which I received a review copy. Valerie Bertinelli gives you the recipes she cooks at home and recipes she learned from her mother and grandmother, and talks you through the why’s and how’s in a friendly, down-to-earth fashion. This is a book of crowd-pleasing food and drinks with a few healthier options, some decadent dishes, and a lot of good ideas for every meal of the day. Egg in a hole is a classic, but I’d never thought of trying it with a bagel and then topping it with Neufchatel cheese mixed with sriracha. The nostalgic Snack Mix in the Happy Hour chapter, made with wasabi peas and broken ramen noodles, inspired me to seek out new and different ingredients for a gluten-free mix to make for gifts. And, speaking of nostalgia, there’s also a homemade Hamburger Helpa and Tuna Noodle Casserole with Potato Chip Topping. Two dishes that got me looking forward to summer produce were the Roasted Eggplant Pesto Pasta and Vegetarian Minestrone. And among the desserts, the Neapolitan Tacos convinced me I need to get my hands on a pizelle maker. Here, pizelles are draped over the handle of wooden spoon so they set in the shape of a taco shell before they’re filled with vanilla ice cream and chopped strawberries. Why have I never made a dessert taco? The ideas shown here started with the Giardiniera Aioli shown in the book with a beef sandwich. I thought it would also be fantastic on an avocado sandwich or as a dip for baked fries. Next, I re-read the head note for the Homemade Baked Potato Tots recipe. In it, there’s a mention of grating cauliflower in with the potato for a slightly lighter take on the concept. I decided to go one step further and mix sweet potato, russet potato, and cauliflower to make the baked tots and then dip them in giardinera aioli. 

I had a stash of lacto-fermented giardinera that I made weeks ago with local cauliflower, garlic, and chiles and wanted a really good way to use the last bit of it. This was it. The vegetables were drained from the brine, chopped small, and then mixed into a homemade aioli. For the tots, you begin by cooking the potato or in my case the two kinds of potato and cauliflower. The vegetables were boiled until tender and then drained and allowed to cool completely. Once cool, they were each grated with a box grater. An egg, some flour, and cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, and salt were added and mixed into the grated vegetables. The mixture was formed into little cylinders, and it helps to moisten your hands. Every so often, I stopped and washed my hands and left them a bit wet before continuing to form the cylinders. I had drizzled some olive oil on a baking sheet, and as each cylinder was formed, I rolled it through the oil and placed it on the sheet. The tots baked for about 25 minutes and were turned halfway through baking. 

The giardiniera aioli was a revelation. I want that on every sandwich, and I want to dip everything into it now. And, the homemade, lightened-up tots were a lot of fun. They are tender due to baking as opposed to frying, but they did hold up well for dipping. I could also see them going in all sorts of other flavor directions with added chopped herbs or different spices. Being inspired to try new and different things and imagining all the possible variations is my favorite part of home cooking.

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