#3 Rose Rock Fish

Flash of ingenuity here. As far as i can find, this has not been done before. (ofcorse probably has been done before. People have been cooking for as long as we have had fire, and the old saying about a million monkeys and a million typ writers. I just could not find it.) This is strate from my brain pan.

Let me set the premiss. You are cooking for a woman, and you put this plate out.  She looks at the bright red with the deep greens, and thinks boy that looks like a tasty salid. She looks at the little display of fruit on the side with its glaze, and thinks mmm that will be tasty at the end. Then she looks at the white fish with two little chunks of garlic. Looks a little bland. But this dish is all about trickery. The fruite is spicy and the fish is sweet.... and taste like roses. Bam, you just blew her mind. 

This one is a big one. Sadly, you will need more then one pan. In fact, you may even need a pot. Good prep work is key.

Ingredients:

• Rock Fish Felet 
• Shredded Coconut (i used sweetened, because it was all i could find. I assume unsweetened would work better. 
• Oyster Mushrooms (or shitaki or morels if oyster is not in the store)
• Black Berries
• Limes
• Dried Chilli Peppers
• Sea Salt
• Olive Oil
• Ginger
• Brown Suger
• Baby Spinach
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Garlic Cloves
• Rose Water <---------------- Brings the WTF

Tools:

• Medium Pan
• 2 Small Pots 
• Ziplock bags
• Mixing Bowl
• 2 Cutting Boards (I always recommend 2. One for meats, one for veggie. Cross contamination is a bitch.)
• Mortar and Pestle (This is not needed, but makes things 100 times easier. )
• Pairing Knife
• Your favorite chopping knife
• Your favorite meat slicing knife 
• Paper Towel 

Steps: Fish

1. Cut the felet to desired portion size.
2. Place 1-2 portions per plastic bag.
3. Pour the rose water into the pastic bag.
4. Crack sea salt into the bag. (this forces the extra water into the fish via osmoses)
5. DO NOT TUCH THE BAGS FOR AN HOUR!
6. In the mortar crush up some ginger. actually a lot of ginger. only half is going into the next step.
7. Mix in a bowl the ginger, and coconut, then squeeze half to a whole lime in  and mix again.
8. Get a pot and boil some water in it.
9. Toss in a 2 pealed garlic cloves per serving and boil for 5-10 min. 
10. Heat the pan with just enough oil to cover to medium low
11. When the pan heats,  get a good clump of crushed ginger, about a quarter of a hand full, toss it in the pan to sweat. 
12. As the ginger is sweating, remove the fish from the bags and pat them down with a paper towel. 
13. Dip the end of a paper towel in to olive oil and rub some olive oil over the fish till lightly covered. 
14. Cover the fish in the coconut concoction. 
15. Now kick the heat up to medium and cook up the fish. 2-3 min a side. When done plate. 
16. Garnish with cloves.

Steps: The Salad

Guys, this is the no brainer. I will probably only write this out one more time, with a more detailed description. I am not a fan of all the heavy dressing, the this and that, and what not. If you are going to hide the taste of your greens with a dressing, then why have the greens. I chose to do a light lemon olive oil dressing every time... except now... wich is lime. 

1. Wash your greens. I dont care if it says they are pre-washed. Wash them. It is a rule, not a suggestion. 
2. Mix up some olive oil and fresh lime juice in a ratio of 1 oil - 2 juice (remember, really acidy and oil stays for a good long while, you can make more then you need and use it later)
3. After you have let your greens dry, put your greens in a bowl. 
4. Place a table spoon of dressing per serving in the bowl 
5. Mix the bowl with your hands. Make sure all the veggies are covered. Little more dressing if needed. (and no cheating with salad tossers. Tossers are for tossers.)
6. I usually let them salt the salad at the table, but if you must salt then add a little when you are mixing the veggies with the dressing. 

Steps: The fruite thing

1. In a pot, put 2 cups water. 
2. Heat the pot till the water is steaming, but not boiling. 
3. Gradually pour in 4 cups of brown sugar while sturing.
4. With your pairing knife, desead the chili peppers.
5. Chop the chillies into small quarter inch strips hamberger style.
6. Zest a lime
7. Toss all that into the pot with the left over ginger, and kick the pot to simmer for about 10 min, and then boil for 5
8. Let the pot cool
9. Slice a cherry tomato 3/4 from one side, and then hallow out the innards. 
10. Dab a mushroom, a blackberry, and a tomato into the syrup you just made. Make sure you fill the tomato with the liquid. 
11. Plate
12. (optional) Dab some of they syrup on the fish. Just a little.

Done

Not so bad eh?

#2 dill chicken

Another simple pan dish, again. ONE PAN... one man. Man pans, pan the man. I digress. This is an every day dish and has a high taste to cost ratio.

Note, the pesto is from left over, so I will not show how to make it here.

Ingredients:

• Chicken Breast
• Salt
• Dill
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Capers
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Powder 

Tools: 

• A medium pan
• Plastic ziplock bag
• Fork. Yes, a fork is critical. It must not be a spork... Though it could be a series of knives tied together.
• A range. If you don' have one then you have a pretty boring domain.

Steps

1. Take the chicken breast and stab it with the fork as if you were reenacting that scene from psyco. Both sides, and the more stabs the better. 
2. Place the chicken in the ziplock bag with salt, olive oil, garlic powder, and dill. 
3. Leave it alone for an hour or two. Over night in the fridge even. 
4. Next oil your pan lightly and put it on medium to medium high heat. Remember, the chicken is coming with oil already on it, so too much here is way too much over all.
5. Take your chicken and slowly put it in the pan. Remember, sizzle rather then popping sounds is what you want. No sizzle makes chicken stick, and popping makes chicken burnt. 
6. In this day of massive, over sized chicken breasts, it is easy to find a 2 to 3 inch thick chicken breasts, cooking time may vary. but after a few, flip the chicken. It should be golden brown.
7. Pull off the pan when the chicken is done, plate it, and garnish with a little more dill and capers. 

Done. 

#1 Ginger/Garlic Yellow Fin Tuna

This dish is simple. So simple, if it was any easier, that it would not be cooking. There lies the strength of the dish. Great Cooking does not have to be hard cooking. By doing so little to the fish, you actually get to taste the fish. Shocking, I know.

Ingredients:

• Yellow Fin Tuna Stake
• Ginger
• Garlic Cloves 
• Sea Salt
• Olive Oil

Tools: 

• A Medium Pan
• A Range
• A Cutting Board
• Any Knife That Can Chop

Steps:

1. Chop your garlic and ginger into small uniform bits, but not quite a mince.
2. Heat up your pan to medium low
3. Put enough olive oil to cover the pan, and then just a little more. 
4. As the oil heats, sprinkle the salt on both sides of the fish.  
5. Place your chopped ginger and garlic to sweat in the pan for 5-8 min. (remember to keep sterring)
6. Now kick up the heat to medium, and place your fish in the pan. 
7. 3 min each side. no more then that. 
8. Remove on pan and let the fish rest in the plate.
9. Take the ginger and the garlic, which now should be golden brown, and top the fish.
   
   

Done!

One man, one pan.