A Little Fishy

I am in love with the Green Market in Union Square.  So, it seems, are about 100,000 other people in NYC.  And they all like to show up just at the same time I do!  Imagine that.  Saturday afternoons at the best farmers' market in Manhattan are a mixed bag: local foods!  friendly farmers!  fresh bread!  the mushroom table!  And then suddenly I'm like a salmon swimming upstream and people's elbows are bashing into my arms/bags/face/carefully-selected-veggies.  Bah.  It's so much fun until someone squishes my fishes.  (Side note: there are actual results if you google "squish my fish".)

On that note, I bought fish at the market last week!  I am trying very hard to be as much of a locavore as possible, so I thought I'd finally check out the fish counter.  It was late in the day, so they didn't have a huge selection left, but I decided on a lovely piece of flounder -- enough to serve just one.

A few months ago, I bought this dry rub/seasoning at Whole Foods on a whim.  Someone was doing a cooking demo/sampler with it and I decided I could use a little something in my pantry to spice up my usual boring method of baking fish with minimal seasoning.  The WF seasoning is called Red and Green Bell Pepper Sprinkle, and it's just a dry seasoning mix of those 2 peppers, onion, parsley, and black pepper.  The demo cooker at WF  was pan-searing tuna with it, but it also went really well with my flounder, even though I had some doubts.

The process was pretty simple.  I rinsed and patted dry my flounder, rubbed a tiny drizzle of olive oil onto both sides of the fillet, and sprinkled a nice coating of the seasoning onto both sides.  Ta-da!

I prepared a side of broccoi rabe, which I wilted with a bit of water, then sauteed with garlic, salt and olive oil.  For the fish, I heated a bit of oil in a big non-stick pan, just enough so that the seasoning wouldn't just straight up burn, and cooked for about 3 minutes on each side.  And that was it!  It was SO fast, and so delicious!

You are also witnessing the best roasted veggie mix I've made in a while.  This was delicata squash, golden beets, parsnips, red onion, and garlic.  I actually just cut 2 garlic cloves in half and tossed them in with the veggies to infuse some flavor.  I removed them before eating, although Mrs. Nelson, my 8th grade home ec teacher would remind me that roasted garlic is a true treat.  Man, these are the times when I'm glad I don't have a boyfriend.  Why do onion and garlic taste SO GOOD?  Anyway, I was really pleased with my new additions to the roasting pan.  Added a lot of flavor!

I decided I needed a little vino and TV with dinner.  A Chardonnay from Argentina!  One of the last of my wine of the month club collection.  This one was just OK.  Good for a Chard, but not my favorite.

This meal may have been a little olive oil heavy, but good fats are, well, good!  And flounder isn't a fatty fish, so that kept some of the balance, I think.  I guess I could have steamed the broccoli rabe to save some cals?

Next up: more farmers' market experiments.  Always.  Happy Monday!