This Week's Recipes: On a Bed of Onions

Many an evening I will spend an hour or two cooking and it's a rare night when dinner is ready in our house before 9 pm. Mr. J (also known as C) likes to say that this is because I am always trying new recipes or new ideas, and that if I would just cook the same things over and over, it would be no trouble. Probably, he has a point. But I enjoy it. And my digestive system is happier if we eat a wide variety of dishes; it gets very sad if I have the same thing for dinner, then lunch the next day, then dinner. So there. Mr. J has been studying like a man possessed (hopefully by SCIENCE since that is what he is currently studying), so we have been cranking up the cooking so he can stay at the library extra late. Thus far this week he made the Gluten-Free Goddess's lovely Mulligatawny Detox Soup while I quizzed him with flashcards. Then I followed up with this surprisingly simple and delicious Yucatan-Style Braised Pork served with a salad and quick refried black beans. (If you decide to try the pork recipe, definitely make the pickled onions, too - they take almost no time and are quite tasty.) Tonight, I added to our stockpile with baked hake. And that, my friends, is what I really want to write about. Over the weekend, when I was driving to none other than the grocery store, I heard a snippet of "America's Test Kitchen Radio." One of the hosts advised a caller that two things always stick: fish and eggs. Which brought to mind a quick and easy fish recipe given to me by a friend. Alas, I can't remember the whole thing, but I did want to pass on this tip: The important part is that you bake the filet of fish on a bed of vegetables. I believe she recommended sliced onions and tomatoes. It being winter, I had today only onions. Works like a charm - oil up yer onions and sprinkle them with any seasoning you desire (or not). Lay the fish on the bed of onions, season as desired and ta-da, there's nothing for the fish to stick to. Plus the underlying vegetables actually taste pretty good. You can just barely see the onions peaking out from under the fish in the photo above. My version was seasoned with salt and pepper and herbs de Provence, the seasoning I always use when I'm in a hurry. I served the hake along with rosemary roasted parsnips, cauliflower, purple potatoes and rutabaga, and a huge green salad. And some leftover sparkling wine. Tomorrow perhaps we will have some stuffed red peppers - maybe quinoa tossed with sauteed curried mushrooms, carrots, beans and summer squash? We'll see....

2012

HAPPY New YEAR Joined with good friends last week to ring out the old, all agreeing that 2011 had been a rough year - for jobs, for health, for family. Looking forward to 2012, which dawned in Boston with a sweet blue sky, lazily adorned with tendrils and puffs of translucent white. Something different this year causes me to briefly pause before I surrender to my usual urge to plan and create expectations beyond my own capabilities and resources. Last year, I was concussed. It was minor, and will not leave any permanent effects. Having occurred just after I resolved to write more posts, it challenged and changed me in ways I never expected. I wasn't ready to write about the experience here - what, about a concussion, I thought, could possibly evoke "the warmth of the sun in winter." But, there was a gift in the experience. My symptoms have been dizziness and foggy thinking when pushed too hard. If I spent too much time in concentrated thought or got too little sleep, the symptoms appeared. If I moved or exercised too much, same story. Usually I view each day as a chance to be productive, believing that with effort and diligence comes accomplishment and happiness. I do not here abandon such beliefs. But in the past two months, I have had to "pick my battles" as it were far more carefully than I've had to before. Choosing to read an extra article or stay up an extra hour meant four hours of quiet rest and contemplation in payment for that effort. An afternoon stroll in turn also meant rest rather than proceeding to write or clean or read. So my frustration that I typically feel in the task left undone has been restrained, mediated by the absolute rule of satisfying the need to rest or I would inevitably be worse, be unable to accomplish the bare minimum of what must occur or of what was most valuable to me. Looking forward to 2012, I have just completed my first small run since the injury. A slight gasp of dizziness passed before sitting down to write. But it reminds me to carry forward the small kernel of joy that has come out of this experience - breath, rest, space, will join me as welcome companion in this shiny new year.