Comrade PhysioProf is extremely thrilled and excited that he has won Round #3 of the Recipe War with his delicious–yet simple to prepare–miso-glazed black cod served with chilled somen noodles. His fierce, yet honorable, competitor Dr. Isis did come forward on the field of battle with a very tasty-looking vermouth poached salmon provencal, which Comrade PhysioProf confesses he may very well have to make at some point. This week’s battle could turn out to be a key turning point in the Recipe War, as the score is now 2-1 in favor of Dr. Isis.
For this week’s Second Fish Course, Comrade PhysioProf prepared broiled arctic char with a Cotes-du-Rhone balsamic reduction sauce, served on top of sauteed mushrooms and leeks, and accompanied by toasted parmigiano reggiano asparagus topped with a fried egg. As you will see, Comrade Physioprof has exploited Dr. Isis’s excellent sautee-based method for cooking asparagus that she presented in last week’s recipe. Here we go!
Ingredients
2 8-ounce arctic char filets, skin on
1 cup Cotes-du-Rhone red wine (or other full-bodied red wine)
1 cup balsamic vinegar (get a decent one, but for a reduction, no need for the $20 per bottle shit)
1/3 large white onion, diced
12 cloves fresh garlic, diced
6 ounces shitake mushrooms
6 ounces oyster mushroom
6 ounces crimini mushrooms
2 bundles of asparagus
1 bundle of leeks
2 eggs (not shown in photo; Comrade PhysioProf fucked up)
Fucking Jameson
parmigiano reggiano
extra virgin olive oil
salt
fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
Cotes-du-Rhone Balsamic Reduction
(1) Sautee the onions until light yellow and translucent, then add the garlic and sautee until both the garlic and onion are lightly carmelized. (As you will see, the carmelized onions and garlic become a very salient component of the final reduction. I fucking love onions and garlic, and think that arctic char has enough flavor to stand up to them. For a less ass-kicking sauce, just use a lot less garlic and onion, or even none.)
(2) Add the wine and balsamic vinegar. At this point the sauce is just a nasty-looking pool of liquid:
(3) Add 1 tablespoon of Jameson:
(4) Reduce the shit down, adding fresh-ground black pepper liberally when part way through, by simmering until it thickens like so:
(5) Pour the sauce into a bowl and put aside.
Sauteed Mushrooms and Leeks
(1) Slice the mushrooms and leeks, after washing well (especially the leeks, which tend to have dirt in them), into pieces like this:
(2) Sautee them down until nearly carmelized, adding 1 tablespoon of Jameson part way through, and salt and pepper to taste. It will look like this when done:
(3) Put aside.
Toasted Parmigiano Reggiano Asparagus Topped With Fried Egg
(1) Partially cook the asparagus using Dr. Isis’s quick sautee in olive-oil method:
(2) Arrange the asparagus in a broiling pan, top with a fuckload of grated parmigiano reggiano, and broil until the cheese is browned, and then plate:
(3) Fry two eggs topped with fresh-ground black pepper until they are done like this:
(4) Put the fucking eggs on top of the fucking asparagus:
Broiled Arctic Char
(1) Salt and pepper the filets, and broil until just done. It’ll take 8-10 minutes.
Final Presentation
(1) Put the sauteed mushrooms and leeks on the plate, and gently rest the broiled char on top.
(2) Pour the Cotes-du-Rhones balsamic reduction on top.
(3) Pour a very big white wine to drink with the food.
(4) One very, very, very important general point: The chef better have been liberally drinking the motherfucking Jameson throught the cooking process, so as to be nearly totally shitfaced drunk while eating!
You can check out Dr. Isis’s entry here, and place your vote here.
29 comments
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natalie
September 30, 2008 at 12:02 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
i’ll be honest. that does not look good at all. it simply looks messy.
ScientistMother
September 30, 2008 at 12:21 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I am scared to admit this, but as wine, beer and vodka drinker I have no idea what Jameson is. Must go google
Isis the Scientist
September 30, 2008 at 12:27 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
A formidable entry, PhysioProf. And I am sure you had no trouble with the Jameson component of the recipe.
My entry can be found here.
Maria
September 30, 2008 at 1:01 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
What are those fucking eggs doing on the fucking asparagus?
Dr. Jekyll & Mrs. Hyde
September 30, 2008 at 1:26 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
This looks really yummy. In the spirit of things, let me present my entry to this week’s recipe war:
1) Lie on couch bemoaning Advisor-induced headache.
2) Fall asleep while spouse goes to Asian food market and returns with fresh mackerel.
3) Wake up when spouse fires up the grill. Limp around the kitchen, periodically clutching head, until spouse orders one to return to bed.
4) Proudly remember jar of olive tapenade in cabinet; open, add spoon, toast some bread, and claim that you made appetizers.
5) Feast on grilled mackerel.
6) (optional) Two nights later, make fried fish cakes with leftover mackerel.
I’m winning this one in a walk.
bikemonkey
September 30, 2008 at 3:07 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
don’t you people know the fucking sky is falling!?!!!!???!!! What next? Cake???
anon
September 30, 2008 at 3:09 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I so don’t get the fried egg. I might need to vote for Dr Jekyll, just cos it looks so familiar. Although she doesn’t have alcohol. .
Jenn
September 30, 2008 at 5:01 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Sorry, but a fried egg?! No way. Isis wins this one (if only you’d skipped the egg! the rest is pretty darn fabulous)
Isis the Scientist
September 30, 2008 at 8:35 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
No, Bikemonkey. Soup is next. Haven’t you been paying attention?!?!?!?
Enrique
September 30, 2008 at 9:06 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Dude, you have one fine looking kitchen range … but you killed it with those fucking placemats.
Professor in Training
September 30, 2008 at 9:52 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
You go to all the trouble of cooking and presenting the food … but use a paper napkin??
ecogeofemme
September 30, 2008 at 10:07 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Can we vote for both? It’s a tough decision this week. I love phyllo and butter, but that sauce sounds awesome (though the photos aren’t so flattering). And the egg sounds good to me. :)
drdrA
September 30, 2008 at 10:12 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
PP-
I loved it, up until the fried egg. uuuugh. Also- what’s up with the silverware on the right.
Points for the all clad though…
Dr. A
September 30, 2008 at 11:12 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Asparagus = yum
Garlic & onions = drool
Jameson = heck yea
Yolkie egg = grody
Sorry PP, his will be my first week voting for Dr Isis..
Dr Jekyll – had YOU mentioned the Jameson, I’d find a way to vote for yours ;)
ScienceMama
September 30, 2008 at 11:55 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I like any recipe that involves Jameson, but the egg totally ruins it for me!
Nan
September 30, 2008 at 12:10 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
The egg lost me, too.
Cath@VWXYNot?
September 30, 2008 at 2:25 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I am going to ignore the egg and vote for you again this week, seeing as you managed to combine all of my favourite ingredients in one recipe.
Comrade PhysioProf
September 30, 2008 at 2:35 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
What’s with all the motherfucking wackaloon anti-egg sentiment!?!?
drugmonkey
September 30, 2008 at 3:20 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
i like the eggs- the peppering was a saving touch. major props for using and citing a competitor’s methods, though. quite fresh, that.
Physiogroupie IV
September 30, 2008 at 4:23 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
ScientistMother, welcome to the wonderful world of Jameson!
I like salmon. Need to go check out Isis’ page before I vote, though..
FIA
September 30, 2008 at 4:56 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Hm. Nice sauce, nice fish. Couldn’t you come up with an own idea for veggies? That is clearly a negative point. In addition, I personally would think white asparagus would go better with it, and if eggs, then benedict. My vote goes this week to the goddess.
pinus
September 30, 2008 at 4:59 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
hmmm….why multiple fish courses?
peanut
October 1, 2008 at 12:40 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
You had me at Jameson – but then lost me with the eggs on asparagus. Ugh. Runny, slimy eggs on yummy, Isis-style asparagus? Squicky. I vote for the deity.
Maria
October 1, 2008 at 3:06 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’m not against topping shit off with an egg, but I just don’t see the point in doing it unless I’m simultaneously lazy and in need of protein. It’s really fucking difficult to get the blend of flavors in egg+asparagus when all you have done is piled one on top of the other in a form that’s hard to eat neatly – had you suggested an omelet, perhaps with more Jameson, this round might have gone better for you.
academalia
October 1, 2008 at 10:54 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
1 vote for Comrade Physioprof. zdrastvyoitye!!
(learning russian in your wake)
Whoa, Egg haters,
I have decided from assumptions made about egg consumers trying this recipe in this posting and market discrepancies in colored egg pricing that bad eggs are too cheap, kinda like me in my previous relationship roles. I do NOT buy the equivalent-nutritional-value scheme the FDA has going on right now. I recommend cooking with an egg from a real chicken and then re-posting your ovibitch. (palin jokes ensue)
I like the green or blue ones.
-a
Melandroweb
October 17, 2008 at 5:56 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
simply prepared, compliments
Forealz
November 21, 2009 at 5:45 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I don’t trust anyone that does not use a liberal amount of foul language. I could give a shit how it looks as long as the taste is there. Fuck presentation I say, you’re eating it, not dating it. Ugly or not, taste must carry the day. I think it must be very good, the eggy asparagus notwithstanding. Although I would give it a try to see if it sucked or not before condemning that outright…
Thomas
December 9, 2010 at 3:41 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Reviving this thread because Isis linked here from her hilarious 4-year-old-sociopath rant…
What’s wrong with you people and your weird anti-egg agenda? A runny egg on asparagus is a classic pairing. Add a squeeze of lemon and it’s a simple, less heavy alternative to a sauce. Do none of you people know any Central European cooking? sheesh…
Oh, but for pretty-but-ugly things like red-wine reductions, if you put them *under* the meat/fish/whatever, it looks prettier in photos.
Stanford Surber
April 20, 2013 at 3:58 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Asian cuisine styles can be broken down into several tiny regional styles that have rooted the peoples and cultures of those regions. The major types can be roughly defined as East Asian with its origins in Imperial China and now encompassing modern Japan and the Korean peninsula; Southeast Asian which encompasses Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Viet Nam, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines; South Asian states that are made up of India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan as well as several other countries in this region of the continent.