October 5, 2015 Dinner – Rockfish Baked in aluminum foil

October 5, 2015  Dinner – Rockfish Baked in aluminum foil

I went to the bank on Coors today because I needed to put some things in the safety deposit box.  As I drove south from the banks I remembered that Albertson’s had a sale on large shrimp and fresh salmon, so I drove south on Coors to Albertson's at Central and Coors. I found nice fresh leeks at $1.49/lb. and tiny Brussels Sprouts for $1.99/lb. in the Produce Dept.  Then I picked up a container of heavy cream on my way to the Butcher’s Block meat counter.  When I arrived the fresh salmon for $5.99/lb. was sold out, but there was nice looking rockfish fillets for $5.99/lb. and the huge 16-20 shrimp for $6.99//lb., so I bought 2 rockfish fillets and 1 lb. of shrimp.

I then went by the ice cream section because Albertson's usually has wonderful sales on ice cream.  Today was no exception.  There were three or four brands on sale. I finally picked a new brand of Vanilla bean for $3.00 for 1.5 quarts.  After I left Albertson's it occurred to me that I could make Vichyssoise if I bought some potatoes, so I stopped at Altos Ranch Market and bought a 5 lb. bag of russets for $1.49, plus some limes for $.69/lb., onions for $.20/lb., and a few mushrooms for $3.49/lb. 

Jesus, the cabinet maker had been working most of the day and when I returned from a ride to Montano, he and Suzette were working on the new donors to my office and at the base of the basement stairs.

They finished a bit after 6:00, so at 5:30 I started chopping the ingredients for the baked fish.  I sliced and chopped 3 oz. of yellow onion, sliced 2 cloves of garlic, diced 1 tomato and ¼ red bell pepper, and 3 Thai chilis.  I then went to the garden and picked a handful of chard and 6 sprigs of thyme.  I de-stemmed and cut the chard into bite sized pieces and stripped the leaves from the sprigs of thyme.  I put all the ingredients into a metal bowl. At around 6:30 I chilled a bottle of 2014 Santiago Station Mendoza Valley, Argentina Sauvignon Blanc in the freezer and we began making the fish.  We laid out 2 sufficiently long pieces of foil to hold the fish fillets and ingredients.  Suzette made a pile of ingredients and laid a fillet and a few of the shrimp we had left on each pile of ingredients and then added the rest of the ingredients on top of each fillet. Then she poured white wine and I squeezed lemon juice on each pile and she laid three or four slices of butte on each pile.  Suzette then crimped the foil on the edges so it was slightly domed above and the ends were closed.  We the took another piece of foil and enclosed each crimped dome of aluminum foil in another crimped dome of foil, so the cooking liquids would not leak out as they had last time we cooked the dish.  We had no starch, so I asked Suzette if she wanted some French bread to dip in the cooking liquids, she said, “Can you make garlic bread?”  I sliced two pieces of Fano baguette into three slices each and buttered each slice and wrapped each piece in aluminum foil and put the foil wrapped packets of bread into the grill to bake with the fish.  

As week two of the Albuquerque Antiques Roadshow began , we took the fish and bread out of the grill and I poured the wine and added some ice to the glasses to help chill the wine a bit more and we started eating just as Anna was being given the appraisal for Richard’s mother’s 2 art nouveau necklaces for $25,000 to $40,000.  They were beautiful.  Richard’s mother was an antique dealer in New York and his collection is the best private collection I have seen in Albuquerque. 

The show was great with lots of interesting stuff, like a British flag captured off Galveston by someone’s ancestor who was a naval commander in the Civil War from a British privateer they had captured and were scuttling.

We both agreed that the double foil wrapped fish method captured all of the flavors of the ingredients in one large puddle of aromatic sauce, which we gleefully dipped the hot buttered bread into to soak up the sauce that created a garlic sauce infused bread that was a truly wonderful part of the meal.  We both agreed that we had finally mastered the optimum method of baking fish in aluminum foil.  Suzette had set the outer two burners on high heat and the middle two burners on medium heat and baked the foil wrapped packets for about twenty minutes and it seemed like I had grilled the foil wrapped bread for about 10 to 15 minutes. This method of baking did not loose a drop of liquid.  In fact the bread was hot and soft and completely suffused with a hot buttery flavor.  

  Note: how the double wrap of foil captured all the cooking juices

We loved this one dish meal and the Argentinian Sauvignon Blanc went well with the meal.  Suzette particularly liked the steamed chard in the dish and I loved the sauce that combined all the flavors of the ingredients.  At the end of the meal there was still a puddle of liquid in the pasta bowl we served the fish wraps in and I tipped the bowl to my lips and sipped and enjoyed the last of the delicious wine, butter, lemon juice and seafood flavored sauce. 

Cleanup was a breeze, we simply dropped the foil wrappers into the trash. 

We ate some of the new ice cream for dessert with chocolate sauce and Marashino cherries and liked it very much.

I had a glass of rum after dinner and Suzette had a cognac. 

I was particularly happy that Suzette enjoyed our impromptu dinner, because she has been suffering from a cold and it picked up her spirits.  As Suzette says, “Good food puts you in a good mood.”

Bon Appetit