March 15, 2018 Lunch – East Ocean. Dinner – Pan Fried Cod with Black Beans and Calabacitas and Mango Salsa

March 15, 2018 Lunch – East Ocean. Dinner – Pan Fried Cod with Black Beans and Calabacitas and Mango Salsa

I ate Tropical fruit salad with granola and yogurt for breakfast.

I called Peter Eller and we decided to go to lunch at East Ocean.  I had one of the best lunches I have had in ages.  I ordered Fried tofu and mixed vegetables.  Peter wanted a seafood dish and I recommended clams.  I ordered them cooked in a spicy Szechuan sauce.  Both dishes were wonderful.  We ladled rice onto our plates and then the clams on one side of our plate and the mixed vegetables in their Mandarin sauce I of chicken stock, a bit of soy sauce and cornstarch.  We ate the vegetables and then the sauce soaked rice and then clams and their spicy sauce soaked rice.  Wonderful and the bill was $19.52 before tip.

After lunch Peter was good enough to go with me to Sprouts to shop.  I did speed shopping of mostly specials.  I bought 2 6 oz. containers of blackberries for $.77 each, a bag of Brussels sprouts for $.99/lb., an eggplant for $.99 each, and 1 ½ lb. of fresh cod filets for $7.99/lb.

I called Willy and invited him for dinner and he said he had two meetings this evening but would be available for dinner between 7:00 and 8:00.  I called Suzette and she decided to cook the cod and serve it with the PPI Black Beans and Calabacitas.  Because cod does not have a lot of flavor I suggested making mango salsa.

Mango Salsa

I finely diced 2 oz. of red onion and two mangos and two small avocados and 1 small Roma tomato and added the juice of two limes and a dash of salt and a little fresh Serrano chili and a dash of Cholula hot sauce.i  stirred the ingredients together until they became a bit creamy.

Suzette dusted the filets in a freezer bag with about 1/3 lb. of all purpose flour and a dash of salt and pepper.  She then heated peanut oil and sesame oil in a non-stick skillet and sautéed the cod filets.

She put the PPI Black Beans and Calabacitas in a pot and heated them on the stove.  I fetched the vichyssoise.  When Willy arrived at 7:10 Suzette was just finishing sautéing the first skillet full of cod.  I offered Willy a bowl of Vichyssoise and we talked while Suzette sautéed the second skillet full of cod to golden brown.

Suzette plated our dishes by ladling Calabacitas on Rotherham plate, then stacking pieces of sautéed cod on top and garnishing the cod with a dollop of mango salsa.

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I went to the garage and fetched beers. (Kirtland craft beers $199.99 at Costco).  Willy did not want a beer so I poured him a French apple cider from Normandy (Trader Joe’s for $4.99).  I drank a brown ale and Suzette drank a India Pale ale.

We enjoyed our simple dinner and talking about interesting stuff Willy is doing at work.  The cod was incredibly tender.  It fell apart at the touch of a fork.  I loved it, but Suzette thought it was previously frozen because it seemed to be a bit water logged.  I suggested that it was equally possible that the cod filets had become water logged from sitting melting ice in the meat tray in the meat counter.

Later, after Wily left at 8:00 we ate pieces of Quince tart and hot tea.

Bon Appetit