I’ve been a little under the weather lately, fighting with a chest cold. It doesn’t help that good lord, the city is still filthy with rain. I’ve been slamming the zinc and echinacea, crawling off to bed mid-day, and generally wallowing in lethargy.
Two things converged today that forced me out of the house. First, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the wine store is closed. If I was going to get a decent bottle, I had to do it today. The other was, of course, Fish Wednesday. I always buy fresh fish for Fish Wednesday and if I didn’t leave the house, Fish Wednesday wasn’t going to happen. I took a shower, dressed in something other than the garden gnome jammies (sexy!) and went shopping.
Having a cold made me crave the soupy and simple. Today’s Fish Wednesday was an herbed sole in leek and wine stock with winter greens. Sounds fancy, but trust me, it was easy.
I sauteed the leek in a little olive oil, then added a can of stock and a splash of wine. After boiling the lot for 10 minutes or so, I tossed in the greens and put the lid on. When the greens were steamed down, I used a pair of tongs to pull them out. Then, I put the sole fillets in the pan with the liquid. I tossed in a few slices of lemon, added some thyme, squeezed the rest of the lemon juice in there, and brought the whole thing to a boil. Then, I put the greens in the bottom of a bowl, lay the fish on top, and spooned the stock over it until everything was just barely swimming.
It had that salty sour taste that hits the spot when you’re laid up with the bug. This uses one pan, so there’s no complicated clean up for the lethargic. And it’s light but satisfying, so you don’t have to have big old appetite to enjoy it. It took about 10 minutes to make, I’m not kidding. Okay, it helped that I had a bag of washed mixed greens from the CSA. But still. Yum.
Nerd’s Eye View likes the wine guy on 15th! I walked in and said this: “Look, can you make this easy for me and tell me what to get? I need turkey day wine and something cheap to cook fish with.” And he totally delivered. He’s got a bit of a reputation round here for knowing the goods and he’s never steered me wrong.
Okay, you can get two buck chuck at TJs, but the wine guy is a better choice if you have no idea what you’re doing. Plus, for the first time in ages, I’m being paid weekly. A decent bottle is not too extravagant a way to celebrate that first paycheck.
[tags]Fish Wednesday, Seattle wine shops[/tags]