I haven’t cooked much since moving back home from Waterloo. Not sure why, but when I’m at home I just don’t feel like cooking much. But, now that I am living by myself in Toronto I really want to try out different dishes. Today, I made halibut fillet with mustard and white wine reduction, and penne with chicken thigh and black olive sauce.
The first recipe was one I made up myself with some knowledge of what may go well with halibut from cooking shows. I usually don’t cook with fish, but I thought I’d give it a try. I started by putting some salt and on sides of the dish, along with some olive oil and lemon juice. I boiled the fish on both sides. I was planning to do maybe 5-6 mins each side, but left it in too long so it came out a bit dry and flaky. The sauce was about a cup or so of white wine, with some dijon mustard, grainy mustard, and lemon juice. I let the whole thing reduce to about half its original volume. Towards the end I threw in some dill. The fish was garnished with fresh dill, then the sauce poured over it. It turned out alright, even though the fish was dry. If I were to do it again I’d play around the sauce a bit more.. maybe take out the grainy mustard and add some honey or maple syrup.
The second recipe was actually inspired by two recipes from Michael Smith’s show, Take Home Chef: pasta with chicken thighs and peppers, and penne with black olive sauce. I began with browning the skin-side of the chicken, and cooking on the other side for a bit, then removing from the pot. I cooked onions in the same pot until caramelized, then added the garlic. After about three minutes I added canned plum tomatoes, dried basil, and some salt. I used a hand-blender to smooth the sauce out a bit, then I added the thighs back to simmer for about an hour — until cooked through. The penne pasta was mixed in with the sauce. Baby spinach was used as garnish on top of the pasta, and the chicken placed on the top. This dish turned out very well, trés delicious! I’ll definitely cook it again, and maybe play around with some ingredients.
