Paper Chef #25: A (rare) day at home

The happiest recent news in Gastroblogia is that Owen of Tomatilla has revived Paper Chef after a six-month hiatus. Paper Chef was our introduction to the food blogging world, and it’s always been Chopper’s favorite event. He loves the excuse to play.

Now, the irony isn’t lost on us that Owen picked “home” for this month’s theme. Over the past months we’ve rarely ever had time to do much cooking at home. For a while this summer, Chopper was working six days a week with most of those days on shifts that lasted through the dinner hour. “Home” meant “where we crash at the end of a long day” and not much else.

This fall, things are finally looking up in that department, and — quite amazingly — this Paper Chef coincided with two days off wherein we weren’t booked solid with errands and social obligations. Of course those two days were yesterday and Monday so we still ran smack up against (and fell over) today’s deadline. So what else is new?

Given this rare opportunity to play, Chopper gave himself the challenge of creating three dishes: a canapé, a soup, and a main. We picked up a sampling of eggplants and chiles at our favorite Asian market, and for the fish — since smoked swordfish is unheard of in these parts (and I’m not a swordfish fan to begin with) — Chopper found a nice big slab of cod, coated it in spices and threw it on the smoker.

My (ongoing) challenge, in addition to my usual sous chef duties, is to put together a photo post of the day using my old, borrowed camera and Chopper’s computer, which lacks my usual photo editing software. Why that, you ask? Well, remember that computer that needed fixing? Ahhahahah, yup. It’s dead again. Soon as I’m done with this post, I’m constructing a shrine to Saint Isidore.

But first, photos…

Nothing cries home (or rather, messy yard) to us more than sawing up yet another branch of the dead cherry tree to use in the smoker.

Here’s the slab of true cod, freshly spiced.

Stand by for infusion of cherry wood smoke. Mmmmm…

Two and a half hours later, give or take.

Now, to prep some ingredients indoors.

Hey! We can try out that slicer we bought at the neighbors’ yard sale three months ago!

Looking good.

Meanwhile, in a dark corner of the kitchen, Chopper roasts a bell pepper.

Oh, crap. I have to search the yard for our “something from home” ingredients. Nope, those aren’t ready yet.

Hmmm. Tasty, but I’d kind of like to know what it’s going to look like when it grows up.

Ah, there’s herbs somewhere in that mess that used to be a pretty yard.

One herb platter, coming up.

Back in the kitchen, Chopper has peeled and oven-roasted two Chinese eggplants. These are headed for a bowl and an appointment with an immersion blender.

Moments later, the soup is ready, and it’s got a great kick to it. And yes, you can eat the flowers of your rangy, going-to-seed oregano!

Soup before appetizer? Um, we forgot. Probably a good thing as well. These little babies were, well… let’s just say, odd. Very, very odd.

Meanwhile, Chopper has this crazy idea to make his version of a tagine. Trouble is, we don’t own a tagine. Here, back in that dark corner of the kitchen, he forces an earthenware roaster into tagine duty.

Kitchen’s getting messy. Wait a sec. What’s with those hollowed out Indian eggplants? Turns out Chopper’s just thought of a fourth dish, and he’s now tossing ingredients into the food processor.

The ‘tagine’ is ready, and it is delicious. Smoked cod and couscous make a great match.

But… damn. Note for future reference: earthenware roaster + open flame = ex-earthenware roaster. Good thing this was a thrift store find.

One final dish. A simple afterthought. Oven-roasted Indian eggplants filled with a paste made from the extras on hand: bell pepper, garlic, chives, Thai chiles, and more of that delicious cherry-smoked cod. And… wow. This was the best of them all. The paste on top baked to a crust, the eggplant’s innards, baked to mushy goodness, and for the first time, all our featured ingredients perfectly balanced in a single bite.

A simple and exquisite end to a perfect day at home.

Oh. Well, except for that cleaning up the kitchen bit.

(Recipes to follow. Chopper’s at work and my notes are almost as messy as the kitchen.)

One computer overhaul, one banking disaster, one hosting nightmare, and one canine prison-break later… (Phew!)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 2:37 pm and is filed under chopper's lab, culinary insanity, in the garden, paper chef. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.