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Recipe & Nook Color PSA
Feb. 27th, 2013 02:19 pmNote: I haven't actually been reading LJ or FB since Sunday night, and that's very likely not going to change this evening; much of this weekend is going to be dedicated to mopping up and finding out what's exploded.
But if I wait until then to pass these on, I'm going to forget them, and I think both are of general interest.
RECIPE: Salad Bar Catfish Pasta
This is a stripped-down, healthier (faster!) version of something I've already done. It's also pretty darned good eatin' for about 10 minutes' work and ~$6.
It will take a frypan, a pot, and a heat-resistant bowl, and uses a pasta-cooking technique I've just learned.
At the market (assuming you already have pasta, butter, and olive oil at home) get:
- 1 catfish fillet
- 1 lemon
- 1 small salad bar container with about 2-3 tablespoons of something crunchy (I used sunflower seeds), an equal amount of something cheesy (I used bleu cheese crumbles; feta would also be good). Put those on the bottom because you'll use them last and then stuff the rest of the container full to the brim with baby spinach. (Because the spinach is light, this shouldn't actually cost more than a couple of bucks.)
At home:
- Open up the salad container and adjust it so you have the spinach on one half and the seeds/cheese on another. This just makes your life a little easier in a minute.
- Start the pasta water heating. Contrary to popular tradition, have just enough water to clear your pasta by an inch or two.
- Throw equal amounts of butter and oil - say a tablespoon of each - into the heat-resistant bowl. Juice the lemon into the bowl.
- Heat the frypan with some olive oil. When the oil's about sizzling, gently lay in the catfish fillet. Sear it for about 3 minutes on each side, then set it aside, but don't wipe out the pan. Turn the heat to medium/high. Throw all the spinach in it and stir it occasionally as it wilts down and picks up the fishy oil.
- The pasta water's probably come to a boil, so throw in the pasta, stir it up while it comes back to a boil, and then contravene tradition again by smacking the heat resistant bowl on top of the pot and turning the heat off. Your pasta's going to cook just fine from the residual heat, and your sauce will start to melt and blend.
- In about 6-10 minutes, check the pasta. The water will be very starchy - take out 2 or three big tablespoons of the water and throw it in the heat-resistant bowl to help emulsify the lemon, oil, and butter. Stir up your resulting sauce.
- When the pasta's ready, drain it and throw it in the sauce. Stir it to cover, put the fish on top, put the spinach on top of that, dust the cheese and seeds over the top, and let everything blend as you cut up the fish.
Eat quickly, as it will cool down quickly. (This is a good spring/summer dish for that reason)
NOOK COLOR PSA:
I'm seeing more and more used Nook Colors hitting the trading posts and classified ads. If you can find one cheap, I recommend it for these reasons:
- It doesn't require special software in order to upload/manage your stuff -- it's essentially a flash drive with a built-in video interface.
- It reads .pdfs, so it's easy to fill with knitting patterns and recipes. (I am still planning my "cooknook" project.)
- It's the only reader on the market that lets you put the same item on more than one "shelf" - making it very attractive for a cross-referenced cookbook. Or a cross-referenced e-zine.
- You can get epub books for free from Gutenberg.org. You can also download many fanfics from AO3 direct as epubs.
- If you want an e-fanzine from non-AO3 sources, all you need is a cheap Nook and the free Calibre software to convert. It'll be prettier if you can massage it a bit in a word processor first and put a cover on it, but the free Open Office and GIMP'll manage those for you.
I'm only saying this about the Nook *COLOR* - not their expensive tablet or their annoyingly slow and flash-prone e-ink text reader. And to be honest, the last thing I'd use it for is an actual e-reader for proprietary books; it looks like Barnes and Noble is in too much trouble to trust that their e-bookstore will last for long. But the *technology* is perfectly sound and quite useful, and it's being abandoned in droves. Get 'em for your own uses while the getting is good.
But if I wait until then to pass these on, I'm going to forget them, and I think both are of general interest.
RECIPE: Salad Bar Catfish Pasta
This is a stripped-down, healthier (faster!) version of something I've already done. It's also pretty darned good eatin' for about 10 minutes' work and ~$6.
It will take a frypan, a pot, and a heat-resistant bowl, and uses a pasta-cooking technique I've just learned.
At the market (assuming you already have pasta, butter, and olive oil at home) get:
- 1 catfish fillet
- 1 lemon
- 1 small salad bar container with about 2-3 tablespoons of something crunchy (I used sunflower seeds), an equal amount of something cheesy (I used bleu cheese crumbles; feta would also be good). Put those on the bottom because you'll use them last and then stuff the rest of the container full to the brim with baby spinach. (Because the spinach is light, this shouldn't actually cost more than a couple of bucks.)
At home:
- Open up the salad container and adjust it so you have the spinach on one half and the seeds/cheese on another. This just makes your life a little easier in a minute.
- Start the pasta water heating. Contrary to popular tradition, have just enough water to clear your pasta by an inch or two.
- Throw equal amounts of butter and oil - say a tablespoon of each - into the heat-resistant bowl. Juice the lemon into the bowl.
- Heat the frypan with some olive oil. When the oil's about sizzling, gently lay in the catfish fillet. Sear it for about 3 minutes on each side, then set it aside, but don't wipe out the pan. Turn the heat to medium/high. Throw all the spinach in it and stir it occasionally as it wilts down and picks up the fishy oil.
- The pasta water's probably come to a boil, so throw in the pasta, stir it up while it comes back to a boil, and then contravene tradition again by smacking the heat resistant bowl on top of the pot and turning the heat off. Your pasta's going to cook just fine from the residual heat, and your sauce will start to melt and blend.
- In about 6-10 minutes, check the pasta. The water will be very starchy - take out 2 or three big tablespoons of the water and throw it in the heat-resistant bowl to help emulsify the lemon, oil, and butter. Stir up your resulting sauce.
- When the pasta's ready, drain it and throw it in the sauce. Stir it to cover, put the fish on top, put the spinach on top of that, dust the cheese and seeds over the top, and let everything blend as you cut up the fish.
Eat quickly, as it will cool down quickly. (This is a good spring/summer dish for that reason)
NOOK COLOR PSA:
I'm seeing more and more used Nook Colors hitting the trading posts and classified ads. If you can find one cheap, I recommend it for these reasons:
- It doesn't require special software in order to upload/manage your stuff -- it's essentially a flash drive with a built-in video interface.
- It reads .pdfs, so it's easy to fill with knitting patterns and recipes. (I am still planning my "cooknook" project.)
- It's the only reader on the market that lets you put the same item on more than one "shelf" - making it very attractive for a cross-referenced cookbook. Or a cross-referenced e-zine.
- You can get epub books for free from Gutenberg.org. You can also download many fanfics from AO3 direct as epubs.
- If you want an e-fanzine from non-AO3 sources, all you need is a cheap Nook and the free Calibre software to convert. It'll be prettier if you can massage it a bit in a word processor first and put a cover on it, but the free Open Office and GIMP'll manage those for you.
I'm only saying this about the Nook *COLOR* - not their expensive tablet or their annoyingly slow and flash-prone e-ink text reader. And to be honest, the last thing I'd use it for is an actual e-reader for proprietary books; it looks like Barnes and Noble is in too much trouble to trust that their e-bookstore will last for long. But the *technology* is perfectly sound and quite useful, and it's being abandoned in droves. Get 'em for your own uses while the getting is good.
