Crepes with Orange-Flecked Yogurt and Raspberry Sauce

I told you'd I'd planned food-related activities for my entire weekend, and here I present another piece of evidence. The buns of gluttony were Saturday morning (and again Monday morning, just as devishly delicious), and Sunday morning I took another recipe from Food and Wine as inspiration, and whipped up some yogurt-filled crepes. My first crepes ever, made with a crepe pan I got 3 years ago! My husband quipped "It's about damn time", and I agree!

Since I'm new to homemade crepes I can't speak to the perfection of the crepe recipe itself, but I'd imagine they are all fairly similar, and this one was tender and tasty, and made a nice little package for some thick Greek yogurt. The yogurt I mixed with grated orange zest, honey, and vanilla, which sounds rather ambrosial, doesn't it? to top it off, I used frozen raspberries we picked this summer and mixed them with some local raspberry jam and a squeeze of lemon, and cooked it just long enough for the flavors to get happy and jammy together.

These were so simple, and seriously good. I can't wait to make them again, and come up with some interesting new toppings and flavors for the yogurt... like lemon poppy seed, pomegranate and walnut, or even some seriously decadent options like creme fraiche and spiked berries. What flavors will you experiment with?


Crepes with Sweet Yogurt and Raspberry Sauce
Makes 8 crepes (4 servings)
Adapted from Food and Wine, December 2008

3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
pinch of salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup raspberry jam
1 1/2 cup raspberries (frozen)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups plain Greek Yogurt
3-4 tablespoons honey
zest of one orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with 1/4 cup of the milk and the salt until blended. Whisk in the flour until the batter is smooht, then whisk in the remaining 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of the melted butter. Let the crepe batter stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

In a small sacuepan, combine the raspberry jam and the frozen raspberries along with the lemon juice and cook over moderate heat until jammy, about 10 minutes. Cover and keep warm.

In a bowl, mix the yogurt with the honey and orange zest.

Heat a 10-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet over moderate heat. Brush the pan with some of the melted butter. Brush the pan with some of the melted butter. Pour in a scant 1/3 cup of the crepe batter and immediately rotate the pan to evenly coat the bottom. Cook the crepe until lightly browned on the bottom, about 45 seconds. Flip the crepe and cook until brown dots appear on the other side, about 15 seconds longer. Continue making crepes with the remaining batter, brushing the pan with the remaining butter as needed.

Spoon 1/2 cup or so of the yogurt into each crepe and roll them up or fold. Transfer to plates and spoon the raspberry sauce over top.

Note: The crepes can be made ahead, stacked, and rewarmed in a microwave oven for about 20 seconds.

Summer Posole, in January

Surely this isn't the first time in history that there have been some warmer-than-average days in January, but considering the growing hysteria surrounding global warming, these mild days should be panic-inducing, shouldn't they? I try to consider the fate of humanity as I'm out jogging in a tee shirt and shorts, however my mind usually wanders, and I end up admiring the blue skies and warm breezes on my face. And on a beautiful day, even though it may say January/Janvier/Januar/Enero on my calendar, the opportunity to eat a little lighter presents itself, and I gladly oblige.

I've posted before on the bounty of delicious goods I ordered awhile back from Rancho Gordo, and I'm still working my way through my supply of beans and other goodies, including a bag of dried hominy. Hominy is dried corn kernels, which when simmered for hours (yes, 3 or 4), puff up and become chewy little corny-sweet nuggets. I'm not sure how someone else might describe them, to me this seems perfect description, and I find them irresistable.

The recipe for this Summer Posole is straight from the Rancho Gordo website, courtesy of Deborah Madison, grande dame of vegetarian delights. The dish is a visual and textural stunner, with 5 different shades of green, and textures ranging from chewy (hominy) to crunchy (cabbage), to soft and creamy (avocado). The whole dish is brightened up with the addition of an ample squeezing of lime, both in the cilantro-avocado salsa, and as a finishing garnish. Serve this with a tortilla, and you've got a meal that's fun to eat, and that won't weigh you down - light and refreshing. We all need more meals like that in our lives, don't we?

As for this string of warm weather, I think it's on it's way out, and with it, maybe a little peace of mind will come our way too. Mine will only last as long as it takes Netflix to send me my next movie on the list - An Inconvenient Truth.

Wild Rice and Friends

I first made this salad out of Food and Wine 3 years ago, and I have faithfully returned to it every 6 months or so since then. Probably because it uses some of my very favorite ingredients - wild rice, chickpeas, raisins, sliced almonds, and it introduced me to this wonderful curry-flavored dressing, sweetened with honey, and given a little kick by a generous pinch of cayenne.



I still remember the article this recipe came from too - it was about a couple that had moved to Texas to escape city life, and all the recipes in the article looked wonderful. There were two other grain salad recipes, that are still on my to-try list.

Wild rice is such a treat - it's chewy and light, with an earthy taste that is a perfect base for all sorts of wonderful additions - dried fruits, nuts and seeds, smoked meats, and flavorful dressings. This particular salad fits in beautifully at the fall table, with it's muted colors and warm flavors. The original recipe calls for ham, but offers sliced almonds as an alternative, which I always use, because the salad stays longer in the fridge that way, and I always have some sliced almonds laying around.



I had this salad for lunch all week long, which my Butternut Squash Soup, and they made quite a pair for the first chilly week of fall, here in North Carolina. This salad is open for all sorts of happy experimentation - cranberries, whole smoked almonds, or even some roasted shallots... really, you could do anything with it your little heart desires. The dressing is versatile and delicious, so ladies and gents, get out your apron and get busy.

Wild Rice Salad with Chickpeas and Almonds
Food and Wine, June 2003

1 ½ cups wild rice (10 ounces)
Kosher salt
2 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of cayenne pepper
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 19-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas)
¼ lb. smoked ham, diced (optional)
1 large handful sliced almonds
4 small scallions, white and light green parts, thinly sliced
¼ cup golden raisins (I used currants this time around)
Freshly ground pepper
Hot sauce (Cholula - is there any other brand worth using?)

Fill a large saucepan three-quarters full of water and bring to a boil. Add the wild rice and 1 tablespoon of salt and simmer over moderate heat until the rice is tender and most of the grains have just split, 50 minutes. Drain and rinse the rice under cold water, then drain again.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, honey, curry powder, cumin and cayenne. Add the olive oil and whisk until combined. Toss in the chickpeas, ham, scallions, raisins and wild rice. Season the salad with salt, pepper and hot sauce, transfer to a bowl and serve.

Serves 6

Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Confit

Does that sound delicious, or what? This soup was so easy, and the apple confit pushed it from ho hum, to "oh yum". Okay, that was cheesy, but this soup was great, it was ridiculously simple, and there's very little else to say about it. Make it. You will be so happy you did!

Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Confit
From "Fields of Greens" by Annie Somerville

3 cups Light vegetable or chicken stock
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Medium Yellow onion, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
3 Tbsp Calvados (if you don't have Calvados, you could substitute white wine, but the flavor is wonderful, and you'll find a million other uses for it!)
4 lbs Butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into large cubes (about 6 cups)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 McIntosh apples or other flavorful, not too tart apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (about 2 1/2 cups)
½ cup Apple Juice
½ cup Creme Fraiche, (I used Greek yogurt)

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot and add the onion, season with salt and pepper, and saute over medium heat until slightly caramelized, about 15 minutes, adding a little stock and scraping with a wooden spoon if they start to stick to the pan. Add 2 Tbsp of the Calvados, and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the pan is almost dry.

Add the squash cubes and about a teaspoon of salt to the onions. Add just enough stock to barely cover the squash (about 2 cups); the squash quickly breaks down and releases its own liquid as it cooks. Cover the pot and cook over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, until the squash is very soft.

Puree the soup in a blender or with a handheld immersion blender, and thin it with stock to reach the desired consistency. Return the soup to the stove and cook over low heat for 30 minutes to further develop the flavors.

While the soup is cooking, make the apple confit. Melt the butter in a medium-size saute pan and add the apples; saute over medium-high heat, stirring to coat them with the butter. When they're heated through, add the remaining Tbsp of Calvados and cook until the pan is almost dry. Add the apple juice, cover the pan, and cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes, until soft; cook, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes to reduce the liquid. Mash the apples, making sure the confit retains some texture.

Stir half the confit into the soup, saving the rest to stir into each serving. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Add a spoonful of apple confit and a swirl of creme fraiche to each serving.


Notes:
To make a wonderful meal, serve this soup with crusty sourdough bread, nutty, well-aged Gruyere cheese, and a salad of biter greens with toasted walnuts and walnut-oil vinaigrette.

Mediteranean Bean Panzanella

Dustin and I have grown terribly fond of panzanellas. So easy, so versatile, and healthy to boot. It's the perfect summer meal, when you get home from work and would rather sit outside, sipping a beer than throw something together for dinner. And, since it's just the two of us, and I have a weakness for purchasing delicious artisinal bread, which we can never finish, we always have leftover bread laying around. And people, if I made bread pudding everytime we had leftover bread, my pants would no longer fit.

The first time I made panzanella was actually only a few months ago. I tore out a recipe card from Martha Stewart for a Meditteranean Panzanella, with green beans, olives, red onion, and feta. From that point on we were hooked. I've made a few panzanellas since then, but the one that we had for dinner last night was by far the best yet. Having some leftover flageolet beans, and the last of our tomatoes from the garden, which I roasted in the oven with thyme and garlic, dinner was practically made before I even started.

Hopefully you'll make this, or use it as inspiration to create your own panzanella. Although it's usually considered a summer dish, I've already been envisioning fall versions, with roasted squash, or some roasted peppers, or maybe even a variation with some steak and blue cheese. If you love beans though, absolutely give this a try. I totally adore beans, and this was meal perfection for me.

Mediteranean Bean Panzanella
Serves 2

For Dressing
2 Tbsp good-quality olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

For Salad
1 1/2 cups beans, preferably a soft-textured white bean
1/2 cup roasted tomatoes
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
8 oil-cured black olives, chopped
Handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Feta or goat cheese for garnish, optional

2 Thick slices good-quality bread, cut 1-inch thick

Preheat your oven to broil. In a large bowl, combine the ingredients for the dressing, mixing well to emulsify. Toss the onion, and olives in the bowl, and let sit while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Warm the beans and roasted tomatoes in a small saucepan (drain and rinse if using canned; add a splash of olive oil or chicken broth to moisten) over medium-low heat. In the meantime, place your bread slices under the broiler, and toast evenly to a golden brown on both sides. Remove from the oven.

Add the beans and tomatoes to the bowl with the dressing, and toss gently to combine. Cut the bread into 1-inch cubes, and add to the salad, along with the chopped parsley. Toss gently again, to thoroughly mix ingredients and moisten the bread with the dressing.

Divide the salad among 2 bowls and top with cheese if desired.

I Dream of Andalusia

I've been to Spain twice in my life. The first time in high school, when my peers and I, accompanied by two overbearing chaparones, traveled by bus across the Spanish countryside. Our main appreciation of Spain at that point was the easy access to beer and cigarettes, and my palate so underdeveloped at the time, that I subsisted solely grilled cheese and gazpacho for the entire two weeks.

My second rendevous with Spain was during college, when I lived there for half a year. Needless to say, the second time around I got much more intimate with that hot-blooded country, and I got to experience the best side of Spanish cooking - home cooking. My senora, Lola, was a simple cook, but her food is still burned into my memory. Her stews were outstanding, always made with homemade broth, and probably cooked with animal parts I'm much more comfortable not knowing about. There was one morning, when I looked up from my toast to see a gigantic tail being pulled from a bag on the counter. I said "Dios Mio, Lola!", and she about died laughing. I never did find out what animal that tail belonged to - not sure I wanted to.



There were many dishes I came to love while in Spain, but of them all, gazpacho has remained one of my favorites - something I look forward to making as soon as the weather turns warm. I used to use Ina Garten's gazpacho recipe exclusively. I thought it was gazpacho perfection, but friends, I have found a new gazpacho to compete with my beloved Barefoot recipe. I have started helping out a local personal chef, who also caters small events and parties, and Wednesday was my first night in the kitchen with her. And my first catered dish to prepare? You guessed it. Gazpacho.

Holly is a great chef, and I'm so glad she shared this gazpacho recipe with me. Both recipes have their charms, but this one has the interesting addition of a garlic and egg mash which is blended in with the vegetable mixture, along with breadcrumbs, for body and substance. There are a few other ingredients I was surprised to see in there, but I can assure you, they make for one harmonious and interesting bowl of soup...it takes me right back to Spain, and there is absolutely nothing better to eat in the dog days of summer, no matter what country you live in.

Enjoy!

Holly's Gazpacho
Serves 8

2 cups fresh plum tomatoes, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 English cucumber, chopped
½ cup red onion, finely chopped
2 serranos or jalapenos, minced
½ lemon , juiced
2 cups chicken broth
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup parsley, finely minced
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chiffonade
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco, to taste
Coarsely ground black pepper
46 ounces tomato juice
1 cup plain bread crumbs

For Garlic & Egg Paste:
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs

Make the egg/garlic paste:
Place the eggs in a small pot of cold water, bring to a boil, and let simmer for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the garlic with kosher salt and set in a small bowl. When the eggs are finished cooking, peel and rinse, then add to the garlic and salt mixture, and mash together with a fork.

Make the Soup Base: In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, red onion, olive oil, lemon juice, chicken broth, red wine vinegar, parsley, basil, worcestershire, and season with freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine.

Pour the tomato juice into the bowl with the vegetables, then add the garlic and egg mixture, along with the bread crumbs and stir to combine.

Using a handheld mixer, puree the soup to an even consistency, or use the food processor, in batches, to puree the soup. Taste for seasoning, and adjust with additional salt, pepper, or tabasco.

Chill for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight. Garnish with additional minced hardboiled egg, olives, red onion, or parsley.

Notes:
This gazpacho will keep in the fridge for up to a week. The garlic and egg mixture adds body and substance to the soup, but you can leave it out if you prefer a more subtle taste.

A Round of Snaps, Please

When we were younger, when my mom had prepared an especially delicious meal, my dad would call across the dinner table "how about a round of snaps for mom", and we Steagall kids would raise our knubby fingers into the air, and awkwardly snap our way toward something that resembled a compliment to my mother's skill in the kitchen. We snapped a lot in our youth. It's a wonder that one of us didn't end up on America's Got Talent, snapping our way to fame, like Bobby Badfingers.

I'd like to continue the Steagall Family snapping tradition by calling for a round of snaps for Molly, over at Orangette. Her blog has been one of my favorite since day one, and I have made more recipes that she's posted about than from any other blog. They've all been wonderful - and I made another one of her creations for my lunch today, and it solidified what many bloggers out there know - Molly rocks.

I was dying to take a picture of this salad, because it's totally gorgeous (I was literallly gushing as I was making it), but I want to leave the glory to Molly, since it is the product of her creativity in the kitchen. Please go check this salad out, and then make it - immediately. It is different and so delicious.

Chop Chop

A chopped salad is hardly ever inspiring. It can be tasty at times, there's no doubt, but as far as salads go, it's sort of a non-salad-eaters salad. It's barely healthy, and is usually made of limp and processed meats and cheeses, which brings it closer in classification to a hoagie than a salad.

I've made a recent resolution to fill my life with salads - new salads, full of ingredients I don't often eat, like beets, endive, or radicchio - topped with different cheeses, and exciting new dressings. So far, this resolution has been easier to keep than most - summer just begs for quick meals that leave you feeling light and refreshed. I've been on a goat cheese bender recently too, so most of my salads end up with a good bit of creamy cheese sprinkled over the top, which makes any salad worth eating.



So, in the spirit of my new resolution, a few nights ago, I made the Chopped Salad with Beets, Beans, Hazelnuts and Goat Cheese, out of last month's Food and Wine. The recipe appeared in a wonderful article called "The Feel-Good Kitchen", about a restaurant in Boulder, Colorado, called, not surprisingly, "The Kitchen". I must mention that I read this article about 3 times, in some sort of effort to transport myself back to my former stomping grounds. I lived in Boulder for 5 years during college, and leaving that beautiful "bubble" has left me aching for it ever since. I love where I am, and Dustin and I's life in North Carolina, but I have a special place in my heart for Colorado, and the West in general. I miss it terribly.

In homage to that town that I loved so dearly, I prepared the ingredients for this salad with extra attention - lining them up on my cutting board in neat little piles, and stopping to admire their beauty along the way. The salad was a deliciously different take on the Chop Salad we all know. Far more sophisticated, with it's tangy goat cheese, earthy beets, and crunchy hazelnuts. The dressing is light and slightly sweet from the honey, and makes a nice pairing with the straightforward taste of all those wonderful veggies. And as a bonus, the leftover dressing at the bottom of the bowl is the most beautiful pink color - Dustin and I had it all over the ends of our noses as we slurped out every last drop.

Chopped Salad with Beets, Beans, Hazelnuts, and Goat Cheese
Food and Wine, "The Feel-Good Kitchen", from The Kitchen

1 large beet (6 ounces), quartered
1/4 cup skinned hazelnuts
1/4 pound green beans
2 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound mixed salad greens, such as baby romaine, butter lettuce, radicchio and endives, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced (substituted cucumber, since I was out of carrot)
1 celery rib, finely diced
1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves
2 1/2 ounces soft, fresh goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 375°. Place the beet in a small baking dish with 1/4 cup of water. Cover with foil and roast the beet for 45 minutes, until tender. Let cool slightly, then peel and finely dice.

In the meantime, spread the hazelnuts in a pie plate and toast them for about 10 minutes, until they are golden. Let cool, then coarsely chop the nuts.

Blanch the green beans until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and cool under running water. Pat the beans dry and cut into 1-inch pieces.

In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt with the lemon juice, honey and olive oil and season the dressing with salt and pepper. Add the diced beet, hazelnuts, green beans, salad greens, carrot, celery, tomato, mint and goat cheese and toss gently. Serve the salad right away.

Serves 4 - 6

The Ghost of Freshman Past

When I was a freshman in college, I subsisted solely upon Grape-Nuts, Veggie Burgers, Grilled Cheese and Tater Tots. Oh, what a happy day Grilled Cheese Day was! I had friends that would eat 5 or 6 at a time! Occasionally, the cafeteria gods would smile upon us suffering underclassmen, and they would proclaim that we should be served something different....something healthy, but tasty....and they would serve us Stuffed Peppers. In Kittridge Hall, they would stuff green peppers with couscous and vegetables...they were a little boring, so I'd always top them with whatever soup or pasta sauce was offered that day. Dorm room living wasn't glamorous, but it sure was easy, wasn't it?

I would hardly say that stuffed peppers were ever a favorite of mine, but in the dredges of a freshman diet, they create an excitement that is surpassed only by a meal eaten OUTSIDE the dorms. This is no shining introduction to our recent dinner of Stuffed Peppers with Spicy Collards and Scallion Pilaf, but it is the truth. Stuffed Peppers have a pretty homely reputation, and it is for good reason. Vegetarian versions still carry with them that 70's veggie vibe that scares most people away from "vegetarian" eating. BUT, if something is good, and it happens to be meat free, then most people will gladly forget their carnivorous ways.

Dustin and I don't eat meat that often, and it's especially easy to forgo eating meat during the summer, when there is produce knocking down the door, and taking over the refrigerator. Lately we've eaten some fantastic vegetarian meals, like Zucchini and Corn Enchiladas, from Fields of Greens, Mediterranean Panzanella from Martha Stewart, and Linguine with Parsley-Mint Pesto, from this month's Food and Wine. These stuffed peppers came from Food and Wine as well, and were featured in their regular Well-Being section, in an article about cookbook writer Celia Brooks Brown. I changed the recipe according to what I had on hand, and added a quick yogurt sauce flavored with chives, lemon juice, honey and cayenne pepper. It turned out to be a delicious and virtuous dinner, which I love, because it left plenty of room for dessert. More on that later.



I'd say that stuffed peppers are the the most flexible dish in the world - add whatever you have in your fridge, but just make sure you add some texture and some serious flavor, or they can turn out a little bland. I'd also recommend cooking them long enough that the peppers get really nice and soft... if they are still a bit toothsome, they will lack depth of flavor. It is helpful to make the stuffing ahead of time, if you want to cook this on a weeknight, because of the long cooking time.

Stuffed Peppers with Spicy Greens and Scallion Pilaf
Adapted from Food and Wine, Celia Brooks Brown, Aug 2006

1 1/2 cups short-grain brown or white rice, rinsed and drained, cooked according to package directions
3/4 lb Swiss Chard or Collards, trimmed, ribs discarded
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 medium scallions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves
3/4 teaspoon tumeric
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 medium tomato, diced
3 tablespoons currants, soaked in white wine if desired
3 tabelspoons pine nuts, toasted
Fresh lemon juice
Salt and Pepper
4 Yellow or Orange Peppers
1 cup veggie or chicken broth, or 1/2 broth, 1/2 white wine

For Yogurt Sauce
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons minced chives
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
pinch of cayenne

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large skillet, heat 1/2 inch water to a boil. Add the chard or collards and cook until tender, about 2-3 minutes. Drain and let cool, then squeeze dry and coarsely chop.

Heat the olive oil in the same skillet over moderate heat. Add the scallions and garlic and cook until softened and fragrant. Season with salt and pepper, and then add the spices and cook, stirring, another 2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with a little white wine, if you happen to have some on hand, or in hand! Add the chard and currants and cook until the liquid evaporates. Add the chopped tomato and cook a few minutes longer. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the cooked rice. Squeeze a few tablespoons of fresh lemon juice over the mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

Cut the tops off the peppers and reserve. Scoop out the seeds and ribs. Spoon the rice filling into the peppers and replace the tops. Stand the peppers in a baking dish that will hold them snuggly, and pour in the broth (and wine if using). Cover tightly with foil and bake 1 hour, or longer, until the peppers are tender. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The MSC

Last weekend, as I was walking into Whole Foods, I noticed a large white and blue sign hanging above the door, announcing the arrival of Marine Stewardship Council Halibut. Sounds good, I thought. After placing the carefully-wrapped package in my cart, I felt certain that dinner was going to be delicious, and I was pretty sure I had just done something good for our planet, but if you had asked me why it was good, I would have shrugged.

I decided to check out the Marine Stewardship Council website, and find out exactly why it's important to buy sustainably harvested fish. The organization started out under Unilever - producer of such ubiquitous brands as Dove, Bertolli, Hellman's, and Slim-Fast. Apparently, they are also the largest buyer of seafood in the world. I was happy to find out that the MSC is now independent, and is working to certify fisheries of all sizes around the world, in order to ensure the future health of our oceans, and the livelihoods of the people who fish for a living. MSC is the only internationally recognized set of environmental standards for measuring the sustainability of fisheries. Their standards were carefully developed over a over a two year period; they consulted scientists, fisherie experts, environmental organizations, and others who have a stake in the future of the industry (well, we all do, don't we?). With as much as 76% of the world's fish stocks being fully exploited (maximum biological capacity), it's clear that it's important to buy these products when they are available to us.

I suspected that products carrying the MSC logo would be hard to find, or prohibitively expensive for the average shopper, but a list of stores carrying MSC-labeled fish and fish products revealed a surprising number of sources. Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and Wegman's are all carrying these products, but also on the list are Walmart, and Safeway stores, among others. This is a great direction for these large corporations to take, because if sustainable products are readily available, and affordable, it seems to me like the average consumer would glady make the purchase. The challenge then lies in the hands of marketers and these organizations to educate the public.

Now, back to the halibut fillet sitting in my shopping cart. I had ripped out a recipe from this month's Bon Appetit , for Chipotle-Glazed Halibut, with Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce. I happen to adore tomatillos, and the recipe had very few ingredients, so it went to the front of my recipe basket. It was a cinch to put together - I made a quick glaze with chipotle chiles, honey, orange juice and spices, then made the Tomatillo Sauce in the blender using just tomatillos (I used canned), an avocado, and orange juice...and that was it! The recipe called for grilling the fish, but I just popped it in the oven at 400 degrees. I roasted some potatoes to go along with the fish, and garnished it with cilantro, and it plated up beautifully too, as you can see. Mostly importantly though, it was delicious. Extra points for sustainability as well.

Notes
The original recipe made 6 servings; I halved it with no problems. I also added some additional spices and some brown sugar to the glaze, because the honey that I had in the pantry was more savory than sweet. I used canned tomatillos because the store didn't have fresh, and I don't think it made much of a difference, but now I have to find a use for the rest of can...

The recipe is not yet posted on Epicurious , but they update it pretty regularly, so if you're not a subscriber, just check back in a few weeks.

The information about MSC in this entry was all gathered from their site, listed above.