Tomato-y swordfish chunks
with instant mashed potatoes
Last night’s dinner was some chunks of swordfish simmered in a sauce of tomatoes, eggplant, cabbage, onion, and some other things. I spooned it over a pile of instant mashed potatoes.
When I used to work for a meal kit, part of my job at one point was helping to name recipes so they sounded as enticing as possible. That habit has apparently kind of stuck around, never more evidently than when I type something nice-sounding into the title of one of these posts, until I remember I answer to literally no one but myself on this blog, anarchy can reign, and I can use the word chunks in a title as often as I want.
I was originally going to just sear the piece of swordfish and eat it with soy sauce and rice that I’d have John make for me, but something about my 2-week-old cabbage half staring at me like a puppy at the pound made me push John aside and take dinner into my own hands.
And before you say “wow Laura, swordfish, you’re so fancy” or “wow Laura, your life is so aspirational and you make excellent choices” or “wow Laura, you buy eleganza fish and have incredible hair, there’s no way I could ever be like you even though I try every day”— save it for the next time I make duck breast from the farmers’ market, because this piece of swordfish came from The People’s Grocery Store, Trader Joe’s, and cost $11.26.
I started with some cabbage chunks, onion chunks, and chunks of half an ancient eggplant I had forgotten in the back of my fridge, which literally looked like Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love. No matter! I added them all to a skillet with some salt and olive oil.
I continued my excavation of my fridge, which is perpetually mildly disorganized, if you haven’t figured that out that by now. I sliced up a bunch of garlic cloves and threw that in, chopped a bit of rosemary and added that too.
Also in the back of my fridge was a small bowl of Canal House’s tomato butter I had made a few weeks ago (and have written about, here!). It’s an incredible recipe consisting of vermouth, anchovies, tomato paste, and butter - all perfect and appropriate ingredients for this dish, so I lobbed a big spoon of it in the pan. It instantly smelled delicious and was one of the rare instances in my life where something finally works out in my favor.
I also added some of these adorable cherry tomatoes that smell so amazing even just straight out of the can. I only used half a can because I wanted it to be tomato-y, but not tomato saucy. Does that make sense only to me? Sound off in the comments to provide the validation I’m always desperate for.
After only a few more minutes of cooking I felt like frickin Donna Hay, because look how organically beautiful and autumnal this looks!
The last step was chunking up my swordfish filet, which I seasoned with salt and nestled into the vegetables, along with a bit of water and a squeeze of lemon. I smacked a lid on that baby and set a timer for 15 minutes, which would have been an insane amount of time to cook it because the fish was done when I checked it like 6 minutes later, like wtf were you thinking Laura.
In the mean time I made some instant mashed potatoes, which are not quite instant, but do only take about 2 minutes start to finish, especially if you’re only boiling a small amount of water. So to keep them warm I laughed at my own laziness in using this pot that was right in front of me as a lid, instead of executing the very strenuous task of reaching 1 literal foot into the cabinet for an actual lid. It’s giving: Aladdin’s fez.
John had eaten too many saltines with peanut butter about an hour prior, which I guess he prefers over my cooking, so he wasn’t particularly hungry. So I ate this meal working at my desk. All hail cabbage!!! I yum’d several times out loud (to no one), and thought about how much I would love this even if I didn’t have swordfish, and realized this could easily be vegan if you just left out the butter and used vegan swordfish.
My friend Anisa is visiting from San Francisco this week. Although she went out to dinner with some colleagues from her NY office (at Nobu57, cllllaaaaasic corporate midtown restaurant), she came back in time to share dessert and tea over a game of Guess Who. For dessert we had these sophisticated shortbreads I had originally bought at a bougie grocery store…in SF. I had intended to give them to Spencer and Ihnil as a gift, because I thought they would really appreciate both the packaging and flavors.
We’ve seen Spencer and Ihnil many times since I bought them in July, but I keep forgetting to give them away. I decided last night that I’ll never remember, so I might as well give up and eat them myself.
Spencer - here are the cookies I was telling you about that you probably don’t even remember me mentioning. In the end the flavors were super mild and you wouldn’t have been that impressed. So I’m glad I spared myself of that embarrassment.
I like to save this section for something unrelated to food or cooking, but I have to make an exception for this amazing new tea towel that was HAND WOVEN ON A LOOM by my friend’s mom, the shining doubloon of a human named Carolyn Thompson. It came to me in the mail last week along with a sweet card and some chocolate for literally no reason.
Green and gold were my college’s colors, and it was at college where I met her son, who became my friend (although I honestly forget his name). Carolyn is also a paid subscriber of Laura’s Dinner, so if you’re looking toward anyone for a model on how to be a wonderful person, it can definitely be me, but it also can be Carolyn.
Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love. I’m sure you heard me laughing in upstate. I was howling! Great recipe and great post!
Debbie