A friend of mine mentioned this afternoon that she liked to hear about my kitchen adventures because she doesn't cook much. It occurred to me that I might actually blog more about writing here if I also blogged about food. I've been cooking for longer that I've been writing, and it's much easier for me to write about. I certainly don't mull over decisions at the stove as long as I do at the keyboard!
So this evening I made a Tuna Tagine. I love tagines (both the cooking pot and the food cooked in it, but mostly the food), having been introduced to them with my aunt at a fabulous restaurant called Dar Essalam in Wilsonville, just east of Frye's. If you're ever in the area, try them out. Just leave some oxtail tagine for me.
Anyway, we have some tuna M. caught on the coast last year that needs using. The package I thawed was lightly freezer burned, so I wanted a highly flavorful recipe for it and tagine really fits the bill. He's wanted to try the Mediterranean Diet this winter, and I had bought a jar of preserved lemon I was dying to try.
So....I found this Tangy Fish Tagine recipe from Fine Cooking. I've never even seen a fish tagine before so I had to try it. I altered it to what I had on hand and, well, to my time and patience. It is a tad fiddly but worth the effort (and some of the fiddly is unnecessary).
It's also insanely nutrition-dense. I entered it into my nutrition program and was amazed. (I'm using Cron-o-meter, and I absolutely love it. Most nutrition programs out there focus on calories, protein, carbs and fat, but I like a LOT more information than that. It may have saved me from a broken bone or worse; I had no idea how little calcium and Vitamin D I had been eating, and I know better! If you've ever wanted a program that actually runs on a Mac and will actually tell you if you're meeting your Vitamin D, calcium and B vitamin needs, check it out. It also has a smart phone app that does everything the web interface does, except let you enter recipes. I was so taken with it I got a lifetime subscription.)
Back to the recipe. It was delicious and definitely something we'll try again. However, I was really unhappy with the textures. That's partially the recipe directions but largely my fault. I used a baker because we were out of boilers, and the original recipe has you parboil the potatoes and then put them under everything and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. So of course I ended up with smushed watery potato paste tinted purple by the red onion. Tasted fine, but looked awful and the texture was mealy. Wasn't even a good mashed potato texture.
The peppers, hanging out on top, never got any of the tagine flavor and weren't as done as I like, staying tender-crisp. Some folks like them that way. If you do, leave them there and do the steaming, they'll need it. But next time I'm going to layer them on the bottom with the onions, and maybe put the potatoes on top and then the fish -- or maybe the fish and leave the potatoes on top. Hm. Maybe try both -- I really did like this recipe so I'm sure I'll try both options!
The potatoes definitely do not need to be parboiled in advance if they're going to simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. That might be intended to wash out some of the starch, but a good rinse of the sliced raw potatoes should do that. Ah-- the recipe says, (now that I read the introduction) that it's to make sure the veggies are cooked when the fish is done. And the fish was done well before 45 minutes. I (cough) overcooked the hell out of it because I didn't like the look of the freezer burn. Don't need to do that again.
So. First, where I veered off from the recipe.
First major substitution is a biggie: my wildly over-equipped kitchen somehow lacks a tagine. (Here's what one looks like. That page also has an explanation of preserved lemon and a lamb-apricot tagine I need to try). However, I DO have two fabulous Dutch ovens and I figured one of them would work. And did, quite nicely.
Other changes: I used tuna, obviously. I left out the carrots and doubled the peppers, and made some ingredient subsitutions -- canned tomatoes instead of fresh, ground coriander for cilantro, baker for boiler.
Things I did that I'd do again: use tuna instead of monkfish or black bass. I honestly have never tried the other two types of fish, and, well, we've got a lot of tuna in the freezer. I will say fresh fish might work better here.
The mincing of the preserved lemon seemed quite fiddly largely because it was time-consuming, but it worked perfectly, melting into the marinade and resulting sauce.
My day's schedule meant I needed to make the marinade about three hours before I made the dish; the recipe says to marinate the fish for 30 minutes. I figured tuna being a strongly flavored fish, more time in the marinade meant more tagine flavor, and I was right. I would certainly marinate tuna for longer than 30 minutes.
Grating a fresh tomato over a sieve to eliminate the seeds and skin was a novel idea to me. It might work well in the summer when one can get really ripe fresh tomatoes, but in January in the Pacific Northwest notsomuch. I was already pressed for time, so I simplified my day, skipped that step and used canned tomatoes. I'd do that again. The seeds and skin were not an issue. That said, fresh tomato would certainly give a fresher flavor.
I'd also leave out the carrots again (if you don't like peppers, use carrots instead, but nobody needs both -- that's Vitamin A overkill). I'd double the amount of peppers again. Because, fresh peppers, a thing of beauty.
Things I did today that I won't do again: substitute a baking potato for boilers. Ever. 'nuf said.
I'd also wait to add the water until all the ingredients were layered, so more of the marinade flavor gets on the veggies. It was a pretty thick marinade and stayed stuck to the fish, flavoring the veggies below it only lightly.
Run out of cilantro. Last week I used coriander seed in a lentil soup instead of ground coriander -- and boy was that an annoying crunchy mistake. So I'd just bought a new jar of ground coriander, and I used 1/2 tsp. of that in the marinade because we lacked fresh cilantro. It was an okay flavor but I really think cilantro would taste better.
Future additions and alterations to try.
I'm really curious as to how this dish would work baked instead of on the stove. Tonight's turned out a bit watery, probably due to the frozen fish (and the wrong potatoes) but might have been because I was using a Dutch oven instead of a tagine. Having never used the latter, I'm not sure. Baking in a Dutch oven tends to be a drier but more even cooking experience, and I'd like to try this recipe that way. I also would be able to cut more of the oil, I think -- I cut the original 1/4 cup to 3 tablespoons by using a single tablespoon in the pan because *of course* my Dutch ovens are well-seasoned.
I used kalamata olives because I like them. The recipe just says "whole olives," but M. pointed out after dinner that the picture shows green whole olives. Oh. *shrug* Either would work fine. Sliced green olives would probably be lovely.
I might add artichoke hearts and/or another vegetable. M. suggested cauliflower but then decided it wouldn't work with the brightness of the flavor of this dish. I think it's worth a try. Or perhaps some fresh green beans.
I'd also like to try a whole grain (maybe partially-cooked barley?) instead of the potatoes. Couscous comes to mind but it it would need to be cooked on the side or it would be mush.
Recipe for next time:
Here's my tuna adaptation, the way I'd like to make it next time (i.e., with tonight's mistakes fixed and with an experiment written in; pre-cooking only those veggies that will be above the cooking water). The original, as I said earlier, is here at Fine Cooking.
Tangy Tuna Tagine
(four servings)
1 preserved lemon (or six wedges)
1 cup canned tomatoes (or 2 medium plums, halved crosswise)
2 Tbsp. minced flat-leaf parsley
2 Tbsp. minced fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp EACH ground cumin and sweet paprika
freshly ground black pepper
salt
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb. tuna steaks, cut into four similarly-sized pieces
1 lb. (waxy) boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices and rinsed of all starch.
16 baby bell peppers, roughly 9 oz., sliced into ribbons
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup whole olives (try green)
Make the marinade
Wedge the lemon if it is whole. Rinse the wedges. Separate the pulp and rind and chop the pulp finely, removing any seeds. Take half the peel and chop it, adding it to the pulp, and sliver the rest, setting it aside for later.
If you're using the fresh tomatoes, put a sieve over your marinating container and seed the tomatoes, capturing the tomato juice and discarding the seeds. Then replace the sieve with a box grater and grate the tomatoes into the bowl, slowly and carefully (use the large holes) until all you have left is the skin; discard that.
Otherwise just put a cup of canned tomatoes into your marinating container.
Add the lemon pulp and chopped rind to the tomatoes, along with the next six ingredients (parsley, cilantro, garlic, cumin, paprika and pepper.) Add 1/4 tsp salt if using fresh tomatoes. Pour in 2 Tbsp of the olive oil and 2 Tbsp of water. Mix well.
Add the fish to the marinade, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate, turning once or twice, for at least several hours.
Make the dish
Steam half the potatoes and half the peppers for about ten minutes.
Cover the bottom of a Dutch oven (or tagine, if you buy one) with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Heating it helps. Separate the onion rings and scatter them and the raw pepper strips and raw potatoes over the oil. Mix them up. Put the tuna steaks on top, and cover with the steamed potatoes and peppers. Dot with the olives and the reserved lemon slivers. Add a 1/4 cup of water to the marinade and drizzle over everything in pan. Make sure some liquid gets to the bottom so the veggies don't burn.
Cook over medium-low heat with the lid well ajar and gently simmer OR bring to a simmer and then bake partially covered in a 375 degree oven. Check periodically to make sure things aren't sticking and burning, or getting too watery; add water or remove lid as needed.
Cook until fish is opaque -- original recipe said 30 to 45 minutes; 30 minutes should be plenty stovetop.
Nutrition info for 1/4 of the recipe:
Calories: 452 kcal; 33.5 g. protein, 42.6 g carbs, 14.8 g fat, (1.1 g omega-3 and 11 g omega-6). Near or more than 100 percent of the day's requirement of Vitamins A, C, B3, B6 and B1; a good source of vitamin K and many minerals (lowest is calcium at 10 percent).
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