A couple more Epicurious recipes graced our plates last night,  Sea bass with citrus and soy and coconut ginger rice.  I was working on this somewhat late last night, so the ease of the fish recipe appealed to me.  The fish is steamed in the same liquid it marinates in, and then that's reduced for the sauce.  As I was preparing the marinade/steaming liquid/sauce for the bass (OJ, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil cayenne) I came to the stunning realization that I had no soy sauce!  Oh well, already committed to the recipe, I went ahead without it. 

I added some orange zest and shallot to help out with a little of the intensity that the soy would have added.  When all was said and done, it really could have used the soy sauce.  Use it and the recipe's a real winner.  The texture of the steamed fish is wonderful.

The sea bass was served on a bed of sauteed spinach.  The rice was good and would add a nice touch if used instead of plain white rice in lots of Asian dishes.

I've fallen into quite a trap lately of cooking something, taking pictures, starting to write about it, and then deciding that it isn't "blogworthy".  I look around at a lot of the stuff other people are doing on their food sites, feel very inadequate, and fall into a quagmire of indecision.  I've got to get over that. 

Now, the food.  This was the first thing in a while that I just tossed together on a whim of inspiration after rooting around in the fridge.  I was very happy with the results.  The salmon was simply seasoned with some a cajun seasoning blend, seared for a minute flesh side down, flipped, and thrown into a 400F oven for 5-8 minutes.

The black bean puree was very approximately 1/2 can black beans, 2 cloves garlic, 1 stalk lemon grass, half a red bell pepper, half a small onion, and the juice of one lime.  The veggies were briefly sauteed, everything was thrown in the food processor, then the puree was heated up.  Add some chicken stock if it's too thick.

Pretty strange weather we're getting here.  I guess when these crocuses poke their heads up so early this is the chance they take.  Enjoy.

Food to come...sorry for being such a slacker :(