My summer break was pretty packed. In short order, and with complimentary recommendations:
DINING: Bread & Butterfly (jambon beurre); Babette’s Cafe (steak tartare and a cold gin martini); Manuel’s Tavern (brunch). Victory Sandwich (Mile-High Club and the one with the ghost pepper), White Bull (heirloom tomatoes), Leon’s (Team Relay, and frites with the garlic aioli).
ARTS & CULTURE: The Grammarians (eh), Beach Read (...nope), Konfekt Issue 2 (absolutely yes, my god this is the true ideal of aspiration culture magazines); started but did not complete The Man Who Ate Everything (review pending). SOUR (strongly recommend, essential summer listening).
SPORT/SOCIAL: Staying up way too late with old friends on the world’s best porch.
Now it’s back to business!
THE BUSINESS OF INTERNET READING, ANYWAY
The storylines were a lot sometimes, and the glossiness a little over-the-top, but I am still unhappy that it’s the last season of The Bold Type (or as Adrian has called it, “your show with the friends with the fun job”)
“I could not believe that the most famous house in New York in 1950 would simply vanish.”
The image rehabilitation of the blue drink
That time Hitler’s girlfriend visited Iceland and the British invaded
“FISH IN CRAZY WATER” OR, SOUTHERN ITALIAN POACHED FISH
In spite of all the productive leisure listed above, during my first week-ish of working at Pinterest I cooked maybe one time. We ate a lot of Doordash delivery. I’m not proud of it. We have groceries now.
The one dish I did make was a revelation for the start of summer): a variation on “pesce all’acqua pazza,” a Southern Italian dish that translates to “fish in crazy water,” which is a great description of a great meal.
INGREDIENTS
2 fillets of flounder or other mild white fish
Salt & pepper
4 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. za’atar
1 tsp. sumac
1 tsp. honey
1 pint of grape tomatoes, halved
1 big shallot, sliced
½ red onion, sliced
½ cup green olives, halved
A generous pour of capers
5-6 garlic cloves (peeled, halved lengthwise)
Quarter of a lemon
1 cup of couscous, cooked
A few sprigs of fresh mint (optional)
WHAT TO DO
Heat oven to 400. Pat fish as dry as you can get it, and season with salt & pepper.
In a small bowl, mix vinegar, salt & pepper, sumac, za’atar, and honey, slowly drizzling in the olive oil while whisking to fully emulsify. In a large casserole or roasting dish, add tomatoes, shallot, garlic, and red onion and cover with the dressing. Roast vegetables for about 15 minutes, or until tomatoes look a little crinkly.
Move the vegetables over to the sides of the dish, if needed, to make room for the fish filets. Add fish, olives, and capers to the mix and roast for about 12 more minutes, or until the fish is white and flaky.
Remove from the oven and squeeze lemon juice over the whole dish, sprinkling with a bit of flaky sea salt if you have it. Serve over Israeli couscous and top with fresh mint.