le blog de tranny

On sunny Sundays the default activity of choice among our friends is an impromptu backyard bbq. Sometimes at Jane & Matt’s; sometimes at my+Caro’s place. Fish-wise we usually go for tilapia — it’s cheap, and makes great fish tacos. Regardless of what Mark Bittman says (i.e. that he hates tilapia) I always find it to be quite successful in satisfying my cravings for fish. One sunny Sunday au fin Juin we decided to spice things up a bit and grill halibut for a change. The menu du jour at Chez Hummer-Tranny that afternoon made good use of the barbecue: grilled halibut with chimichurri, salad of spinach and grilled strawberries, green beans and corn, and grilled potatoes with parsley and rosemary. Yummykins McDerish.

For the chimichurri, I combined ~1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil, the juice of 4 lemons, 1 tbsp of water, 4 sizeable cloves-worth of minced garlic, 1 medium shallot, minced, 1 tbsp (maybe more) of red pepper flakes, and a bunch of chopped fresh parsley. I tried to follow this recipe but ended up adding more lemon juice and garlic/shallot than it calls for. (I was also dealing with more halibut than the 4 servings-worth specified in the recipe.) It just tasted better to me with a slightly higher lemon juice to olive oil ratio. If I had to do it over I would probably have added more parsley than I did — I sort of just eye-balled it this time around but I think next time I’ll measure it out to make sure I’m actually using (at least) 3/4 cup chopped parsley.

Hummer gams:

To prep the halibut I just patted it dry with paper towels, brushed each piece on both sides with canola oil (Epi suggests veg oil… I think any oil would work really, but preferably one with a lower smoking point) and seasoned it with s&p.

Perhaps we should have sliced the potatoes length-wise — Caro and I both accidentally let (more than) a few slip through the bars of the grill. Or maybe we should get a grill basket. Kitchenaccessoriesgalore.

I sometimes wonder what fish I should (or rather, should not) be eating. As a rule, I don’t order tuna at sushi restaurants anymore, but apparently it’s more complicated than that. This site, recommended to me by my coworker, is quite helpful.

The salad was, in a word, gorgeous. Caro made a dressing of shallot-infused olive oil, honey and rice vinegar. The grilled strawberries were divine.

I decided to try my hand at grilling the halibut this time (usually Caro does all the grilling in our marriage-like dichotomy of domestic tasks). These halibut steaks were thick — I think they took 6-7 minutes per side (with the grill covered) to cook all the way through. Once they were off the grill I spread a generous amount of chimichurri over each filet.

Lovely!

P.S. Hup Oranje!