Today I was going through my old camera’s memory disk and found a few gems. I thought I’d share a couple photos of some of the recipes that for one reason or another never made it on the blog.
Apparently I’m getting quite forgetful–or, I’m just incredibly lazy–because there were quite a few that I remember tasting really good that I never posted; and now it’s been so long, I can’t find my recipe notes! Hopefully these recipes will make their appearance (recipe and all!) soon!
Among all the “lost” recipes, there is one that has completely vanished. I can’t even find a photo!
Last fall, I ordered a whole strawberry grouper from my local supermarket. This was a huge deal for me. You see, my family loves to fish. My parents have a cabin (lake house) and my dad would force my siblings and I to accompany him on the boat for HOURS on end. It was pure torture–especially for a girl who hates fishing.
I would bring a bunch of cds (all Backstreet Boys, if you must know) and sit there with my headphones on and my pole–with a pretty pink sparkly plastic “worm” and no real bait on the hook–in my hand. I’ll never understand why or how, but for some reason I would always catch fish. Always.
Of course, if I caught the fish, my rule was that someone had to take it off the hook for me (I wasn’t going to touch it!) and it had to get thrown back. If anyone wanted to keep a fish I caught, the waterworks would start. Yes. I was a dramatic child.
Then one day, we were up at my parent’s cabin and I happened to walk out the door just as my dad was cutting into a fish to filet it. That was it. I felt so sick and so sad that I didn’t eat fish again for well over 10 years. True story.
Eventually I slowly began to add fish to my diet, but I still couldn’t bring myself to look at the fish whole. As soon as I saw the face, I was done. I couldn’t eat it.
But last year I decided I needed to face this fear. If I really want to become a good cook and possibly try out for Master Chef, I’ve got to get over my whole-fish-phobia. So, I ordered the grouper and brought it home. I made sure Piyush was in the kitchen to assist me because I knew I’d need some back-up and I had absolutely no idea what to do with a whole fish.
He showed me how to scale it. Luckily, it was already cleaned. Then I mixed up a green masala paste, cut some slits in the skin and smothered the poor little fish with the delicious spice and herb mixture. I topped the fish with thin slices of lime and wrapped the whole thing in a couple banana leaves tied shut with twine.
We threw the fish in the oven and let it steam in the leaves for 15 minutes–I don’t remember exactly–and then pulled it out and unwrapped it. I wish I knew what I did with those photos. The fish looked pretty and smelled amazing.
Unfortunately, the amazing smell of the masala paste doesn’t last for long. Our house ended up smelling like fish for almost 2 weeks after! Yuck!
I like the looks of those little pastries, but alas, when I clicked on the picture there was no recipe!
I will make it my mission to make those little pies this weekend! Maybe even tomorrow! 🙂 Check back soon!
Will you be posting these new recipes soon? Im so excited to try them
I will! I plan on making the korma pies tomorrow!
Good thing dad doesn’t use the computer, or he might feel kind of bad by the part where you said he “forced” us to go fishing. Mike and I liked to fish–you were the only odd-ball out! And, for the record, she’s not lying about the whole no-fish thing. There was a lot of cereal eating for her at the cabin…
It’s true…I hate fishing. He knows it. You know it. Everyone knows it. LOL
I was hoping one of the photos would be saag paneer, still have yet to make one that is satisfying as a restaurant!
Saag Paneer will be making an appearance sometime soon (hopefully)! I’ve had many requests for this, actually! 🙂
I second the saag paneer request!
I loved this post! I have quite a few “lost” (or more accurately “buried”/”hidden”/”deleted”) recipes too, that never quite made it to the blog. Some it’s just been too long since I cooked them, and I didn’t take good enough notes, but others were more because they were destined for failure from the beginning.
What a seriously great idea though to create a post about the ones that never (or haven’t yet) made it! I might take a cue from you and save up some photos for a post like this someday in the future.