(no subject)

Yesterday, I made a meal for jmpava's mother and her partner. His mom eats basically no meat except fish, and since her partner likes fish too (and isn't a big vegetarian-only fan), and we like fish, I figured: I'll cook fish.

I cooked up three kinds of fish, in increasing order of exoticness: salmon, which I know they both like; mackerel, which I don't think they'd tasted but which is still basically a 'normal' fish, and freshwater eel (aka unagi), which jmpava and I love but about which they were a bit dubious. I served them with a lemon-garlic-ginger sauce (intended for the salmon, also good on the mackerel) and unagi sauce (from a bottle, because I haven't sussed out the exact components). I also made ginger-wasabi mashed sweet potatoes (which where honestly the biggest hit of the evening), and, because I feel obliged to offer some kind of actual vegetable at every meal (starches don't really count), green beans stewed with tomatoes.

(I'm trying to develop a taste for fish lower on the oceanic food chain than salmon and tuna, as much as I love salmon and tuna. It's better for the environment, it's a hell of a lot cheaper, and it has a lower amount of mercury on average. Mackerel is just one step down, but hey, I'm working on it....)

It's hard to tell whether I converted them to the Unagi Side of the Force, because they're too polite to say 'eew' even if they dislike it, but they did eat all of their share, which is a good sign. (The sweet potatoes vanished. That's definitely a keeper recipe.)

Amounts in these recipes are for two people.

( Sesame-Crusted Seared Salmon )

( Cured, Broiled Mackerel )

( Lemon Garlic Ginger Sauce )

( Unagi )

( Sweet Potatoes Mashed with Wasabi and Ginger )

( Stewed Green Beans and Tomatoes )

Goes well with a nice, dry white wine.