Fast Dinner: Roast Chicken Thighs and Okra in Black Bean Sauce

Plated with cilantro and green onion.

Thighs were roasted on bed of onion to keep them out of the fat and retain crispy skin.

Stir fried okra with shallots and garlic in black bean sauce garnished with cilantro and green onion.

Shallots caramelizing as okra begins to cook in black bean sauce.

Okra and Shishito in Curried Creme Fraiche Sauce

The plated dish 

Creme fraiche added

Onion, garlic & ginger browned in butter and now okra, shishito and mandarin orange added. 

Provençal Fish Soup and Steamed Mussels

This soup was adapted from a clip I watched with Raymond Blanc doing a Provençal peasant fish soup. I didn't have the different kinds of fish he used as it is impossible to find variety of small whole fish in the States unless you live next to a fishing port with independent fishermen. It's a shame that people in this country haven't developed the palate for a wider variety of seafood than what the big supermarkets push at them like tuna, salmon, snapper, etc. There is so much out in the oceans that are tasty and more sustainable than what most people in this country consider as seafood. Anyway, I digress (because I can't stand learned ignorance when it comes to food).

Sweating down celery, onion, tomato, fennel, garlic.

Fish trimmings from a monkfish and tomato paste added along with reduced dry white wine.

Water added to cover ingredients and simmered for 20-25 minutes.

Bones are removed then soup is liquified in blender then strained through a fine sieve. Garnished with parsley chiffonade.

Mussels are steamed in white wine with garlic and black pepper then garnished with parsley chiffonade.