Day Three: Recipes and Results

It's late. I haven't been terribly hungry today, but for you, I cook, and I eat.

I might, however, have run out of clever for today. So, we're going to get right to it.

Lunch was a mahi mahi fillet marinated in some traditional asian shtuff, and a salad.

The Recipe
2.5 ounce piece of thawed (from frozen) mahi mahi
2 T low sodium soy sauce
2 healthy pinches of Chinese 5 Spice
1/2 tsp dark sesame oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper

The fish hung out all day in a Ziploc bag, marinating away. This was really a pretty simple, straightforward thing to cook. If you've had mahi before, you know it's not an extremely fishy fish, and it's very good at maintaining its integrity while at the same time allowing other flavours in.



Twenty minutes in the EBO, and what I got was a flavourful, moist, flaky piece of fish.



I have always been a fan of baking fish, but the trick every time is making sure it's cooked through but doesn't get dry. Oddly, that seems to be a much less daunting task in the EBO. Just like the salmon, 20 minutes inside that baking chamber doesn't seem to do anything bad, and in fact, seems to intensify the flavours of both the fish and its seasoning.

*Gumpvoice* And that's all I've got to say about that.

Dinner was a tuna noodle bake and packet cooked red bell pepper (I didn't realize I had run out of broccoli. whoops!)

The Recipe
1/3 can of tuna in oil
1 packet of low sodium instant miso soup mix
Slightly more than 1/4 cup of Maifun noodles
1 healthy pinch of Spanish paprika

The peppers
1/4 of a red bell pepper, cut into chunks
sea salt and cracked black pepper

First, I know some of you made a face about the tuna packed in oil. Eventually, I'll stop explaining myself about stuff like this, but I want you to feel ok about it. I really do. Most of the oil was drained off, but I did retain a bit of it to make sure the tuna stayed moist, and the additional moisture also helped the miso soup blend into it better. There was also the question of how and if the noodles would finish cooking properly inside the EBO, and I thought the little bit of oil left in the tuna would help with that, as well.

I soaked the noodles in very hot tap water for about 10 minutes. Maifun noodles are a wheat free, gluten free noodle made from rice flour. If you buy a box of Maifun noodles, you'll see that this hot water soaking method is what you'd do to the noodles if you were planning on using them in stir fry. It takes the noodles about 3/4 of the way there, and allows them to finish cooking quickly with whatever they're going to be served with. Maifun noodles are NOT going to turn to mush. They are happiest at al dente and you'd probably have to boil the bejeezus out of them to get them to go all soft and mushy. Maifun noodles are kind of a hardass.

After the noodles had soaked, I mixed them with the tuna, the miso soup, and a little salt and pepper. After arranging the mixture in the tart pan, I noticed that it just looked... boring. I knew the flavours weren't, but we eat with our eyes, first. I kinda wish I had some green onion or something, but I don't, so I sprinkled on some Spanish paprika to give it a little colour.



The tuna bake came out.... uuuuuh. It was ok. I put it through the oven in two 10 minute bakes. The miso soup mix is a pretty assertive flavour, but not obnoxiously, although I'd say next time (if there is a next time), rather than just mixing the dry soup mix into the tuna I'll mix it with just a little hot water first to get the "powdery" taste out.

The noodles are perfectly cooked. They got crunchy on top, but stayed tender inside the dish.



This recipe definitely needs some tweaking, but it's edible and definitely has potential.

The peppers just went onto a 12 x 6 inch (ish) piece of foil, and got a sprinkle of salt and pepper. I did spray the foil VERY lightly with some non-stick spray. Then, I just folded the edges up and made the packet as flat as possible.




The peppers cooked in 10 minutes, and they are definitely steamed through, and are broken down nicely without becoming mushy. This is definitely something I'll repeat. Packet cooking (at least for peppers) in the EBO is a success!



And that, kids, is Day three.

I am off to the bustling metropolis of Brush, Colorado tomorrow to visit Coree, so I will probably just be making breakfast, and I'll be combining my menu post and results post because I won't be back at home until sometime Monday.

So, I'll meet you back here bright and early tomorrow. Gnight!