Japan has been on my mind a lot lately, though unfortunately for terrible reasons. Given the many areas in which Japanese culture has influenced me–ceramics, cooking, and to a lesser degree painting–there’s not another country that has made such an impact on me, at least one I’ve never been to. Italy taught me to cook, and France taught me about wine. Japan is more of an aspirational influence, a strange attractor that shapes my cooking and serving from afar.
It’s pouring rain again–better than snow, for sure, though another flood isn’t quite what my mood needs right now–which makes this post somewhat fitting since the rivers and streams are swollen and raging right now. Yesterday a neighbor gave me a beautiful striped bass from his freezer, left from last season. I put it in the fridge to thaw out overnight. By prep time today, it was perfect.
I had been thinking about this for a few days; it always works out best when I cook what I really want to cook and tonight was no exception. Trout “en papillote” stuffed with garlic and herbs went in the oven along with twice-baked potatoes (for their second time) after baking and getting mashed up with garlic chives, (newly visible now the snow is melting) truffle oil, thyme, salt, pink pepper, and olive oil and…