Therapeutic Cooking for the Soul

There is not much that brings me as much joy as cooking tasty meals with my lovely bride on the weekends and today was no exception! We headed out to enjoy a beautiful day today with a nice run through Lincoln Park Zoo and along Lake Michigan. Spring came early today! Close to 60 degrees,

We followed up with a trip to Stanley's Fruit's and Vegetables for smorgasbord of tasty treats to bring home for our meals this week. It's not the farmer's market but still awfully good. 

Also. we made a stop at the fish market for tonight's wonderful meal. Started out with fresh oysters with a yummy mignonette sauce from a recipe in House & Garden magazine-1964-found on Epicurious' website. We added some garlic and served with horse radish as well.

Then, for our main course, we went with blackened grouper that I cooked in a cast iron skillet- heated for 30 minutes before adding the fish. Want to send out a shout out to my sister-in-law Angie who provided us with the blackening Jerk-spice from Penzy's Spice Company.Thank you Angie!! Cooked the Grouper for 3 minutes on each side over high heat and then let it sit in pan for 3 minutes with flame off. Along with the Grouper, we served grilled asparagus (such a warm night--why not) and a watercress and cucumber salad with a dijon mustard dressing (thanks Martha Stewart). 

As you can see we tried a few different presentation styles.  Overall....AWESOME! This was a very easy meal to make. Some say easy peasy!!!  Everything came out great.

We are starting our preparation for tomorrow's 'Night at the Oscar Feast'.  I will end with.......braised pork shank....to be continued.........