Swordfish and Polenta

Swordfish and Polenta

I love those round tubes of pre-cooked polenta!--“shelf-stable” and a nice change from other starchy things. I am taking Andrew Weill’s advice to heart lately and try to eat a rainbow of foods, especially carbohydrates. Previously I ate mostly wheat—bread (I was proud that it was always homemade and whole grain), pasta, wheat tortillas—but have broadened out to sweet potatoes, quinoa, brown rice, whole rye crackers, occasional white potatoes, acorn and butternut squash. I put 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a cookie sheet, lay the slices of polenta in and turned them over once so each side would have some oil, and baked at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, turning once.

Dad was also cooking tonight, so he made the fresh (uncooked, that is) tomato and herb topping for the polenta, and the sauteed yellow squash.

I cooked the swordfish our favorite way in my favorite pan, pictured here. We bought it on our twentieth-anniversary trip to Paris, at the Dehillerin shop. Dehillerin had pans like this ranging from mini to restaurant-sized, literally three feet long, and every other kind of cooking implement in every size. It was a wonderland of whisks and copper things.

What is so glorious about this pan? Well, it’s copper lined with tin and can withstand any kind of heat—broiler, hot oven, stovetop—and is a perfect thickness. And it looks French.

Favorite Swordfish

Make a paste of these ingredients and spread on swordfish steak or fillet:
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon sherry
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Put in pan and pour a little white vermouth or wine around. Bake at 500 degrees for about 15 minutes.