Keeping it Simple, Fish, Sweet Corn, Zucchini

You would not think that after 40 yrs of cooking personally and professionally, that I would screw up a meal at home.

Fish, corn on the cobb, zucchini. The corn was the best but not all that good either - boiled it instead of roasting it in its jackets. Over a fire or in the oven. Diminished/diluted when boiled in water.

Zucchini, like summer squash should be fast sauteed w/salt, pepper, garlic and finished w/ parmesan cheese. It should have body. I simmered it slow and it was soft and mushy. I am generally w/ Julia and believe that vegetables like broccoli should be cooked beyond crunch ( carrots, too). Not summer squash or zucchini.

When doing fish - floured and pan fried - and if you are doing a beurre blanc type sauce( reduced wine, herbs and butter), use plain flour, not a highly seasoned variation w/ paprika and cayenne and garlic that you would do as a shore lunch on a camping/fishing trip. Overkill and a muddied flavor. Keep it simple. Do one or the other. Roll the filets in plain white flour, saute in butter, and or olive oil, remove from pan, add wine, reduce, add herbs and cold butter pats. With highly seasoned flour leave it at that, fry it and eat it.

I hate it when I screw up a simple meal.

Miller Time

It is Miller time when you eat Prudhomme's cajun meatloaf w/ his spicy cajun meat sauce. It is a meatloaf w/ plenty of onions, celery, and sweet and hot peppers, which are sauteed first into sweetness before adding to the meat mixture. And it does cry for beer rather than the Burgundy or Pinot of my previous more traditional meatloaf. Check out the big guys first cookbook, Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen. Nobody talks about him these days, but it was/is an authentic regional cuisine based on what is all the current rage - local and sustainable ingredients. That's all they had back then. It is not a new thing.
Use the last of the season's zucchini to make zucchini bread. Recipes abound - use last wks Startrib recipe or get one from a local church lady( LakeView Community Church in Hillman), do a third or a half wholewheat flour instead of all white, add some pumpkin pulp, and ground hazelnuts or walnuts, to make it as good for you as it tastes.
If you use pancake mix at home, do your body and mind a favor by adding whole wheat flour by a third or half, and some dry oatmeal( 1/3 cup). They taste like the buckwheat cakes of your childhood and are really good for you.