Day 49: Grilled Halibut and Roasted Red Kuri Squash

The other cookbook that must be credited in the years-long process of transforming The Husband into a bonafide cooker is "The Best Recipe," which is a compilation of recipes tested to within an inch of their lives by the obsessives at Cook's Illustrated magazine, kookily based in Brookline, Mass. (Check out the boffo user reviews of the 1999 version at Amazon.com here; yep, that's five stars based on 202 reviews.)

Tonight's dinner was a hybrid of sorts: The Best Recipe's Gas-Grilled Halibut Steak (which isn't even a recipe, really, more like instructions) and roasted squash that combined verbal advice from Beth, one of the primo farmers at the Green City Market, and fennel spice from Master Chiarello. Here is The Husband's poetically sparse plating:


Don't you just love it? The orange, the bright green, the snowy white. Well, it was YUMMY, according to all: Finn ate a double helping of fish and Isabella opined that she preferred the squash sprinkled with fennel spice to the squash with brown sugar. What a palate!

Posting the recipe for the fish is kind of pointless as it is almost literally, "Turn on grill until really, really hot. Brush fish with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and cook, turning once, for 8 to 9 minutes total."

Instead, here is the long promised recipe, from "The Best Recipe," for Those Awesome Potatoes.

Serves 4.

2 pounds Red Bliss or other low-starch potatoes, scrubbed clean, dried, halved, and cut into 3/4-inch wedges (tiny fingerlings work really well here and The Husband says smaller chunks cook better than bigger ones -- more crust)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Ground black pepper
2 medium garlic cloves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary (we've used sage instead to great success)

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Toss potatoes in olive oil to coat; season generously with salt and pepper and toss again.

2. Place potatoes flesh side down, in a single layer, on shallow roasting pan; cover tightly with foil and cook about 20 minutes. Remove foil and continue roasting until side of potato touching the pan is crusty and golden brown, about 15 minutes more.

3. While potatoes roast, mince the garlic, sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon of salt, and mash to a paste with the flat side of a chef's knife. Transfer garlic paste to a large bowl and set aside. Chop your rosemary, or other fresh herb, and set that aside, too.

4. Remove pan from oven and turn potatoes carefully with a spatula, protecting the crusts. Return pan to oven and roast until side of potato now touching the pan is crusty golden brown and the skins have raisinlike wrinkles (such fussy instructions, no?), about 5 to 10 minutes more. In the last 3 minutes of roasting time, sprinkle the chopped rosemary evenly over the potatoes. When done cooking, immediately transfer potatoes to the bowl with garlic, toss to distribute, and serve warm.

I realize this recipe seems like a pain in the tushy, but it rocks. It really does.

[NEWS FLASH! The "Cheese or Bacon?" poll is now closed and the results are in: 63 percent of us picked cheese over bacon, which garnered a disappointing 36 percent of the vote. I think there are some vegetarians in my reader pool. Damn you, meat rejecters!]