eat the cup 2010, part 8

ah holland, it seems that i've underestimated the power of orange. after all, ,i cooked dutch food early on, expecting that i was merely giving you the chance to play a role in the cup festivities and yet somehow, here i am, still reverting back to your cuisine, having now forgotten more about dutch food than most north americans will ever know. here you are, fit and tough as ever, about to move on to the final of the world cup for only the second time in my lifespan (and let's face it, i really wasn't paying attention the first time). no, you won't get to take on your former nemesis germany. but you'll be staring down the iberian eyes of the spanish inquisition as you make a quest for your first-ever world cup title. if you win, i'll make a batch of brownies in your honour.

of course, in honour of you hanging tough and fighting your way through the semi-final, i figured i'd cook up a dish that, strangely, was buried somewhere in my memory of searching for dutch recipes either this year or four years ago (i don't look that often). i had to make sure i was right about the origin of it and, lo and behold, i was. (the memory loss hasn't started yet.) so for dinner i made a lovely dish of cod with mustard cream sauce. normally, i'm not a fan of putting sauces on fish. call it part of my maritime heritage, but i'm a little suspicious (you might say i turn a fishy eye towards it) of any dish that buries the lovely, delicate taste of fish in something heavy, because to me, it means someone's trying to hide the taste of not quite so fresh fish. but hell, i live in montreal now. i no longer know what fresh fish means. so i decided to compromise just this once, because the sauce sounded tasty and because i love mustard. yes, mustard. as in "cut the mustard", which is certainly what you've been doing, holland. it's been lovely getting to know you and your ways with seafood.

(fyi- the rice you see with the dish is not strictly speaking dutch, but indonesian. rice with corn is often served as part of a tasty table of appetizer-portion dishes called a "rijstaffel", or rice table, once it's translated from dutch, the people who adapted the traditional festive meal and then gave it their own name, still used internationally to this day.

eat the cup 2010, part 5

oh, it's getting down to it now... fewer teams every day and now, just about every favourite has bowed to the pressure (hey argentina, is that a nervous sweat i see?) and soon the great football feast shall be done.

i've already tipped my hat towards holland this year, but i'd like once more to rise and applaud their accomplishment. at the time this dinner was prepared, the oranje had yet to allow a goal (they let one through earlier today, but look at the results nonetheless). that, to me, deserves a second look. (perhaps that's the irish sliver of me feeling a certain bond of ancient kinship.)

and so a second look it has been given. what you see above is another fish dish from holland, one that grabbed my attention as I lolled through various sorts of recipes on line. River trout with pine nut sauce (Forel met pijnboompittensaus for the brave of tongue). it's a basic, straightforward thing with no big "secret", but that packs a real bang. yeah, that's a metaphor.

in this case, i just served it up on a plate of arugula. there's no soccer significance to that, i just really love arugula. although now that i see it, it kind of looks like it's resting on a giant green playing field.

this feast was accompanied by an argentinian wine. i'm such an adorer of the region's malbec wines, which just have so many winning qualities, it's hard to see why they wouldn't be a favourite with everyone. (yeah, another metaphor.)

eat the cup 2010, part 2

add world cup soccer to the list of things that make strange bedfellows. i mean, it's not enough that "tie" is apparently the new "win", since everyone's doing it, but when there are winners, they are from places of the world that go, well, a little strangely together.

certainly that's the case with the second meal in the tournament (and, yes, i know i'm lagging a couple of days behind, but hopefully that's soon to be corrected). our two winners on the day were japan, who defeated cameroon and the netherlands, who defeated near-neighbour denmark.

the japanese win was seen as a bit of a surprise, but a quick survey of japanese popular/ culture should be an adequate enough indication that they are a country full of surprises. a highly formalised, hierarchical culture long after such things had started to fade in the western world, the swirling inner kaleidoscope that is the interior life of japan seems to be the one thing that can unite the rest of the world in a quiet moment of "wtf?"

it occurred to me to try to make some kind of sushi rolled in sliced dutch cheese, but that seemed a little ambitious and, frankly, the only reason to burden fish with the heaviness of cheese is if you're trying to hide a certain lack of freshness.

by comparison, the dutch were expected to be one of the teams to pass on to the second round with relative ease and most have picked them to come out on top of their group (i did). many would probably put it down to the legalised hash brownies, but the dutch seem like a mellow, accepting people with a penchant for diplomacy, windmills and rather uncomfortable-looking shoes. however, if you've ever seen them in an international soccer tournament, you'd realise the mellowness is there because all the pent-up rage and violence is spent at matches. they're not chilling out. they're conserving energy for a future bloodbath. (keep in mind, this is the same country that quietly usurped the british throne when no one was looking.)

in keeping with the appearance of conservatism and gentleness, dutch cuisine is mild, hearty and plain. so for the night's meal, i chose to make cod, a staple of the fishery in holland, but to combine it with the punchy, in-your-face flavours found in japan.

and so we create cod marinated in miso with wasabi, served on a nice, soft, beige bed of udon noodles. the sauce adds some wildness, some intensity that may come from the far east but, i think, does a pretty decent job of showing what really lurks being that sweet, milky dutch exterior.