EVENT: Paper Chef 17 - Lavender, Miso, Chick Peas and Something Local

WHAT?
Well that sure is a funky combination. But then I realized I could definitely do something with this. I have cooked a lot with lavender over the years. I think most of those dishes had been French or American in background. Not Asisan. But, I can do Fusion. Sure. Sure, I can. So the ingredients we are to work with are Lavender, Miso, Chick Peas and Something Local. That fourth ingredient is of our choosing and in honor of the Eat Local Challenge.

WHAT?
The event is over tomorrow at the crack of dawn? Well crack of dawn when you are living on the West Coast and Kevin of Seriously Good who is so graciously hosting Paper Chef#17 lives on the East Coast evidently because he used EST to describe the time. So, can this be pulled off? Well sort of. There will be no photo because well, you don't really want to know all about the trials and tribulations of this Reluctant Housewife. Well if you do, maybe I will write about it in a Daily Report sometime. Okay, back to ingredients and cooking. What do I have in the house to work with? Lavender? Check! Chick Peas? Check! Something Local-Green Onions and Parsley? Check! (Thanks to the Farmer's Market on Sunday) Miso? Nope! So run to phone, beg husband to stop off at store and buy some white miso paste. "Yes, honey, white miso paste. It will say white on the label. Yes, there are different kinds. Pick any brand. No, I don't have a favorite brand at this point."

RESULT?
Cod with Lavender Miso Sauce and Chickpea Asian Salad
Pretty Good. It is a strange combination. But, I thought I would mix a fusion of Mediterranean and Japanese. So, I choose to add the mirin sauce infused with lavender to the fish and to the vinaigrette. When flavors are so disparate I often find it best to incorporate those flavors in at least two of the main elements of the meal and in this case that would be the fish and then the chickpeas. It helps tie it all up. But you also have to continue those two themes into the fish and the chickpeas. So, I chose a Mediterranean fish to go with the Asian avec a little Mediterranean marinade. Then for the chickpeas, I used sesame oil and rice wine vinegar to make it more Asian but kept some of the classic Mediterranean flavors with the parsley and tomatoes.

Husband liked it. Xander liked it. Timmy, not so much. But then I scraped off some of the sauce on the cod and he ate it but most of it ended up on the floor.

Enjoy!

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