One of our favorite restaurants, The Back Eddy in Westport, Massachusetts, is open for the 2025 season!
On the waterfront on the Westport River, they’ve been serving fantastic fresh seafood for years.
Smoked salmon appetizer.
When the weather gets warmer, they open top their outdoor seating area, which includes a long dock with extra seating, a grill, and an outdoor bar. It’s the place to be in the summertime.
Fried smelts. Fish candy!
We’ve been friends with the staff of the Back Eddy for many years. We even brought our daughter, Ava, to the Back Eddy and sat her baby basket at the bar when she was only 11 days old! She’s been a regular ever since.
Caesar salad.
You know a place is great when the staff returns year after year, and though this place gets incredibly busy in the summer months, it’s clear that the staff are friends, and they treat their customers as friends as well. We were there recently for opening weekend, and it was as if long lost friends saw each other for the first time…hugs all around.
Don’t like seafood? The ribeye with The Back Eddy’s signature honky fries will make you very happy!
The menu offers variety with weekly specials, and I’ve probably had everything on the menu at least three times over the years. Nothing disappoints.
A most excellent burger.
If you’re in the neighborhood of Horseneck Beach in Westport, Massachusetts this summer, you owe it to yourself to stop at The Back Eddy for for, cocktails, and fun in the sun!
Starting in the mid 1700’s, sailors in the British Navy were given a daily ration of rum. They called it a “tot,” and the practice of daily “tot” distribution lasted for almost 200 years, until July 31, 1970. When it ended, not only were there many sad British sailors, but there was also a vast amount of leftover rum. Much of it was sold off at high prices because the taste was excellent and the methods of its distillation were no longer used.
It made sense. In the old days, when liquids were stored in wooden barrels aboard ship, water, beer, and wine would go bad very quickly. Only something with a much higher alcohol content wouldn’t spoil. Rum was the answer. And getting the sailors drunk every day kept them from deserting…it was good for morale!
But while the sailors drank rum, Royal Navy officers drank gin. The use of exotic spices in gin was made possible by imports from Africa and Asia. Gin’s prevalence around the world is largely due to the fact that sailors set foot in many new cities on new continents.
And though the British Navy stopped the practice of issuing alcohol to its sailors in 1970, the Royal New Zealand Navy abolished the practice as late as 1990!
Until a recent trip to New Zealand, I was not a huge fan of gin. Don’t get me wrong: I liked it. A gin and tonic was a nice refreshing drink on a hot summer’s day. And my fascination with the Vesper martini, a combination of gin and vodka, made me appreciate gin even more.
But it wasn’t until I went to New Zealand, and tasted their magnificent gins, in combination with delicious tonics only available in that country, did I really start to appreciate the subtle differences between them.
The first thing that caught my eye when I was served a sample of Roots gin, distilled in Marlborough, was the label: “Navy strength dry gin.” I asked what that meant. Well, for one thing, it had more alcohol. And the reason for that was surprising. Since gin, like rum, was stored in wooden barrels on ships, very often next to barrels of gunpowder, the gin had to contain enough alcohol so that if it spilled onto the gunpowder, the gunpowder would still ignite! Not enough alcohol in the gin would waterlog the gunpowder and make it useless. So tests were actually done by pouring gin on gunpowder to see what the minimum percentage of alcohol was required to keep the gunpowder burning. The answer was about 57%. Anything below that and the gunpowder would not burn. They coined the term “Navy strength.”
(Although the bottle of Roots gin above weighs in at 54.5%, it’s properly called “Navy strength.” In 1866, to keep sailors from getting completely hammered, the British Royal Navy reduced the alcohol content of the rum they were distributing to 54.5%. Hence, a new “Navy strength.”)
I was allowed to take only 1 bottle home from New Zealand, but, as you can see, it was not Navy strength. Still delicious!
The other advantage to a Navy strength gin is taste. If you’re not diluting it with water, not only are you getting more alcohol, but you’re also getting more of the herbaceous flavor you want in a gin.
Up until my trip to New Zealand, my experience with gin was limited to the usual list of suspects: Tanqueray,Bombay Sapphire, and Hendrick’s. I also more recently discovered Ford’s, a very nice London dry gin I sometimes use in my Vesper martinis.
But in New Zealand, many of the gins were floral and herb-forward, and I found that I like that. I like that a lot. For example, Victor, another Marlborough gin, was like “Hendrick’s on steroids.” I said that to my bartender at the Urban Eatery and Oyster Bar in Nelson, NZ, and she agreed. Delicious.
Although gins may vary in alcohol content, rules about serving liquor in New Zealand are very strict, certainly by US standards. For example, a “double” in New Zealand is 30ml. That’s 1 ounce! And that’s a standard pour for a cocktail. You can, I found out, ask for a “double-double.” And in that case, they would serve you a 1-ounce shot on the side with your drink, and you would have to pour it in yourself.
When I told the bartenders in New Zealand that we have 4-ounce martinis at any decent steakhouse in the US, and they realized that was 120 mls, their jaws pretty much dropped and hit the bar. One bartender gasped: “That’s irresponsible!” I told her that two of those drinks is widely considered the “businessman’s lunch” here in the states. She just shook her head.
Much to choose from at Kismet, my favorite bar in Nelson, NZ.
The phrase “proof” also has a very different meaning.
In the states, it’s pretty simple: it’s double the percentage of alcohol. So a bottle that’s 40% alcohol is 80 proof.
But the phrase “proof” comes from there British Royal Navy’s “proof” test. They would take the gin, pour it onto gunpowder, and if it ignited, that would prove there is sufficient alcohol in the gin. They would say that the gin was “gunpowder proof,” and it would be allowed onboard the ship.
So in the UK, a spirit with 57.15% is 100 degrees proof. A spirit with 40% alcohol is 70 degrees proof.
For me, it’s easier to simply remember to check the percentage of alcohol, and go from there.
One of the reasons I fell in love with New Zealand gin was because it was often served with East Imperial tonic, a New Zealand product that was not available in the United States for some time. But when I returned from my trip, I googled it and found that it was now being distributed in the US! When the amount of alcohol you’re allowed in your glass is limited (by our standards, anyway), what fills the rest of it up becomes incredibly important. East Imperial was the best line of tonics I’ve ever tried. (I’m saying was now, because, sadly, the company went under last year, and I managed to purchase a couple of 12-packs of the last of the available inventory. Once it’s gone, it’s back to Fever Tree.)
It stands to reason that a great cocktail is the sum total of its parts: great gin, great tonic, great ice.
I was enjoying a few Roots and tonics at the Bamboo Tiger, a bar inside the D’Urville Hotel in Blenheim, NZ, when we felt earthquake tremors. (My first!) It only lasted a few seconds, and when the chandeliers stopped moving, everyone pretty much went right back to business!
I spent about 10 days last summer in Scotland and Ireland, and though they’re known for their whiskey, it was their gins that really impressed me. But I’ll save that for another blog.
I really love the flavors of this recipe, and the great thing is that you can use it as a marinade and a dipping sauce–not just for beef–but a dipping sauce for grilled chicken, dumplings, anything. It’s that good.
Make more than you think you’ll need because you can keep it in the fridge for future dipping.
If you use gluten-free soy sauce, this recipe is GF. Chili garlic sauce can be found in the Asian foods section of most supermarkets.
A little side salad with blue cheese and home-cured and smoked bacon doesn’t hurt, either!
1/4 cup soy sauce 1/8 cup sesame oil 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro 2 tablespoons chopped salted pistachio nuts 2 scallions, minced 1 tablespoon light brown sugar 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them together well.
Whatever cut of beef you’re using, make sure it isn’t too thick, or the marinade won’t penetrate the meat.
I like to use beef flap or flank steak, because it’s full of flavor, and I slice it crosswise to make cuts of meat that are about 1/2″ thick.
I place the beef in a bowl, and pour just a little marinade in at a time. I don’t want the meat swimming in the marinade…just enough so that it makes contact with all the surfaces of the meat.
Place the unused marinade in a sealed container in the fridge.
If you’re cooking soon, let the beef marinate at room temperature. But ideally, you want the beef to marinate in the fridge overnight–the longer the better–to really soak up the flavors of the marinade.
Before cooking, take the beef out of the fridge and let it come back to room temperature. Discard the marinade that was in the bowl with the beef.
If your beef flap is thin enough, tossing it onto a very hot cast iron skillet to sear it on both sides will bring the beef to a perfect medium-rare. Otherwise, you can sear it in a regular pan and then finish it in the oven–or–fire up the grill!
Use the remaining marinade for dipping.
Thighs finishing on the grill.
Whether you use chicken breast or chicken thighs — I used both here— the flavor is outstanding, especially if you can finish it on the grill!
Here’s great hack for fresh ginger that I learned from Liz, the owner of Wishing Stone Farm, an organic farm in Little Compton, RI, where they grow their own ginger roots. Place your ginger root in a Ziploc bag and keep it in the freezer. Whenever a recipe calls for freshly grated ginger, simply pull the frozen root out of the freezer and grate it, skin and all, while it’s frozen. Then simply place the root back in the Ziploc and back in the freezer until next time. No waste!
Every year for the past 7 years (not counting Covid year), I’ve hosted a BOYZ weekend at my house. and this year’s no exception. It’s coming up in a couple of weeks! One of my sure-fire all-time favorite appetizers is stuffies. My recipe is a twist on ones I enjoyed at a local restaurant, The Back Eddy, in Westport, Massachusetts. But, as always, I’ve made a couple of changes to make it my own.
Stuffies, or stuffed clams, are a very personal matter here in Southern New England. There are as many stuffies recipes as there are chowder recipes, and everyone thinks they’ve got the best one. Most stuffies that I’ve had in restaurants have too much bread and not enough of the good stuff.
I use medium-sized clams for this recipe and not the traditional quahog, a large clam often used in chowders that I find to be too chewy. Dropping the clams in hot water in the beginning helps make opening the clams a lot easier.
Just 30 seconds in boiling water is all it takes.
This recipe requires quite a bit of fresh sage, which can be expensive at the supermarket. So I grow sage in my summer garden, using it throughout the season, then snipping as much as I can at the end of the growing season to store it in freezer bags for winter use. I’ll even measure out 1 1/4 cups of fresh sage leaves (what I need for each batch of stuffies), then place that amount in the freezer bag, so I don’t need to measure later.
Freezing the sage makes it easier to chop finely later on.
I use Portuguese chourico (since I live near Fall River and New Bedford, Massachusetts, the Portuguese capitals of America), and I think their flavor is best.
This recipe makes a lot of stuffies, but they freeze well so you can have them when you want.
This recipe is gluten-free…and you’ll never be able to tell the difference! But if that doesn’t matter to you, use toasted Portuguese bread instead of gluten-free bread. For gluten-free breadcrumbs, I buy loaves of Udi’s gluten-free frozen bread. I toast the slices, then put them in a food processor to make breadcrumbs.
I don’t like peppers in my stuffies (or my crab cakes), so I leave them out. But if you do, feel free to add them to your recipe.
4 dozen medium sized clams
1.5 pounds chopped chourico, skin removed (I use local Portuguese chourico)
3 onions, finely chopped
3 tablespoons garlic, finely chopped
3 cups frozen or fresh corn kernels
3 cups toasted and coarsely ground bread (I use Udi’s Soft & Hearty Whole Grain bread to keep it gluten-free)
3/4 cup chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tablespoon dried)
1 1/4 cups chopped fresh sage (don’t use dried)
Salt and pepper
Butter
Sambal chili paste, or chili crisp, or Chinese chili garlic sauce
Mayonnaise
In a large pot of boiling water, drop the clams in, about a dozen at a time. Remove them after about 30 seconds, before they open. Place them in a bowl to cool. Do this with all the clams.
Open the clams with a clam knife over a bowl with a strainer, making sure you save all the liquid from the clams. Put the clam shells to the side. Throw away any broken shells, and wash the empty shell halves thoroughly, making sure there are no broken pieces.
I use a strainer to keep the sediment away from the clam meats.
Take the clam meat pieces out of the strainer, leaving the clam juice behind in the bowl. Move the clam meat to a cutting board or food processor and chop them to medium-fine. Set them aside.
I pour the clam juices carefully from the bowl into tall drinking glasses, being careful not to let the sediment get in. Then, after some time, I pour off the clam juice from the glasses, leaving even more of the sediments behind. I find that the tall glasses make it easier to see the sediments, and maximize the amount of clam juice I get.
I let the clam juices sit in their tall glasses for a while, so that even more sediments get left behind.
In a large frying pan, add the olive oil, onions, and chourico and cook them on medium heat for a few minutes. Add the oregano and sage and cook a few more minutes. Add the corn and cook a few more minutes, a little more if the corn was frozen. Add the chopped clams and stir, cooking for a few more minutes. Add the breadcrumbs a little at a time until you have a nice balance of bread and other ingredients. Add the clam juice a little at a time as well, so that you can add all the breadcrumbs, but the mix isn’t runny. There’s lots of flavor in the clam juice, so use as much as you can! Season it all with salt and pepper.
Remove the pan from the heat and fill the empty clam shells with the stuffing.
At this point, you can freeze the clams. I put them on small sheet pans in the freezer until they harden, then I wrap them 6 at a time, and put them in freezer bags. Keep them frozen!
Ready for the freezer!
To make the aioli, mix the mayonnaise and Sambal (or your favorite hot chili accompaniment) in a bowl, to taste. Sambal is hot, so a little goes a long way. Keep it covered and refrigerated.
When you’re ready to bake, remove the clams from the freezer and place them on a sheet pan in a pre-heated 350° oven. Top each clam with a small ¼” square piece of butter. Bake them about 15 minutes, until the clams are sizzling and light brown. Top each with a small dab of aioli.
Yesterday, my daughter and I had the chance to check out a brand new food court before it opens this Tuesday in Providence, RI. It’s called Track 15, and it’s located in the 1898 Central terminal Building where the old Historic Providence Union train station was located many years ago.
More recently, this space in downtown Providence was occupied by other restaurants, including Bar Louie, Raphael Bar Risto, and it was the original location of the very first Capital Grille. (The Capital Grille is now located across the street, with prime real estate on the Providence River and Waterplace Park, a destination every year for WaterFire.)
Track 15 features extensions of 7 restaurants in the area, offering a variety of cuisines: Mexican, Indian, Italian, American, Seafood, and Middle Eastern. The only thing that was obviously missing, unfortunately, was any sort of Asian food.
Of course, there’s also a huge bar (what good food court wouldn’t have one?) and, at least for our evening, they offered discounted parking with validation, a bonus in downtown Providence where parking can get expensive.
When you’re in Providence to see a show or just to hang out, and you’ve got a group of friends that just can’t decide on what to eat, Track 15 gives everybody a choice. Check it out the next time you’re in town.
On the lower east side of Manhattan, you walk into what looks like a pawn shop. And it is, in fact, a real shop where you can buy what’s on display. But go through the back door, and it opens up into an exciting dining experience created by Food Network chef Chris Santos, who grew up in our little state of Rhode Island.
Enter through the door in the back!
Beauty and Essex is hip and dark, with music loud enough for a fun vibe, but not so loud that you can’t have a conversation while dining.
A sip at the bar while our table was prepared. It was not a long wait.
Our server’s name was Crewe, and the dude had the skills. We were there to celebrate my birthday, and we wanted to take it slow and have a good time. Not once did we feel rushed, nor did the plates come out of the kitchen too quickly. Nor did it take too long for the next drink to arrive. Crewe knew.
The food was fun. Mostly small plates meant to be shared. And the main courses were beautifully executed as well.
Grilled cheese, smoked bacon and tomato soup dumplings. Close your eyes, and it takes you back.Little French dips: super tender prime sirloin with Gruyere, horseradish-garlic aioli, and house-made au jus.Cauliflower tacos with apple miso marinade, gochujang, and charred scallion salsa.The house salad.Grilled tofu with black garlic risotto, gochujang slaw and ginger aioli.A most excellent burger.Perfectly prepared whole branzino.House-made doughnuts with 3 sauces.A wildly creative and delicious black forest dessert.
There are two other “Beauty and Essex” locations: one at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas and the newest one at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. Both apparently have the same pawn shop entrance. But there’s something very special about it being literally on a street in New York City, with traffic buzzing by and graffiti on the walls, that makes this place the destination.
Growing up in NY, I was introduced to smoked whitefish, herring, and lox at an amazing deli just down the road from my parents’ house. Smoked whitefish salad was readily available, but it had a lot of mayonnaise and filler. It’s a lot of work making it at home, but worth it.
Whole smoked whitefish may be a bit hard to find, and it could get expensive if you buy it from your local deli. But sometimes big membership stores like BJ’s will sell whole smoked whitefish.
I use capers in this recipe, but dill pickle relish works well, too.
Remove every bit of meat. Double-check for bones!
1/2 whole smoked whitefish, meat removed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup finely chopped Vidalia onion
1 tablespoon capers, finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 hard-boiled egg, finely chopped
Freshly ground pepper
Pinch of sea salt (I like Fleur de Sel)
Remove the meat from the smoked whitefish carefully, making sure all the small bones have been removed. Double-check to make sure you’ve done this really well. It pays to be really meticulous with this job so that you (or your guests) don’t gag on a fish bone later!
Place all the whitefish meat in a bowl.
Combine all the other ingredients with the fish, mixing thoroughly. (Try not to mush it up too much!)
The standard way is to serve it with crackers. But there’s nothing wrong with slathering it onto an everything bagel! Or…if you have guests…slice everything bagels as thin as you can and toast them until they’re crisp like crackers. Then serve them on the side.
Here’s a shot of the real deal straight out of the smoker, at a fish store in Mackinaw City, Michigan, on the way to the Upper Peninsula. Man, that was some good eatin’!
A classic French beef dish, Steak au Poivre is the perfect example of delicious simplicity. If you love pepper, you can make this wonderful dish with just a few ingredients. My personal twist was to use black peppercorns instead of the green peppercorns that are often used, and I also added porcini mushrooms to the sauce, because…well…why not?
The classic Steak au Poivre uses a tender, lean cut of beef like filet. But I had a couple of grass-fed sirloins in the fridge, and they worked out just fine.
2 sirloin steaks, about 6 oz. each Kosher salt 2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns 2 tablespoons butter, divided 1 teaspoon olive oil 1/3 cup Cognac, plus 1 teaspoon 1 cup heavy cream dried porcini mushrooms (optional)
If you’re using the porcinis, place them in a sauce pan, and add water to cover them. Bring the water to a boil, set the pan aside, and let the porcinis rehydrate. Once they’ve rehydrated, remove them from the pan (save the liquid) and chop them up finely. Set them aside.
Rehydrating the porcinis.
Remove the steaks from the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking, so they are at room temperature. Season them on all sides with the salt.
Coarsely crush the peppercorns. (I have a pepper mill that makes coarsely crushed pepper, so I used that.) Spread the peppercorns evenly on a plate, and press the sirloins, on both sides, into the pepper so that it coats the surface of the meat. Set them aside.
In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and the olive oil. As soon as the butter and oil start to smoke, place the steaks in the pan. Cook them for about 4 minutes on each side. Once they’re done, remove the steaks, place them on a plate, and cover them with foil to keep them warm.
Pour off the excess fat from the pan, but don’t wipe the pan clean!
Back to the porcinis: in a separate skillet, add 1 tablespoon of butter and the chopped porcinis, sautéing them for a few minutes over medium heat. Slowly pour in the mushroom liquid from the sauce pan, making sure any sediment at the bottom gets left behind. Cook this liquid down with the mushrooms until it has reduced almost completely.
Back to the steak pan: off the heat, add 1/3 cup of Cognac to the pan and carefully ignite the alcohol with a long match or lighter.
Gently shake the pan until the flames die. Return the pan to the medium heat and add the cream. Bring the mixture to a boil and whisk it until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes or so. Add the teaspoon of Cognac. (If you’re using the mushrooms, add them to the sauce at this point, stirring them in.)
Add the steaks back to the pan, spooning the sauce over the meat.
Fettucini alla Bolognese has been my daughter’s favorite Italian dish for years. The recipe isn’t difficult, but like many great dishes, it depends on the best quality ingredients you can get your hands on.
I like to use a combination of ground beef, ground veal and ground pork in my Bolognese recipe. But I don’t sweat it too much if I don’t have all three, substituting a little more of one or the other, depending on what’s in my freezer at the time. (2–1, beef to pork, is a good ratio.)
I use humanely raised grass-fed ground veal that I get down the road from a local dairy farm: Sweet & Salty Farm in Little Compton, RI. I use ground Berkshire pork, full of “good fat.” And I use grass-fed beef from local farms. Guanciale, a cured pork product that comes from the cheek (jowl) of the pig, is something that I prepare myself. I buy the Berkshire pork jowls raw and cure them at home. (That’s another blog!) If you can’t get your hands on guanciale, a nice slab of bacon or pancetta will do the trick.
The rest of the ingredients are organic, when available.
This recipe probably feeds a dozen people. I make a lot at once because it takes time to put it together and let it cook on the stove, and it freezes really well. I place leftovers in tightly sealed single-portion containers in the freezer and then re-heat them when my daughter gets the craving, adding it to freshly cooked pasta.
How much pasta you make with this dish depends on how many people you’re going to serve.
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup finely chopped guanciale or bacon or pancetta
1 lb. ground veal, 1 lb. ground pork, 1 lb. beef (or any combination to make 3 lbs.)
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, squeezed through a garlic press or thinly sliced
1 small can (6 oz.) tomato paste
6 cups ground tomatoes
2 cups whole milk
2 cups white wine (I use an un-oaked French chardonnay)
salt and pepper
pasta, cooked (regular or gluten-free )
Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Place the olive oil and butter in a large sauce pan with a heavy bottom over high heat. Once the butter has melted, add the guanciale, letting the fat render out. When it’s almost brown, add the veal, pork, and beef, stirring constantly. Make sure the meat is broken down into small pieces and completely browned.
Add the finely chopped onion, carrots, celery and garlic, stirring well. Sweat the veggies for a few minutes, letting them get nice and soft. (Here’s a tip: rather than wasting time chopping all the veggies finely by hand, toss large pieces into a food processor–the onion, carrot, celery and garlic cloves all at the same time–and pulse until they’re finely chopped.)
Add the tomato paste, the ground tomatoes, milk and wine, stirring well. Allowing the sauce ito come to a boil will activate the tomato paste’s thickening power. Let it boil for a minute, then reduce the heat to medium-low, and let it simmer for at least a couple of hours, stirring occasionally.
Add the ingredients one step at a time until the sauce comes together: 1) guanciale, 2) meat, 3) veggies), 4) tomatoes.
You don’t want the sauce to be runny, and you definitely want to give it enough time on the stove top for the flavors to blend and for the alcohol in the wine to evaporate.
Carefully give the sauce a taste, and season it with salt and pepper.
Traditionally, ragu Bolognese is served by placing a part of the cooked pasta in a pan, and adding just enough sauce to have it cling to, not drip from, the pasta. It’s not soup!
Top it with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Those who say that cheese and fish don’t go together, haven’t tried shrimp scampi, a tuna melt, or even a McDonald’s filet-o-fish sandwich! Hearty and satisfying, this dish is all comfort.
As I researched this recipe, I found versions that had potatoes or pasta. I wanted a lower calorie and lower carb option, so I went with just cauliflower and broccoli. But feel free to substitute as you like. Potatoes don’t need to be pre-cooked, as long as you cut them into small cubes. Pasta needs to be cooked to the almost al dente stage—very firm—and then added to the pan.
I originally came up with this recipe when I found some tuna and salmon in my freezer, and I wanted to use them up. But this recipe works even better with any white fish, like cod or halibut.
If you use gluten-free flour and breadcrumbs (easy enough to do), this dish is gluten-free.
6 oz. cod, fresh or thawed if frozen 8 oz. mixed broccoli and cauliflower, cut into smaller pieces (you can use fresh or frozen) 1/2 small onion, finely chopped 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1/2 cup milk 2 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated, separated 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the fish into large chunks, removing any skin, and place it in a bowl.
Pour the broccoli and cauliflower into the bowl.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and add the onion, sautéing it until it’s soft but not brown. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute or two. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring constantly. Season with salt, pepper, and the granulated garlic. Add all the cheddar cheese except a tablespoon, mixing well and making sure it all melts.
Pour the sauce into the bowl with the veggies and the fish, and mix everything gently, trying not to break the fish pieces up too much.
Pour the contents of the bowl into a baking dish just big enough to hold it all. You don’t want it spread out…you want it to have some depth so it doesn’t dry out.
Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese and the breadcrumbs.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until it’s golden and bubbly.
This recipe could serve 2, but I devoured it on my own!
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