Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and rumor has it that garlic is an aphrodisiac. (But I guess that only matters if there are two people involved. Mourn for me… OK. Moving on.)
Everyone knows garlic smells good when you’re hungry — especially when cooked at high temperatures. So when cooking this dish, I simply looked to do one thing: satisfy my nose.
So why did I choose tilapia for this dish? Simple. It will satisfy my nose because tilapia is not fishy-smelling.
That’s why it’s likely on the Applebee’s menu, and why catfish is probably not.
Moving on.
I was craving a dish that offered deep, but soft flavors — kind of like love. (It’s V-day themed, so I think I can get away with all these similes.) So the three foods I thought would go well with garlic tilapia were rice, green beans and potatoes.
I steamed the rice and green beans (not together, though) and got ready to make potatoes.
But then I remembered: The last time rice and potatoes were put together, it led to such a starchy consistency, and the chemistry was just off. So this time, I wanted to play Cupid and change one of the ingredients a little bit. This was risky, but remembering my rules (take risks!), I forged on.
Instead of mashed potatoes, we were going to go with salt and vinegar potato chips.
Don’t judge quite yet. Fried fish and malt vinegar go very well. Fish and chips (fries) go very well, too. So why not thinly sliced fries (chips) with vinegar. See my logic?
Now, I broke one of my rules and used a bag of chips, but I really didn’t want to make potato chips from scratch — at least not today.
For the tilapia, I slathered it with minced garlic and some salt and put it in the broiler. Seven minutes later, it came out nice and golden.
Then it hit me.
The deep, luscious aromas of the broiled garlic stirred up my deepest emotions and I began to feel a loving warmth I’d never felt before…
OK, not really.
But it was quite the amazing smell.
I plated all the ingredients and sat down to eat.
The fish was perfect. Well flavored, well done. No complaints here.
The rice and green beans were just what they looked like — plain old boring Sally. She’s only fun when the other girls are around. (Please don’t be offended by these metaphors, even if you’re “Sally” — it’s all out of love… in the spirit of the day. Well, I guess yesterday.)
But interestingly, the most memorable part of this meal was the potato chips. When I tried it with the fish, the contrast in texture was wonderful. And the flavors kind of blended together — soulmates, they were.
So all in all, a great wonderful meal — probably the best yet. And even as I sit here right now, the great smell of this meal is lingering in my apartment. The aphrodisiac is here, so now it’s time to find the girl, I suppose.
One last point: Smells play a huge part in how I experience foods. Garlic really isn’t that fantastic, but the smell of it just makes a dish open up. (Also, it’s good for you.) When I started this project, I thought it’d be mostly about taste. But it turns out it’s a lot about smell and looks, too.
Of course, there’s an obvious connection I can make to how smell and looks might matter on a day like this, but you can make that connection yourself.
Lastly, enjoy the photo — it’s from my camera phone.
