You know when you’re flipping through your stack of to-try recipes and there’s one that you know will be good but you keep putting it back in the pile and thinking you’ll try that one next time? It’s like you think you already know how that one is going to turn out and you think it’ll be good but you don’t foresee any surprises with it and so you keep putting it back in the stack. I do that a lot. So it was with this fish dish, and I was wrong about it. This is from the October 2010 issue of Food and Wine, and it combines a simply cooked piece of fish coated with Dijon mustard with a chive puree and crispy olives and some potatoes on the side. I thought I knew how the fish would taste after being cooked with a layer of mustard on top, and I thought I knew what the chive puree and olives would be like with it. The flavors were even better. The mustard was mellowed as it seared into the fish, and the bright, fresh, herb puree and salty hit of the oil-cooked olives exceeded expectations.The puree was made first by very briefly blanching chopped chives and a little spinach in boiling water and then draining and rinsing with cold water. They were squeezed dry before placing them in a blender with extra virgin olive oil and some salt and pureeing. I veered off the recipe path just a bit by roasting sliced potatoes rather than boiling and then slicing. Also, for the olives, rather than cooking in oil in the microwave, I sauteed the chopped olives in oil in a pan on the stove until they were crisp. I used turbot fillets rather than cod, and any white flakey fish with good oil content would work here. I basted them with Dijon mustard, seared them for a few minutes in a pan on top of the stove, then flipped them and placed the pan under the broiler for another couple of minutes. To serve, the fish was topped with the olives, and the sauce and potatoes were placed to the side. 
, which I received to review, the two present some of their favorite dishes for first courses, mains, and desserts. The chapters are clearly organized by firsts, seconds, and thirds, and the cuisine spans the globe from east to west. That being said, this is not complicated or fussy, fusion food. In fact, this is dinner party food that will both please and impress without causing the cook undue stress. Let me give you some examples of possible menus you could build from the book: start with herbed pancakes with mascarpone and smoked salmon, followed by stuffed quail with wild rice, with a dessert of fried apples with toffee sauce, or start with mini shrimp toast, followed by caramelized pork belly, with a dessert of fruit tempura with passionfruit ice cream. As I was choosing the first item to try from the book, the Chinese turnip cakes caught my eye as did the duck breast with soba, and taglierini with caramelized scallops and rosemary beurre blanc, but in the end, I decided on the fish in lemongrass cream.In the book, this dish is called sea bass in lemongrass cream, but I found fresh and lovely-looking turbot at the fish counter at Whole Foods and went with that. Turbot is a white-fleshed fish with a high oil content ensuring great flavor and big flakes when cooked. To begin the dish, lemongrass was steeped in fish stock. I was thrilled to use some lemongrass from my garden before the cold weather wipes it out for the season. The fish stock with lemongrass was combined with a cup of sake and simmered until reduced by half. Then, cream was added and allowed to simmer to warm through. Before serving, the lemongrass was strained from the sauce. The fish was simply seasoned with salt and pepper, seared on top of the stove for a few minutes per side, and then finished in a hot oven for an additional four minutes or so. To serve, I placed the fish fillets on top of some sauteed spinach, poured the sauce over top, and garnished with chopped red chiles and parsley.
