[An oldie from May 18, 2015] I made dinner on Saturday. I had two beautiful filets of flounder turbot. Marinated in olive oil then coated with bread crumbs.  I sprinkled this dish with ground pepper, garlic powder and turmeric (see 1/11/15).  For the first time, I opted for roasted potatoes in an Ina Garten theme.  I used South Florida white potatoes, washed and cut into 1″ chunks.  I soaked them in olive oil, salted, peppered and turmeric’d them and laid them out on a flat pan.  Baked at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes (or until tender and browned). 

It was the vegetable dish that was the challenge.  I had golfed Saturday morning and all I could think about was hitting the ball straight and pureed carrots.  Yeah I know.   I bought a batch of organic carrots and peeled them.  Then peeled and cut a fresh mango.  And melted 1/2 a stick of butter.  And slivered two cloves of garlic.  What could go wrong?  So I put the mix in the blender and – long story short – the black plastic thingee that turns the blender blade broke.    So there I am with half the stuff in the glass jar mooshed and half not.  The original plan was to blend the carrot/mango into a puree, put in a glass bowl — then set that bowl in a bowl of water – in a 350 oven for perhaps 25 minutes.  But I switched on the fly to an unplanned Plan B.  I poured out the glop, diced the carrots and put the whole thing in the microwave (“vegetable” setting) and let ‘er rip. 

What could have been a real culinary downer actually turned out to be a “whew” moment.  Dinner was wonderful.  A little Decoy cab to wash things down.  And a Talenti gelato (salted caramel) for dessert didn’t hurt.  I got an 8.5 from Donna. What sealed the deal as usual — I did the dishes. Got some big points . . . .