This past weekend I got to know the oven in our new place a bit better. My initial observation is that the thing is teeny, tiny, but the temperature seems to be sound. Well, at least I think so. My husband stole my oven thermometer to test his grill and then thought that he would be helpful by giving it a quick clean in the dishwasher. So, who knows really, but it seemed to have no problem with last week’s Gateau Basque and this week’s Tuna Cod Confit.
It seems a little naughty to start with the dessert, but that’s the order they went in and so that’s what we are going to do. I was huddled up in bed with fever and chills last week so cake simply wasn’t on the menu plan. Happily, I was feeling much better by the weekend and was able to catch up with the Gateau Basque. I’ll be honest, this didn’t look like much of a cake to me and I went in with low expectations. Maybe I shouldn’t have listened to the NPR podcast in which the cake was described as a Pop Tart! In the end, the cake exceeded my expectations and my husband polished off 3 slices in a row before declaring that it wasn’t Dorie’s best:-)
As for the Tuna Confit, I haven’t been keeping track or anything, but this recipe may well have resulted in my longest shopping list yet. I was more than a little intimidated, both by the long list and by the fact that the star of the dish is fresh tuna. I tend to have issues with fresh tuna and so was very happy that Dorie pointed out that cod and halibut are also commonly confited (can we use confit as an adjective?) and used cod for my dish.
The instructions called for us to first make the marinade, let everything sit, then cook the still completely submerged fish in the marinade while whipping up a tomato salad. I have to say that I was pretty darn skeptical while this thing was in the oven. The oven temp was so low that there none of the usual sensory indicators that any actual cooking was going on. I like to be able to see, hear, or smell that something is actually happening. I don’t think that I would do very well with sous vide, though I hear that it’s delicious. In this case, I had no choice but to simply follow Dorie’s instructions exactly because I had no idea what I was doing and because I had no other indicators to point me along the way.
After exactly one hour I removed the dish from the oven and served it up on a bed of mushy peas with the tomato salad and olive tapenade. But really, the sides were superfluous. The fish was infused with the flavors of the marinade and absolutely delicious with the marinade itself as a topping. I was really wowed by how good this was and admit that it was well worth the long shopping list.
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I hope to make the confit this weekend. Yours sounds like it turned out well, so I’m a bit more interested in it now. The recipe doesn’t really stoke my appetite on paper.
My family enjoyed the gateau basque, too…I missed that NPR referred to it as a pop tart! And great to know this confit works well with cod, too 🙂
Your peas look so colorful! Just an fyi, we have a sous vide, and it can do some pretty amazing things!
Both the fish and the gateau where quite a surprise to me also.. glad the oven is working OK.
That cake was sort of like a poptart, but a tasty one. I enjoyed that cake. And the fish. We are very into sous-vide at my house (well Howard is, I don’t do the work). I enjoyed Dorie’s slow baked method, but Howard can’t wait to try it his way. I’m intrigued by trying this with cod or halibut. I somehow missed Dorie’s comment on that. I love fish, so that would change it up.
I did enjoy both of your dishes in this week’s post, and love that cockerel themed bowl is beautiful! Hope you have completely recovered from last week’s bug by now!
I called it a cookie cake – but pop tart is also a pretty fair description!
I am sorry you weren’t feeling well, I hope all is better.
This one had me a bit worried too, I think we were all relieved that it worked out 🙂
LOL, if he ate three slices and didn’t consider it her best, imagine what he would have done if he thought it was her best. Your basque looks great to me. And the confit was heavenly – glad you felt the sides were unnecessary as I skipped them.
At the time of making this I thought it might do well with cod or something similar. Glad to know it was tasty! I LOVED the Gâteau Basque – I’ll be making that again very soon!
First, glad you are feeling better. That was some catch up week of recipes you knocked out. All looked amazing and I was LOL about hubby’s opinion after doing the thorough testing 🙂 And while not on the Dorie menu- your mashed peas looked like a fabulous side for that yummy tuna. Well done !
Both of your dishes look wonderful. We enjoyed both of them, and although the tuna had
quite a list of ingredients, it was well worth it.
Glad you are feeling better. We enjoyed the Gâteau Basque very much and I look forward to making it again. I will probably not make the tuna confit again, a bit too fussy for me.
My first question: How well does an oven thermometer work after going through the dish washer? I really thought the Gateau Basque was fun to make and fun to eat. Pop Tart does cross my mind (I didn’t listen to the NPR podcast either) but giant cookie works better, I think. As for the tuna confit. I know a bit about intimidation. I made it, according to Dorie’s directions, but mine did not have the pink tinge that yours or Liz’s or Betsy’s had. The fish on my plate photographed gray and gray tuna is not very palatable. I even made mashed potatoes for its bed. Sooooooo, after writing half a Post and getting the pictures ready-to-go, I deleted everything and wrote about Roasted Shrimp Salad. Nice job, Rosa.
I haven’t made the confit yet, but am looking forward to having it soon. They way you plated your cod makes it looks so delicious! I have a mushy peas recipe I have been wanting to try – perhaps I will make it with the confit too!
I’m so gad you loved the fish. Your plate is beautiful. The peas give it so much color. As for the cake, I think I’m with your husband. I didn’t think it was Dorie’s best, but that didn’t stop me from polishing it off (for breakfast!).