Freezers Burn

The best laid plans. Actually, there were no real plans, at least none that came to fruition. Today was supposed to be a baking day. I took out more than a pound of unsalted butter so it would be soft when I was ready to mix. I only used a stick and a half…early morning lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting that I’d promised to my friend’s 90-year-old uncle’s girlfriend for brunch today. Go ahead and sort that bit of genealogy out…I’ll wait. 

At any rate, we sat around for hours laughing and talking about our city and the larger world and when I finally decided to leave it was almost 5pm. I spent a good part of the day talking about food. Talking about the food I’d cooked earlier this week (hello broccoli soup, Parmesan mousse, and homemade croutons) and the cupcakes because they were sitting on the table, but I’d also struck up conversation about all the things I intended to cook when the day was younger. The list was easy if extensive: lemon bars for a friend’s birthday, lactation cookies part deux for one of my bestie's, and oatmeal raisin cookies for my “son” and a buddy. After all of that Monday was going to be a trip to the post office to mail all the goodies off (consider it belated paying-back for any care package I ever got while living in the myriad of countries I’ve called home). 

I got pulled in to dinner though. My inclination, until recently, had always swung toward savory over sweet. And while I’ve been dreaming of making enchiladas for the past few days, I didn’t reach for the corn tortillas in my fridge. Instead, my hands grazed a recipe I haven’t tried yet from my crazed recipe basket: Citrus Ginger Tofu Salad with Buckwheat Soba Noodles. I had most of the ingredients on hand, if you count the flimsy and slightly deteriorating carrot from a few days ago and the dehydrating Napa cabbage my CSA presented me with on Wednesday. 

Oh. And tofu. I was missing tofu.

My first thought for replacement protein was shrimp. I have a bag in the freezer (that I fret about periodically as I never remember if the environmentally friendly way is wild or farmed…or, truthfully, that I shouldn’t be eating it at all…but I digress) but I’ve had some fresh snapper in  my freezer for a while. Purchased one day many months ago when I anticipated cooking it and didn’t and in an effot not to throw away $15 worth of fish, stuck in the freezer.

Before this story gets too long, please know that however long that snapper was in the freezer was too long. It smelled a little questionable, and felt a tad leathery, but I figured frostbite was the culprit and wouldn’t really be a problem once it cooked.

Again, let me cut the suspense. IT DOES IMPACT THE DISH EVEN AFTER IT IS COOKED!

(Clearing my throat.)

The shame is that the marinade is delightful, and the residual marinade does make a flavorful vinaigrette, even with freezer-burned fish remnants floating in it. Gross sounding, I know.  Still…I salvaged the meal. And, with an abundance of kale and cabbage- my additions of green onions and orange peppers and the absence of orange juice that the recipe called for, I’ll have the salad for days.