Osso Bucco as a symbol for a great New Year!

May you have an Osso Bucco year! 

In other words, may it be a richly flavored, easy type of year for you!

I love the symbolism of starting a new year. Ken and I are very lucky because we enjoy two New Year’s! We celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year usually sometime in September or October. THAT New Year tradition is filled with honey and challah. The common New Year has always posed a dilemma however. What to eat to symbolize the New Year?

Here in Central PA, my friends and neighbors celebrate with pork and sauerkraut. While we love sauerkraut, especially the homemade version that I get from Dorothy ( a wonderful Mennonite woman) at the Eastern York Farmers Market, we don’t eat pork at all.

I had to think about what kind of year I want 2010 to be. I decided I want it to be a year filled with the living and enjoying of life, rich and flavorful with new wonderful adventures, and tender moments, that started with a sizzling heat! Yeah, that’s it! And the days after are to be even better, more rich and full bodied. Hmmm. Sounds like Osso Bucco to me, so that’s what I made. We had Osso Bucco at a friend’s house down in Florida a few years ago (not for New Year’s) and I’ve never forgotten what a wonderful meal that was. Great conversation, lots of laughter, and a fabulous dining experience put on by our hosts Brad and his wife, Suzy.

Julia Child’s "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" probably has the perfect recipe for it. Alas, I don’t have my own copy yet. I’m trying to find one at a used book store. If no luck there I’ll order on sometime the first part of 2010. In the meantime I perused James Beard’s Theory and Practice of Good Cooking. No luck there. Joy of Cooking has a braised lamb shanks recipe but she doesn’t call it Osso Bucco. I finally got online and looked at several recipes, and decided that Giada De Laurentiis' was the recipe that best epitomized what I want in 2010.

Although Giada makes hers with veal shanks, I found some very nice looking lamb shanks at BJs. Lamb is a favorite for Ken and I, and we make it numerous ways throughout the year. The shanks were really meaty and plump and the price was within my budget so I snatched them up!

Giada’s recipe ingredients were perfect for me. I had everything except the fresh parsley. But that I could leave out this time I figured. I wasn’t going out to the store again.

I started by cutting fresh rosemary and thyme out of my little herb garden in the back. That in itself was a minor miracle since we again have snow on the ground! At least this time it only snowed three inches!

Scupper surveying the snow

Here are the ingredients list for Giada’s Osso Bucco

1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 dry bay leaf
2 whole cloves
Cheesecloth
Kitchen twine, for bouquet garni and tying the veal shanks
3 whole veal shanks (about 1 pound per shank), trimmed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
All purpose flour, for dredging
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1 small carrot, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1 stalk celery, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon zest

I cut the sage leaves so I can dry them, but the rosemary and thyme went into the bouquet garni, along with the cloves and bay leaf. I filled the cheesecloth with the herbs and then tied it all up with butchers twine.

I quickly diced the carrots, celery and onions and set them aside in a bowl. I measured out a tablespoon of tomato paste from the squeeze tube. By the way if you haven’t tried the tomato paste in a tube, do so at your earliest convenience. I love the stuff! I seldom need more than a tablespoon or two at a time and have wasted too many cans of it in the past. Now I buy it in the tubes and keep it in the frig once I’ve opened it.

I went ahead and measured out the Martini & Rossi Vermouth and chicken stock while I was at it. I wanted to be able to move from step to step without stopping.

After taking the lamb shanks out of the package I rinsed them quickly, patted them dry, and trimmed some of the fat. Harking back to my days in Alaska and rendering bear fat, I put the trimmings in the pot and let the fat ooze out as the little pieces of meat became nice and crispy. Yes, I have actually eaten bear, matter of fact we were very happy to have it one winter as that was just about our only red meat that year. That was years ago when I hunted with my former husband. I haven’t hunted in years but still conjure up my cooking techniques from those days every once in awhile.

While the fat was rendering I wrapped each shank with twine to keep the meat on the bones when it became oh-so-tender. I seasoned with salt and pepper, and then dredged in flour. Once I had garnered as much fat as possible out of the gribbins (that is what I call it) I removed them then added olive oil instead of vegetable oil and heated it up. I dropped in the shanks and browned them all over.

Once the shanks were browned I put them on a plate to the side, I dropped the vegetables in and sautéed those until the onions were translucent. In went the tomato paste next and I stirred it until it was blended in. Then it was time to drop in the shanks. I poured in the vermouth and cooked it down to reduce the liquid to half. It doesn’t take long, so I had to monitor it closely. Finally I dropped in the bouquet garni, and added the chicken stock. I felt the College Inn Bold Stock Rotisserie Chicken Broth would be best for this since it is rich, and full bodied.

I brought the liquid up to a full boil and put it into an oven at 325 degrees. Giada says to simmer it on the stove, but Joy of Cooking said to put it in the oven, so I chose J of C for the final part. I checked it about every 20 minutes and did add a bit more broth about half way through. The idea is to keep the liquid about ¾ ways up the shank according to Giada. After about 1 ½ hrs I took it out of the oven and put it on a low burner to keep it warm.

Since I had a batch of “light” semolina” Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day dough (1 cup of semolina pasta flour in place of one cup of All Purpose flour) in the frig I decided to bake a few loaves of ciabatta and serve some with the Osso Bucco.  About ½ hr before taking out the Osso Bucco I cut off a grapefruit and orange size of dough. I quickly flattened the two sections of dough out on the floured counter, and then covered them with plastic wrap that I had sprayed with Pam. I only let them rise for about 20 minutes.

Once the Osso Bucco was out of the oven I turned the heat to 450 degrees, and put my baking stone back in to warm up. Just before baking, I wetted my fingers and quickly and deeply jabbed the risen dough with my fingertips, making sure to go to the ends. Then I spread on olive oil, sprinkled some freshly ground sea salt, and some chopped fresh rosemary on the dough. At last, I slid the parchment paper with the two loaves of ciabatta on it into the hot oven. I poured a cup of water into a pie pan in the bottom of the oven and closed the door. Ciabatta doesn’t take as long to bake as a big loaf of bread, so it was ready after only 23 minutes.

Because I had a variety of some small potatoes in the frig I decided to boil them up while the bread baked. I also took this time to zest a lemon for the final plating.

Once a simple salad and a glass of my homemade Chilean Carmenere/Acabernet Sauvignon 2007 were on the table, I was ready to plate the Osso Bucco.

I had to be careful with the lamb though as once I cut the twine I knew it would want to fall off the bone. So first I scooped out the vegetables with slotted spoon, and put them on the plate, then carefully lifted out the lamb shanks and placed them on top. Using a ladle I poured some of the sauce over the shanks. I cut the twine with a few quick snips, added the drained boiled potatoes, dropped the lemon zest onto the lamb shanks and added two pieces of bread to each plate.

Our dinner was everything I hope 2010 to be; richly flavored, tender and juicy. The fresh bread sopped up the sauce with the added flavor of the rosemary. AHHHHHH.

Dessert was just a dish of vanilla ice cream which Ken drizzled with our chocolate raspberry port.

What a delicious feast and a wonderful way to toast in 2010!  May we all have an Osso Bucco Year! 

Visiting Herrington Harbor North, Deale MD

It was our one chance to enjoy good weather for the week.  Bright sunshine that actually exuded warmth!  OK, maybe not Florida warmth...after all we were only talking 45 degrees, but for us that was warmth.  Oh and the sunshine!  Glorious blue skies, narry a cloud in sight! 

So we loaded Scupper in the car and off we went to our old stomping grounds, Herrington Harbor North in Deale, MD.  We kept our boat Cadenza there for a couple of years and still know folks down there.  It's a picturesque setting with slips for about 500 boats, huge haul out yard, plenty of storage area for boats for the winter, and lovely expanses of green grass, a pool and clubroom. 

Ken checking out the utilities in Herrington Harbor North. 

In the summertime they show outdoor movies on Saturday nights, and even have fresh popcorn.  What a great way to see Master and Commander, with the smell of the ocean, the sound of the boats creaking as they moved up and down in the water, then suddenly the cannons exploding "BOOM!"  What fun that evening was!  We loved it!

Ken took these from the top of our 60 ft mast on Cadenza

Sadly we sold our boat at the beginning of 2009.  We're hoping to get a catamaran one of these days soon.  Cadenza was my husband's boat, custom built for him 24 years ago.  We were already planning on getting a catamaran, and put it up for sale.  In this economy we were lucky to sell her.  But it was gut wrenching for both of us, but especially him. 

While we wait for our ship to come in, literally in so many ways, we kayak and bicycle ride during the good months.  But I am digressing.  I was talking about the marina. 

It was bittersweet walking around the marina.  We miss living on or at least having a boat to go to on the weekends so much.  It's a different lifestyle and one that is difficult to explain to landlubbers.  There's a comraderie amongst sailors that you don't find in many areas of the country, especially where we live these days. 

When living on a boat you have to be very independent, self-sufficient, and yet able to accept the help of your boating "neighbors" if you need it, and willing to help them if they need it.  You often meet people for one or two days and never see them again but may keep in touch for years after via email and facebook. 

Living onboard is very compact and complex.  Your galley may only be 3 feet long by 1 foot deep.  In some cases you count yourself lucky if you have any kind of rerigerator.  Ours was this long narrow hole in the counter, but belive me we were delighted to have it.  The "living room" (we call it a salon) was a warapround couch area with a big table in the center.  That was it.  But we could get 8 people cozy in the area and had many great dinners.  Our cabin included tiny little closets, and a double bed with storage under it.  The cockpit was our main party area.  We often had 10 people sitting around laughing, enjoying a meal as we got to know each other. 

Because there is such limited space on a boat you have to really plan out what groceries you will carry onboard, what dishes you have, what clothes you can keep, and what books will fit.  You have to make sure to leave you room for the spare parts you may or may not need, the life jackets, the foul weather gear, etc. 

YOU may be sitting there thinking to yourself that it doesn't sound like fun or a good life to you.  But we love it.  When we want to go somewhere, we pull in the lines or hoist the anchor, secure anything that could be knocked off, and away we go.  Can you do that with your house?   OK, if you live in a motor home yes, but you are still restricted to the roads.  We got to sail away.

Watching another boat get ready to anchor in a small cove in chesapeake Bay.

We both love the water, the smell of the sea, the sounds of the sea birds, watching the sea life of all kinds.  Sitting inland, driving by cow pastures and corn fields...as pretty as it can all be at times...just doesn't do it for me.  There is no water with salt in our present neighborhood!   OK time to quit whining...time to get back to baking!
 

Cran-raisin orange zest Challah with wholewheat II

We had a potluck today at work.  I made another batch of Cran-Raisin Orange Zest challah that the HBin5 group did last week as our second project.  But this time I took a couple of ideas from some of the other members! 

First I made a traditional three braid challah with the small braid on top like I did before.  This was the one I took to the potluck. 

I also made two other small three braid challahs and shaped them into wreaths.  I gave them as gifts at work. 

Finally I took the last 1 pound portion of dough and rolled it out into a rectangle. 

I slathered it with Smuckers Sugar Free Orange Marmalade, and sprinkled more cran-raisins and walnuts.  After rolling it up into a log, I sliced it in 3" slices and placed them into an 8x8 baking pan. 

By the time I was done baking this weekend, my floor was slippery with flour.  I swept it and then released George, our Irobot Scooba.  I love it!  When I first bought it, 3 years ago, I tested the floors after it cleaned them.  My test?  I walked and scooted all over the floors in my white sox.  They were still clean!

Bliss by triple chocolate

Friday evening, September 18th. The storm was on the way…predictions of up to 18 inches of snow had everyone scrambling for toilet paper, cookie recipe ingredients and presents on the lists. We had to fight traffic to get to Sam's Club; zigzag around the party atmosphere in the aisles as people discussed their preparations for the impending blizzard, and finally a mad dash into Wal-Mart for … lasagna noodles?? Yes and another 5 pound bag of King Arthur all purpose flour.

Blizzards to me equal “Baking Day Heaven”. And this time it would be heaven in the form of chocolate bread…which I renamed Bliss by Triple Chocolate.

I first time I saw a true chocolate bread a few years ago here in York, at bakery stand at the Eastern York market (held every Friday for 50+ years). At the cost of $10 for a loaf, I buy any, not even one. I so wanted to find out what it tasted like and whether it was worth recreating the recipe. The bread looked as though the crumb held together but wasn’t too sticky. So the search began for the perfect chocolate bread recipe. My next stop was Wegman’s grocery store in Hunt Valley, MD, just 30 minutes away.

Wegman’s is one of my favorite stores…food porn, eye candy, whatever you want to call it…the store has some of the best pastry and bread displays I have seen outside of very fancy bakeries. They had chocolate bread also, and at less than $5.00, I had to buy a loaf of theirs to taste. It was better looking than the first loaf I saw but still not what I was seeking in taste. I searched the internet, looked scrutinized the cookbooks I could find and then concentrated on other things…beer…but not just any beer…chocolate stout!
After trying a few more chocolate bread recipes I couldn’t quite get it just right, even when sacrificing a bottle of my chocolate stout as one of the ingredients! Then along came Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and the search was over!

So before I go further I’d like to say a very big THANK YOU to Zoe and Jeff, authors of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, and Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (and page 211 of ABin5), ! I’m not going to list the recipe or show the step by step pictures because you can go to their website for that. http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1047.

But even their recipe was missing a key ingredient, and I let them know about it. The chocolate bread recipe on the ABin5 website lists two kinds of chocolate, but I deepened it a bit with three types of chocolate plus dried cherries and call it “Bliss by triple chocolate.” One of the chocolates was Chocolate Stout. BUT I decided not to sacrifice one of the last precious bottles of my homemade 3 year old chocolate stout; instead I used a bottle of Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout. A very fine beer to sacrifice on the altar of my favorite breads!

The night before I was to mix the dough, I opened the 12 ounce bottle of beer and poured it into a 4 cup measuring cup and covered it with plastic wrap to allow it to go flat. When I was ready to make the dough I added water to take it to the required liquid. I also measured out one cup of dried cherries. As to the other two chocolate additions called for in the recipe, I used Trader Joes 70 % chocolate bar for the ganache, and the chopped chocolate, and Penzey’s Spices Dutch-process cocoa. Zoe is so right about what the dough is like! It doesn’t rise much…but it does rise. Check out her great pictures!

While the snow came down like flour being sifted outside, I started working with the dough. Again Zoe is right, it’s a big lump! LOL. I made two balls and placed them in a bread pan. I loved the idea of using butter to coat the inside of the pan and then dusting with table sugar, but I also found that dusting the counter with sugar helped to spread the dough out to make the various shapes I wanted.
I pressed out a circle of dough and smeared it with mascarpone, then used my pizza cutter to cut the slices and rolled them from the wide end to make crescents. I did the same with a slather of cream cheese, and another with sugar free raspberry jam. I made a variety of sizes of crescent rolls just for experiments.

Next I took about a ½ pound section of dough and again placed it on the sugar coated counter and pressed it into a rectangle about 1/3” thick. I then sprinkled cinnamon on it, but not just a little sprinkle…I practically poured it on! Next I sprinkled Splenda (cup for cup granulated).  It seemed that any chocolate we had during our 9 months in Mexico had cinnamon in it. We loved it! So this was my way of saluting Mexico’s great chocolate that they use for making hot chocolate, and eating.

I will say that I would not make the chocolate crescents again.  But the other shapes I will!

I've been passing it out at work as Holiday gifts.  I don't even need to wrap it in pretty wrapping paper.  The aroma is so chocolatey that the scent of chocolate fills the recipient's cubicle!

Try Zoe and Jeff’s recipe now, then you’ll be ready for Valentine’s Day! You will love it and it truly is Blissful chocolate!

Cranberry-Orange Challah with wholewheat

Another successful bread recipe from "Healthy Bread in 5 minutes a Day" by Jeff Hertzbert, M.D. and Zoe Francois!  Actually this recipe was provided by Jeff to our HBin5 google group for our December bread recipe.  So let me jump right in with the details!

First I have to confess, my husband is NOT a fan of whole wheat...to the point where if he KNOWS whole wheat is in the recipe he doesn't even want to try it.  But I coax him to try it, and occassionally he is delighted with the results of my efforts. 

For this reason I switched the all purpose and whole wheat flours around.  Instead of 5 cups of whole wheat and 3 cups of all purpose flour, I used 3 cups of whole wheat and 5 cups of all purpose flour.  The other substitution I made was flax seed meal for the wheat germ.  This was one of the substitutions that Michelle posted and it worked fine.  I just hadn't had time and the memory to get wheat germ, but had the flax seed meal. 

The texture of the dough was spot on.  I've been making challot (plural of challah) for about 20 years now.  I love Jeff and Zoe's recipe for it in the original book "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" and had switched to it last year.  Previous to that I was doing the "old fashioned" type of recipe that was time consuming, albeit a good bread. 

My kitchen is very cold this time of year.  Matter of fact I am sitting here with an undershirt on under my Chanukah tee shirt, and a sweatshirt with a hood on it typing this!  I could turn up the heat, but let's face it, since I pay the utilities I am too cheap to do that!  LOL. 

The point of that paragraph is that it takes longer for my dough to do the first rise.  So I just let it sit there for about 3-4 hrs.  When I came into the kitchen to check the dough just before retiring for the evening I found that my dough was pushing the lid off!  It's a very active dough!  I jiggled and then pushed the dough down a bit to where it was about 3 inches below the top of my container and put it in the frig.  Checked it again in the morning and lo and behold had to jiggle it down again!  Hm.  Didn't know what I was going to come home to at this point! 

When I took it out of the frig to start working with it, it was once again up to the top of the container, but hadn't pushed the lid up.  Working with the dough was very easy.  Some of the ABin5, and the HBin5 doughs are very soft and loose but this challah dough was just right. 

First thing I decided to make was "sufganiots" or jelly donuts.  I don't make donuts usually, and only buy donut holes every once in a blue moon.  But one of our HBin5 group members had suggested using the dough for the jelly donuts and I decided to try it.  After looking up several sites on the web about how to get the jelly in the donuts I chose to attempt the "wrapping the dough around the jelly" method and then frying them.  It was NOT successful.  All the jelly leaked out in the frying! 

Although I had bought two different kitchen gadgets to try stuffing the donuts, I decided not to attempt it until later.  Just running out of time, and energy since I was also cooking latkes for the first night of Chanukah for my hubby, Ken, and I, after a full day of work! 

When frying the donuts, which looked more like small cannon balls, I found it very difficult to tell when they were cooked through inside. I don't make donuts, remember?  Eventually I took them out before they burned.  Then rolled them in sugar and set them aside. 

We ate the donuts as part of our Chanukah meal last night for dessert.  Whle they were good, and the texture was quite acceptable, Ken just didn't care for the dough done that way.  He also made a comment about the whole wheat! 

This morning I made the rest of the dough into two challot, putting both into the standard 3 braid.  After reviewing all the different braiding techniques I decided to stick with my traditional 3 strand braid.  But one thing I did different was roll the ends of the three stands together instead of tucking them underneath.  On the larger loaf I made an indent, moistened the dough, then placed a very small challah on it. 

Just before baking I put the orange zest and sugar on the top of the smaller loaf.  But I had put the sugar and orange zest together in a bowl thinking that that would help the orange zest dry out.  Think again!  It just made a gunky mess.  I couldn't really sprinkle it on top, instead I kind of dropped it on top and then used my egg wash brush to schmear it around on the top of the braided dough.  I just did a regular egg wash on the other one.  Both baked up beautiful! 

On Saturday mornings I go to Wayne and Wanetta's house, my neighbor's, for breakfast.  Wayne makes great poached eggs for me and we all have a great time talking and laughing.  This morning their daughter Denise was there also and it's always fun to see her!  I took down a stack of latkes, the cran-raisin, orange zested challah, and some great Dundee orange marmalade that Denise had picked up at Trader Joe's for me.  I had already sent down some of my homemade Rosh Hashanah apple sauce for the latkes the night before.  So we had a feast for breakfast! 

The challah had just the right balance of orange zest and cranraisins in it.  The texture of the bread was  between cake and bread.  The crumb was excellent.  It all held together extremely well when applying butter, no tearing or having to be ever so gentle with the spreading knife. 

Wanetta, my neighbor cutting the challah.  I always take down a loaf of any of my breads to her and her husband, Wayne.  Denise checking the crumb of the bread.  By the time I left, we'd devoured half the loaf!  Oh bother, now I have to make Wanetta another one!  LOL.  BTW Denise loved the donuts!

Ken enjoying the Cran-raisin and orange zest challah! 

Brioche, Part III

As posted before, the HBin5 google group did a pumpkin brioche for a special project this month.  I loved the addition of whole wheat, and felt the bread was a really good alternative to traditional quick bread style pumpkin bread.  I decided to try the same thing with banana pulp.  I am always looking for ways to use bananas that are turning but still too good to throw out. 

I do alot of dehydrating and have often made low cal banana chips.  I simply slice the bananas and place them on the the dehydrator trays (lined with screening).  It takes less than a day and they are a great addition to my trail mix.  I've also pureed them and made them into fruit leather.  Really good for you and no added sugar. 

And while my quick bread style banana bread is great (just ask the Costa Rican Navy!), I wanted to try a banana brioche. 

So I substituted the banana puree for the pumpkin puree.  I made two other changes.  Instead of canola oil I put in sweet unsalted butter, and I added walnuts.

I couldn't believe how tender the crumb was.  Pure heaven. 

I made the entire four pound recipe of dough into rolls, a pastry, and even a "babka style" loaf.  I love chocolate babka, but the recipes I have read are very work intensive.  However, recently in my readings I had come across a recipe that called for making a babka style loaf by rolling the dough jelly roll fashion, then "stuffing" the long roll into a bread pan.  What they were talking about was making a roll that was longer than the bread pan, more or less just pushing it together. 

Once again the flavor of the puree was subtle, and the crumb was light.  It was perfect for breakfast toast.  I also added Nutella to some of them for some variation.  Next time I add Nutella to a dough however, I will heat it up to melting stage.  It's difficult to spread otherwise. 

Of course we didn't eat this all ourselves!  Neighbors and friends, as well as co-workers love when I experiment! 

Below are my results.

Brioche rolls with banana puree.  In the back row the rolls are filled with Nutella.

Breakfast pastry on upper left.  Babka style loaf in lower right corner.  Both are filled with Nutella.

Babka style loaf sliced showing Nutella and walnuts.  The Nutella didn't distribute as well as I wanted.  Next time I will warm it up to melting to spread it more easily and entirely over the dough before rolling.

My next brioche batch will be a regular brioche (using the recipe in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day) in my new brioche pan.  So the story isn't over yet! 

Ken's Haddock Dinner

It's difficult to not love fish ... at least for me.  But I have to admit that my husband and I don't agree on how to cook fish.  After spending 23 years in Alaska, I know what real salmon should taste and look like.  I don't bring Atlantic "color added" salmon into our house except to make gravlox.  But wild caught salmon from Alaska is expensive and frankly except for once a year, non-existent in York, PA.  Halibut is available at times, but very expensive.  So we eat more cod, haddock and flounder on this side of the continent than I am used to. 

Ken was born and raised in Boston, and is more used to New England cooking when it comes to fish. 

We don't usually fry fish up there...to me that would be sacrilege with such good fish as I am used to. I am used to broiling the salmon or halibut, making sure to not overcook it.  Or better yet throw it on the campfire!

But with eating more cod and haddock, I've had to learn how from Ken how to do it properly.  One of his favorite recipes is to fry the fish and serve it with a good tartar sauce.  Again, I am used used to serving my salmon with a hint of dill and lemon juice and a dash of white wine.  I gave up tartar sauce the first time I drove through British Columbia and had malt vinegar with my fish and chips! 

One night I was getting ready to cook cod and Ken complained about how I was cooking the fish.  "Fine!" I said as I handed him the fish.  Show me how YOU cook cod.   And boy howdie, did he!  I love his fried fish and the sauce he whips up to go with it!

A few weeks ago I thawed out some haddock, and let him know he was cooking detail.  He cooked up a wonderful dinner for me! 

He starts with egg in one plate, all purpose flour in another.  After he gently rinses the fish and pats it dry he coats it with egg, dredges it in the flour mixture (flour, salt, pepper, and dried dill), then coats it with egg again, and dredges in flour one last time. 

He places the fish in a skillet that has already been heated with oil and butter. 

I couldn't believe he was able to flip all three of these pieces of haddock in one fell swoop  a 9" skille) without losing anything!  But as you can see from the picture below he did a great job! 

His haddock came out so delicious.  Flaky and tender, cooked just right! 

Then he made a sauce with mayonnaise, and a few secret ingredients that I don't even have the keys to! 

Ken loves his own cooking as seen by the look on his face after he tasted the fish with some of the sauce. 

But wait!  There's more!  While he was cooking this great meal we were also watching the final episodes of the Next Iron Chef America.  Ken felt extra inspired and had to put the dinner on as a presentation for me.  He carefully placed the fish on top of wild rice, dribbled some sauce on the fish and then decorated the plate with more of the sauce. It tasted as good as it looks!