Grilled Mahi Mahi with Summer Vegetables and Mango Rice

“Life itself is the proper binge.”  --Julia Child

Chris and I had a lovely, lazy, end-of-summer vacation together. And of course, we had some delightful meals...

We spent some sunny, lovely days in Vermont on Lake Champlain (Hurricane Irene didn't leave much damage there, luckily), eating farm-to-table meals and sampling local wines. We also tried organic Vermont vodka, or at least Chris did, as being a true GourMESS no matter where I am, I knocked my full glass over and into the grass. I was able to save the pickled ramps, cheese and olives that were the garnish (the best part anyway, tee hee).

My birthday was spent wandering a farm garden, picking raspberries from bushes and eating yellow "taxi" tomatoes off the vine.  We lounged in a hammock by the lake, and later in the elegant dining room, toasted a fabulous meal with a bottle of bubbly. Instead of cake, we devoured a plate of local cheeses. Yum.

And, then later in the week and back at home, we spent a few more days exploring the city and some old favorite/new local haunts, washing down luscious Cuban food and juicy, mouth-watering steaks with signature cocktails and Chris's famous margaritas and mojitos.

Over 12 days, we ate Vermont rabbit and Maine lobster, grass-fed beef, organic eggplants, and pickled radishes.  We ate spicy curries and buttery, creamed spinach. We shared bites of coconut cake and pistachio ice cream, and scarfed down grilled peaches atop lavender-scented biscuits.  We ate like kings, and yet, after all this, a simple meal that took me 15 minutes to make ranked as "the best meal we had on vacation," according to Chris.

All it was is simple meal of grilled fish and vegetables and brown rice:

Mahi Mahi: I rubbed some olive oil, salt, pepper and a bit of a citrus spice mix (garlic, lemon peel, etc.) on two wild caught, boneless/skinless mahi mahi fillets and grilled them until lightly browned and flaky.

Grilled Veggies: We had a bit of a sun-tea disaster in the fridge the night before, which meant all of our tea-soaked produce had to be tossed, so I dug into the freezer for the supply of blanched veggies I keep there for emergencies. I mixed together some green beans, carrots, candy-striped beets and red peppers and tossed them in some olive oil and salt and pepper, and then grilled them.  I had a huge head of wild garlic (thanks, Sue!) so I grilled some large slices of that, too. By the way, I am in love with my Calphalon, double burner grill/griddle pan. It is so easy to use and clean-up is a breeze.

Candy-striped Beets

Mango Rice: I popped a bag of frozen brown rice in the microwave for 5 minutes, and mixed it into a bowl of some lightly cooked English peas, about 1/4 cup of mango salsa, 1 TBS of butter, and a dash of salt.

To serve, I put a scoop of rice on the plate, then the veggies, and then drizzled the fish with orange-infused olive oil and that was it.

I guess it is nice to know that you can travel to wonderful places and dine in five-star restaurants, but there's nothing quite like home cookin'.

Or, maybe I just have the sweetest husband in the whole world....

xoxoxo