Bangers + Mash.

 Last week Monday as Jen and I were talking about all of the places she needed to see while in London, she thought we would theme our lunch after a British dish. I had been pondering it for a while and couldn't remember something really amazing that I had while I was in London so I did a little search and found something that looked quick and easy to make.. Bangers & Mash?

I was a little skeptical at first but then I thought, how could you go wrong with brats, mashed potatoes, and gravy, right? I quickly drove to Gateway Market to pick up all the supplies that we needed.

I had to do a little improvising since Gateway Market didn't have a plain brat or gravy but I decided to pick up some ciabatta bread too just to add another little something.

After grilling the bread and brats, I started to assemble everything. I spread some mustard on the bread, topped it with the mashed potatoes and then threw on the brat pieces.

Finishing touch? The "gravy" of course! It looked a lot better than I thought it wold but I wasn't sure how it was going to taste but I was excited to try it. We called John (Jen's Husband) to join us.

The bangers and mash turned out to be pretty delicious. I even picked up a British Ale to toast John & Jen a bon voyage to London :) Is there a British dish that you vividly remember? I seriously was struggling but was happy to experience bangers & mash my way.

Passion Fruit Chili Pepper Swordfish.

Growing up I did not like fish...at all. I thought it tasted weird and didn't understand why people even ate it or liked it but within the last several years, I have learned to love it and appreciate it. I don't think that I was exposed to good fish, which is probably why I wasn't crazy about it. Is there anything you hated as a child and now appreciate as an adult?

Smile! We really got to know our fish before we bought it!

A couple of Sundays ago, Jen, Derek and I went to the NEW Whole Foods in West Des Moines to pick up some items for dinner. While we shopped for Sunday dinner, Jen cleverly thought about what we could make for our Monday cooking ritual at Eden the next day...

(I grew up loving Whole Foods in Chicago and now that it's in the Des Moines area, I couldn't be happier)

I hadn't received such great service at a grocery store in a long time. The fish guy even removed the "blood line" from the fish after cutting off a filet.

 Freshly caught Swordfish? Ok! It didn't take the fish guy at Whole Foods much effort to sell us on buying a nice big piece for lunch on Monday.

Featured Ingredient: Passion Fruit Chili Pepper from Hawaii.

Jen received this Passion Fruit Chili Pepper from a generous friend and customer. She had told me about it the week prior, which is why we thought the Swordfish would be perfect for it!

After letting the fish marinate in a mustard marinade that I quickly threw together, I sprinkled it with the Chili Pepper and threw it on our Panini Press. Don't you love everything you can do with it? The past couple of months has consisted of grilling our lunch picks.

Grill marks are so pretty, aren't they? After letting the fish sit on the Panini Grill for about (15) minutes on medium heat, I was pretty confident that it was cooked to perfection. It has to look good + taste good too!

I had made some mashed potatoes and mango salsa before I came into work so it wouldn't cut into our prime eating time :)

The mashed potatoes had a hint of curry and it added such a great dimension to the full dish. I threw the mint on for color since I had a ton of it growing in my planters. I still think to date, this is my favorite dish.