An elimination-protocol week: cassava noodles, coconut milk parsnip puree and a citrus salad built around elk and barramundi

Ground elk at 90/10 behaves nothing like beef. There is almost no fat to protect it, so the meatballs are mixed cold, rolled loose, seared hard for colour only, then finished in the honey garlic sauce away from direct heat. Cooked through in the pan they turn dry and grainy. The barramundi gets the same short treatment, laid over orange and lemon wheels so the fruit steams it from below instead of the oven drying it from above.

Grapefruit and oranges are the reason that salad exists this week, and citrus is near the end of its season in Houston now. Both are sharp enough that against raw fennel and spinach the apple cider vinaigrette can stay light. It still rides in its own container, because citrus segments weep and spinach wilts within hours of being dressed. Had the fruit come in dull I would have turned the fennel into a slaw instead.

Reheating, shortest first. The shrimp need nothing at all and are best cold over the spinach salad, since heating them twice makes them squeak. Barramundi wants 7 minutes at 300°F covered, the elk meatballs 10 minutes at 325°F in their own sauce, and the sweet potato fries 12 minutes at 425°F uncovered so they firm up again. Bring the chicken noodle soup to a bare simmer on the stove and add the cassava pasta at the table, not before.