02.05.10
Posted in Cuisines, Dinner, Fish, French, Leftovers, Seafood at 9:48 am by julie
When we buy a salmon fillet from Costco, I can usually spread it out for about 4 meals. I cook two-thirds of it fairly simply like that above, roasted in foil packet at 500F with some caper-anchovy butter for about 15 minutes, or just until cooked through. The inevitable leftovers from these simple recipes then go into salmon salads, croquettes, and chowders, and et cetera.
But it can be pretty boring working primarily with leftover cooked salmon, so I always try to save at least a little of the fillet to try out a new technique. So here are two slightly more interesting salmon recipes, both incorporating herbes de provence as a flavoring agent. The first is seared salmon with a beurre rouge sauce. I’ve made beurre blanc before; this is essentially the same thing using red wine. I served mine with muffin cup gratins.
Salmon with Beurre Rouge
2 T minced shallots
1 tsp herbes de provence
2 C fruity, not-too-tannic red wine
2 T balsamic or red wine vinegar
1½ to 2 lb salmon fillet
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 stick butter, cut into 6 or 8 pieces
Combine shallots, herbes de provence, wine and vinegar in a small saucepan and turn heat to high. Cook until it is reduced to about ¼ cup, 10 minutes or so. Strain if desired.
Meanwhile, put a nonstick skillet over medium heat; no fat is needed in pan. Sprinkle salmon with salt and pepper and place it, skin side up, in skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until nicely browned, about 5 minutes, then turn.
When red wine mixture has reduced, turn heat to very low. Add butter a piece at a time, stirring after each addition until it is incorporated. When all butter has been added, taste and adjust seasoning.
Use a sharp knife to peek inside thickest part of fish to judge doneness. When done to your liking, about 3 to 5 minutes after you turn, remove it to a platter or serving plates. Spoon sauce over fish, garnish if you like, and serve.
Source: Slightly adapted from Mark Bittman, NY Times.
For the other recipe, I took inspiration from having randomly watched an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in which a gentleman cooked salmon encrusted with hash browns. I’ve used a similar technique on halibut, which relied on a mayonnaise mixture and the starch from the potatoes to stick them onto the fish. This guy used what he called “salmon glue” to attach the potatoes, essentially a simple salmon mousse made with trimmings, seasonings, and cream. As I was trimming away the thin parts of my fish, I flashed back to this episode and decided at the spur of the moment to give it a shot, and it worked beautifully. I served my crusted salmon with a grainy mustard vinaigrette and a quick salad garnished with disks of fried goat cheese. The recipe is more of a method than anything, as I don’t include amounts.
Potato-Crusted Salmon
I think this method would also work with halibut or other fish; possibly even chicken cutlets, though I’ve not yet confirmed this with testing. If you don’t have scraps from trimming because you used steaks or already uniform fillets, you might be able to use raw shrimp or bay scallops as the base of your glue. It would work with shredded russet potatoes, zucchini ribbons, or virtually any thin layer you want to stick onto the fish. If I try out any of these variations, I’ll make a note of it here.
Boneless skinless salmon fillet, trimmed into rectangles of even thickness and scraps reserved
Red potatoes, thinly sliced (about 1/8″—I used a mandoline)
Cream
Herbes de provence (or other herbs, such as dill, that compliment the fish)
Shallot, diced
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Place the salmon scraps in a food processor with some shallot, herbs and cream. For our two portions (plus a baby piece for Nolan), I had enough scraps to use 2-3 T cream, 1-2 T shallot, about 1/2 tsp herbes de provence, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Run the processor; you want to end up with a light, fluffy, spreadable, but not runny consistency, so add a bit more cream if necessary. Season the salmon fillets with salt, pepper and another sprinkle of your herbs, then smear on one side with about a 1/4″ of your glue; layer with potato slices, making sure each one has some contact with the glue. Flip fillets over carefully and repeat on the other side.
Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Carefully lower in the salmon, ensuring that the potatoes stay in place, and cook for about 5-7 minutes, until the potatoes are golden brown. Flip gently and cook on the other side until the potatoes are again golden and the salmon is cooked through to your liking; if you, like us, don’t care for medium salmon, you may need to turn the heat down at the end and lid the pan for a few minutes to finish cooking through. Serve with the sides and/or sauces of your choice.
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02.03.10
Posted in American, Cuisines, Fish, Leftovers, Seafood at 11:33 am by julie
In case anyone wants to know, leftover fried fish can be acceptable, and even pretty tasty, fishcakes. When we were on our way to the airport with my folks after Christmas, we stopped at a McCormick and Schmick’s for lunch, where my mother and I both ended up ordering the cod fish and chips. Nolan threw a teething fit and refused to even sit in proximity to solid food, and we were concerned about getting to the airport on time, so I came home with most of the fish and chips in a doggie bag—probably about 3/4 lb of flaky cod. There was no way the batter was ever going to recrisp, so I just broke up the fish, batter and all, and made it into codcakes. For bulk, I steamed and riced 5 red potatoes, and added two crumbled up slices of white sandwich bread; I seasoned it with some grated onion, salt and pepper, and bound the whole lot together with two eggs.
This constitutes my basic fishcake recipe, and I use it frequently with all manner of leftover fish, particularly cod, halibut, and salmon. Sometimes I’ll dip the patties in a dusting of flour or panko crumbs, but I skipped that this time because of the extra starch from the batter. I served the codcakes with some arugula I sauteed with olive oil and garlic, and a quick dipping sauce that contained, I believe, mayo, Dijon, and some dill (the salmon variation above had a sauce of plain yogurt with mayo, lemon, and smoked paprika). Usually Nolan likes these a lot, because they are crunchy and starchy and contain fish, but the dreaded molars were still keeping him from eating; in fact, only one has fully erupted so far, so this is an ongoing problem that I will be very glad to see the end of.
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06.25.09
Posted in Dinner, Fish, Seafood, Veggies at 2:20 pm by julie
The more perceptive among you may have noticed the casual inclusion of zucchini in a previous post. I’ve always struggled with the texture and blandness of zucchini, but I’ve decided that this will be my year to come to terms with summer squash, and I’ve already made a good start. There wasn’t a whole lot in the way of fresh produce at the farmer’s market yet, being a little early, but I came home with pints of strawberries, bags of wild mushrooms, a mound of fresh dill, and three large zucchini (it’s a little early for them too, I know; I think they were locally grown in a hothouse). The lamb kebabs was my first effort to integrate zucchini into a meal, and it worked out pretty well. The quick marinade I used gave it some flavor, and grilling made it nice and tender without turning to mush.
But that only used up one of my three zucchini. That left one for Z-P muffins, and one for… something else. I wanted to put my new kevlar glove, courtesy Mother’s Day, to work, so I decided on halibut wrapped in paper-thin slices of zucchini, which required the use of my mandoline. I’m not really happy with the one I have—it doesn’t have a kickstand base, and there is a big hook on one end for the hand-grip (which I no longer need thanks to my handy-dandy glove) that gets in the way when I have to slice something long, like zucchini for instance. Half of my strips were consequently sort of mangled, but I got enough nice ones to wrap my fish with, and the rest took a spin in the food processor to become muffin fodder.
As for the fish, I used chunks of wild halibut, seasoned with kosher salt, lemon pepper and sprigs of fresh dill. The zucchini strips formed a little packet around the fish, keeping it moist as it sauteed but adding very little flavor or texture of its own. I turned up the heat at the end to give the zucchini a little color, and served it with garlic-mashed potatoes and a quick white wine-butter sauce.
Zucchini-Wrapped Fish
2 (6- to 7-inch-long) zucchini, trimmed
3 T extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus additional for brushing
16 fresh basil leaves, or sprigs of fresh dill
Lemon pepper
4 (6-ounce) pieces halibut or salmon fillet (preferably wild), skinned
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 C white wine
2 T white wine vinegar
4 T heavy cream
8 T butter (1 stick)
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
Shave zucchini lengthwise into very thin ribbons with peeler, or use a mandoline.
For each piece of fish, arrange about 5 slices of zucchini on a work surface, side by side, overlapping each slice by half. Brush zucchini with oil, then lightly season with salt and pepper. Lay fresh herbs across center of each group of zucchini slices.
Pat fish dry, then sprinkle with kosher salt and lemon pepper and arrange crosswise on zucchini, covering herbs. Top each piece of fish with more herbs, then wrap zucchini around fish, overlapping ends. This can be done several hours in advance, if desired.
Put 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet and swirl to coat bottom, then arrange fish, seam sides down, in oil. Lightly brush tops of zucchini and fish with oil.
Cover skillet and cook fish over medium heat, without turning, until barely cooked through, 6 to 9 minutes, depending on thickness of fillets (fish will continue to cook from residual heat). Turn heat up to medium high and continue to cook just until the zucchini begins to brown, then carefully turn and brown the other side slightly.
Transfer fish to plates, then deglaze the pan with the white wine and vinegar. Simmer the mixture until practically all the liquid has evaporated, then add the heavy cream. (If the cream is not being used, the same amount of another liquid, such as water, should be added, or the sauce will be too thick.) Cut the butter into 1-inch cubes, and add them to the wine reduction, whisking continuously until all the butter has been incorporated. Don’t let the sauce boil or it could break (as mine did, partly because I had no cream—oh well, it still tasted good.)
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06.06.09
Posted in Cuisines, Dinner, Fish, Leftovers, Seafood, Spanish at 12:33 am by julie
We’ve been finding some pretty good deals on wild halibut fillets at Costco recently, and the best part is that the portion size is almost reasonable. I decided to make a romesco sauce to brighten up what could otherwise be a pretty palid meal. I adapted this recipe with what I had available, using a combination of roasted red pepper and rehydrated ancho in place of the piquillos, almonds in place of the hazelnuts, and canned diced tomato. It came out very flavorful, but spicier than I had anticipated, right on the limits of what I can comfortably eat. Granted, what I can comfortably eat is pretty darn mild by many people’s standards, and Jeremy had no problem with it.
We ate about half of the fish for dinner, and the leftovers went into a batch of fishcakes the next night. I broke up the fish, and filled it out with some shredded russet potato, a handful of bread crumbs, and some finely diced red bell pepper for flavor. Then I added an egg and a dollop of mayonnaise as a binder, and seasoned it all with a few tablespoons of leftover romesco and some smoked paprika. While the fish cakes were pan-frying, I quickly whisked together the last little bit of romesco with some mayonnaise for a dipping sauce, and made a basic salad with sherry vinaigrette to continue the Spanish flavors. This was a perfect way to spin a relatively small amount of leftover halibut into a second hearty meal.
Halibut Romesco
9 oz diced canned tomato (or 1 large tomato, roasted and diced)
1/2 C toasted almonds (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1/2 C coarsely chopped drained roasted red pepper
1 dried ancho chile, stemmed and seeded, and rehydrated in hot water, chopped
4 T extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sherry wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 T unsalted butter
4 6-ounce halibut fillets
1/2 C low-salt chicken broth
Chop nuts in processor; add tomato, peppers, 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, paprika, vinegar, salt, and cayenne, then puree. Transfer romesco sauce to bowl. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
Melt butter with remaining 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add halibut and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side (fish will not be cooked through). Transfer halibut to plate.
Add broth to same skillet and bring to boil; stir in romesco sauce. Add halibut; reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until halibut is opaque in center, about 2 minutes. Transfer halibut to plates. Spoon romesco sauce over, and serve.
Source: Adapted from Epicurious.
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05.01.09
Posted in Dinner, Fish, Salads, Seafood, Sides, Veggies at 10:27 pm by julie
I sent Jeremy to the store for a few end-of-month pantry staples, and he came home with lamb shanks and halibut steaks. We usually get fillets because fish bones still sort of wig me out, but steaks are definitely more affordable. The recipe I chose, potato-crusted halibut steaks, came together without too much difficulty: I was able to flip them without losing the potato crust and only doing minor splash damage to my hand. The caper-anchovy mayo binder added some great flavor to the fish, but I could take or leave the wine-based sauce; it was difficult even to taste it, and I’ve left it off the recipe below.
To go along with the fish, I made an unusual salad of sauteed red cabbage and wilted spinach in a balsamic vinaigrette which hit the perfect note—heartier than your standard salad, more interesting than cole slaw, with a tang and slight sweetness that set off the savory fish, and a much-needed burst of color on the plate. The cabbage and pancetta got pretty dark on the bottom over the medium heat called for, so I’ve adjusted the recipe slightly to compensate for next time. In all, this was a pretty impressive meal, the sort that would be excellent served to company.
Potato-Crusted Halibut Steaks
1/4 C mayonnaise
1 T chopped drained capers
4 flat anchovies, rinsed, patted dry, and chopped fine
six 1-inch-thick boneless halibut steaks (each about 7 ounces)
3/4 lb russet (baking) potatoes (about 1 1/2)
2 T olive oil plus additional if necessary
Preheat oven to 400°F. and lightly oil a shallow baking pan. In a small bowl stir together mayonnaise, capers, anchovies, and salt and pepper to taste. Pat halibut steaks dry and season with salt and pepper. Spread mayonnaise mixture evenly on top of steaks.
Peel potatoes and quarter lengthwise. Grate potatoes coarsely, preferably using a food processor. Do not rinse or squeeze potatoes. Immediately pat a heaping 1/4 cup potato evenly on mayonnaise mixture on each steak. (By moving quickly, you avoid letting the potatoes brown, and the starch from shredding them will help adhere them to the fish. I also didn’t bother peeling my potatoes.)
In a 12-inch non-stick skillet heat 2 tablespoons oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Carefully arrange 2 steaks, potato sides down, in oil and cook, pressing down occasionally with a slotted spatula, about 5 minutes, or until potato is golden brown and cooked through. Carefully invert steaks (potato sides should be up) and season with salt and pepper. Repeat procedure with remaining steaks, adding more oil to skillet if necessary. Bake steaks in pan in middle of oven 10 to 15 minutes, or until just cooked through.
Source: Epicurious.
Red Cabbage and Warm Spinach Salad
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp honey
1 1/2 T balsamic vinegar
2 1/2 T extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 C pine nuts (I used sliced almonds)
2 oz sliced pancetta (Italian unsmoked cured bacon), chopped
1 lb red cabbage, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 (5-oz) bag baby spinach, any tough stems discarded
Make vinaigrette: Mash garlic with salt to a paste. Whisk together garlic paste, mustard, honey, and vinegar, then add oil in a stream, whisking until emulsified.
Make salad: Toast nuts in a dry large heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until beginning to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Remove nuts and add pancetta; cook until browned and crisp, about 2 minutes. Remove pancetta and add cabbage; cook, covered, over medium low heat until wilted and just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add spinach, stirring gently until it just begins to wilt. Remove pan from heat. Add vinaigrette, nuts, pancetta, and toss.
Source: Epicurious.
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03.13.09
Posted in Baby Food, Cuisines, Dinner, Fish, Italian, Leftovers, Pastas, Seafood, Soups at 10:16 pm by julie
It is pretty much a given that, living in the Pacific Northwest, we eat a lot of salmon. Even this time of year, when there isn’t anything available in the stores except farm-raised, color-added salmon, we can only go so long before giving in and buying some, usually in enormous fillet form from Costco. Nolan loves salmon, and for the most part it makes for a quick-fix dinner, both marks in the plus column for us. So this post is a melange of salmon recipes we’ve made in the past month or two, with a big finale to keep you tuned in.
This was an easy miso-glazed salmon, based on this recipe from Cooking Light. It was tasty, but quite a bit sweeter than I had anticipated, so if I make it again, I will definitely hold back on the brown sugar, or maybe add a balancing acidic component.
The next recipe, for poached salmon with a creamy mustard sauce, was a greater success, although it might not be as pretty to look at. I adapted the easy sauce to my ingredients with great success: shallots for green onions, and a good dose of dried dill added in because it sounded good to me.
I used the remaining salmon the next day to make a chowder that was, frankly, so good I’m tempted to make the poached salmon again just for the leftovers. It was completely improvised, but here is the gist of what I did: I chopped and sauteed two handfuls of onions with some garlic, and then added 1/4 C white wine and 2 cups of water mixed with a teaspoon each of Better Than Bouillon chicken and clam base (mostly because I was running out of the chicken base). I chunked up some red potato and boiled that in the broth for 10 minutes or so, until it was tender, and used a masher to smush them a little and thicken the sauce while still leaving lots of chunks for texture. I wanted to underline the flavors of the original meal, so I added a cup of cream, threw in some dill, a teaspoon or two of mustard, and then broke up the leftover salmon into the chowder, sauce and all. It was fantastic, and stretched the salmon out for an extra day or two.
This was a smoky salmon bisque I made last week when I had about 3/4 lb of salmon scraps leftover from another meal. I wanted to try something new, so I adapted a recipe for smoked salmon bisque. I had to leave out the cilantro and leek and use rehydrated wild mushrooms; I used homemade shrimp stock and only fresh salmon, injecting a smoky flavor with smoked salt and a bit of smoked Spanish paprika instead. It turned out alright, but I think the main problem is just that I don’t actually care for seafood bisques all that much, no matter how much I tell myself otherwise. There is something about pureeing fish that just doesn’t sit right with me. I left my bisque on the chunky side, but the texture still bothered me because it seemed gritty. It did taste good, though, and I served it with homemade Parmesan focaccia, which made Jeremy’s day.
The focaccia used an olive oil dough recipe from Artisan Bread Baking in 5 Minutes a Day. I topped it with fleur de sel, coarse pepper, sprinkles of thyme and garlic powder, and freshly grated Parmesan, plus a generous drizzle of olive oil. I was able to make two focaccias and a large pizza with the dough over several days, all of which were very tasty and prompted me to immediately make another batch of dough.
You may be picking up on the pattern here: I tend to pick out really easy salmon recipes with just a few ingredients, and use any leftovers for some sort of chowder. It fits the bill on most occasions, but I wanted to make something more interesting this time. I started looking into Italian recipes to marry with the focaccia, and a unique recipe for salmon cannelloni in a lemon cream sauce. Rather than using fresh pasta wrapped around ground meat, this recipe calls for homemade crespelle (Italian crepes, essentially) wrapped around narrow strips of salmon fillet. I was a little skeptical, but it suited my needs, and I had nearly all the ingredients for it on hand, so I gave it a shot.
I’ve made crepes before and they don’t pose too much of a problem. For these, I used dried dill instead of the tarragon called for, purely from personal preference: we aren’t big on licorice-y flavors. The recipe called for a 10″ nonstick skillet, though, and I have just 8″ and 12″ ones, so I slightly adapted the method of spreading the batter. Rather than pouring in too much, swirling the pan, and pouring off the excess, I used my 12″ skillet, poured batter into a 1/4 C measuring cup then into the hot skillet, and gently used the back of the cup to spread the batter, using the lightest touch I could and stopping the moment I felt it start to set up. I was quite pleased with the size and thickness of the resulting crespelle. Nolan thought they weren’t half-bad, and the little one I made for him and tore up into bite-sized pieces kept him occupied while I continued working.
I made some minor adjustments to the lemon cream sauce, and in place of the shallot butter, I took advantage of a lone leek, sautéing it with a little butter and garlic. It ended up being a bit skimpy for me, so I’ve adjusted the recipe to call for 2 leeks instead. Nolan did great watching me run around the kitchen working…until I had to stand still and wrap up the cannellonis, then he decided he was dome being patient. I had just enough time to grate some fresh Parmesan over the dish and shove it in the oven before his tantrum picked up steam.
These were delicious, and one of the most impressive looking meals I’ve made in quite some time—it would be a good one to make for guests.
Salmon Cannelloni with Dill Crespelle and Lemon Cream
For crespelle:
2 large eggs
2/3 C water
1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried dill
3 T unsalted butter, melted
For sauce:
2 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 T all-purpose flour
1 (8-ounce) bottle clam juice
1/6 C water
1/6 C lemon juice
1/3 C heavy cream
2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
For salmon cannelloni:
1 T unsalted butter
2 medium leeks, rinsed and chopped
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
6 pieces salmon fillet (about 1×1x8), skin and little bones discarded
Parmesan cheese
Blend together eggs, water, flour, dill and salt in a blender until smooth. Lightly brush a 10- or 12-inch nonstick skillet with a film of melted butter and heat over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Ladle about 1/4 cup batter into skillet, tilting and rotating skillet to coat bottom, or use the back of the measuring cup to very gently spread batter. (If batter sets before skillet is coated, reduce heat slightly for next crespella.) Cook until just set and underside is lightly browned, about 30 seconds, then invert crespella onto a clean kitchen towel in one layer to cool. (It will be cooked on one side only.) Make 5 more crespelle with remaining batter in same manner, brushing skillet with butter as needed and transferring to towel as cooked, arranging them in one layer.
Heat butter in a 1- to 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat until foam subsides. Add flour and cook, whisking, 2 minutes. Add clam juice, water and lemon juice in a slow stream, whisking, then bring to a boil, whisking. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in cream, zest, and pepper, then remove from heat.
In a small skillet over medium heat, melt 1 T butter and saute leek and garlic until softened. Season with salt and pepper, remove from heat and set aside.
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F. Butter a 13- by 9-inch or other 3-quart glass or ceramic baking dish and spread half of sauce in dish.
Put 1 crespella, pale side down, on a work surface. Spread a layer of leek in a line across the center of the crespella, cover it with a salmon fillet, season fish lightly with salt and pepper, and fold crespella around salmon, leaving ends open. Transfer to baking dish, arranging, seam side down, in sauce. Make 5 more cannelloni with remaining salmon and crespelle in same manner, arranging in baking dish. Spoon remaining sauce over cannelloni. Grate a light layer of Parmesan cheese over the surface of the crespelle.
Bake until salmon is just cooked through, sauce is bubbling, and Parmesan is beginning to brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Allow to settle for several minutes before serving.
Source: Adapted from Epicurious.
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11.19.08
Posted in Dinner, Fish, Lunch, Salads, Seafood at 11:53 am by julie
I’ve got a few tried and true salmon recipes that I make over and over, but they get boring after a while so I keep trying to mix it up. Here are a few I tried out on portions of a huge, beautiful fillet of salmon we cooked up a few weeks ago. Above is a simply baked piece of salmon over couscous with a lemon thyme beurre blanc sauce. It was very tasty, and a quick-fix meal for a night that I had very little available time. If I’d had my head on straight, I would have thrown some broccoli on to steam, because that would go beautifully with the beurre blanc as well.
This one was another simply cooked salmon, grilled this time, and topped with a balsamic glaze. I took my eye off the glaze for a bit too long thanks to the baby, so it was black and syrupy in the extreme. It tasted alright, but wasn’t particularly memorable; I’d make it again only if I was scrounging for a recipe to make from pantry ingredients, and even then I’d turn to that beurre blanc first. I served it with rice and some baby spinach sauteed with garlic and olive oil.
This salad, made with the fraction of the fillet I had left after two full meals, was the best recipe of the bunch. I just cut the salmon into strips, pan-roasted it skin-side first, and placed it over a salad of greens, roasted red pepper, and the mustard vinaigrette from the Macrina Bakery Cookbook
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Mustard Vinaigrette
1 T Dijon mustard
1 T sherry vinegar
1 T finely chopped shallots
1 tsp honey
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
3/4 C extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshy ground pepper
In a small bowl, combine everything but olive oil and S/P. Whisk in the olive oil very slowly to form an emulsion, then season with S/P to taste.
Source: Leslie Mackie’s Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook, p. 207.
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09.01.08
Posted in Chinese, Cuisines, Dinner, Fish, Italian, Mediterranean, Pastas, Seafood, Sides at 12:40 pm by julie
Tilapia is one of those proteins that Jeremy likes bringing home in bulk from Costco, so I’m always on the look-out for creative ways to use it. Here is another pair of recipes that were set on the blog’s back-burner, thanks to a trip to the emergency room. No worries and no relation to the fish—turns out Jeremy had a kidney stone, and it seems to have passed. Of course, now I’ve got a bunch of tilapia stranded in the freezer because he has started associating it with intense pain. Sigh.
Thank heavens for fish, really, because it cooks so quickly. Even marinating it takes no time at all. I made the sauce for this meal in a free moment, and came back when we were ready to eat and cooked off the fish. I served it with Jaden’s garlic scallion noodles (a.k.a. noodle crack), veggiefied with shredded red cabbage, vertically sliced onion, and carrots cut into lazy-man’s julienne (I peel the carrot, then use the peeler to cut the entire carrot into thin slices, stack and julienne from there). Every time I make these noodles, Jeremy comments on how good they are and forgets he’s had them before—perhaps because I include whatever veggies I’ve got on hand. It was a perfect side-dish for the mild Asian flavors of the fish.
Five-Spice Tilapia with Ponzu Sauce
2 T thinly sliced green onions
2 T orange juice
1 T lemon juice
1 T low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 tsp bottled ground fresh ginger (such as Spice World)
1/2 tsp five-spice powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
4 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets
2 tsp canola oil
Combine green onions, juices, soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and ginger in a small bowl. Set aside.
Combine five-spice powder, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle both sides of fish evenly with spice mixture. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from skillet, and serve with sauce.
Source: Cooking Light.
The second recipe I chose for my tilapia this time around was a quick piccata, served with couscous that I seasoned with sun-dried tomatoes and basil. I liked it, but I think Jeremy was already wary of tilapia after his first kidney stone, so he mostly ate the couscous.
Tilapia Piccata
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper, divided
3 T all-purpose flour
4 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets
3 T butter, divided
1/4 C white wine
3 T fresh lemon juice
1 T drained capers
Combine salt, pepper, and flour in a large shallow dish. Dredge fish in flour mixture. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish to pan; cook 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Remove fish from pan; keep warm.
Add wine, juice, and capers to pan; cook 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Add remaining butter to pan; stir until butter melts. Serve fish with sauce and pasta.
Source: Cooking Light.
Sun-dried Tomato and Basil Couscous
1 T olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 T dried basil or 1/4 C chopped fresh basil
10-12 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 C couscous
1 C boiling water
Place 1 1/2 cups of water on the stove or in a kettle to boil. In a bowl, mix the olive oil, salt, basil, tomatoes, and couscous until combined. Measure out 1 cup of boiling water and pour over couscous mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 5 minutes. Lightly fluff the couscous with a fork, and drizzle with a bit more olive oil if desired.
Source: Slightly adapted from VeganYumYum.
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07.17.08
Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Eggs, Fish, Leftovers, Seafood, Sides at 6:07 pm by julie
So it’s salmon season in the Pacific Northwest, and we are starting to see whole wild salmons appearing in the supermarket. Last week when we were at the grocery store, I talked Jeremy out of getting one, just for sheer size. But a few days later, he made a trip to Costco, and somehow a 3.5lb wild sockeye (sans head) jumped into the car and followed him home.
I roasted it pretty simply seasoned in a foil pouch, on a bed of parsley and dill and stuffed with dill, lemon, and spring onions. I also poured in some clam juice and fresh lemon juice, then sealed it all up and cooked it at 375F for about 40 minutes. It came out flaky and very flavorful, with that firm meaty flesh you just don’t get from farmed Atlantic salmon. Jeremy performed filleting duties while I made my favorite quick sauce for fish, based on this recipe: green onion sliced thin and sauteed until tender in a tablespoon of butter, then simmered in white wine until it has nearly boiled off.
To go with the fish, I made lemon-scallion rice in the rice cooker, according to Simply Ming: Just add a few sliced scallions and some fresh lemon juice and zest to your rice and water before starting the cooker, and hit Start. I think the lemon juice gave the rice an extra-sticky texture, but it had good flavor, and married nicely with the lemony fish.
Needless to say, we had leftover salmon coming out our ears. I’ve already done salmon croquettes, and it is definitely too warm right now for chowder. So I found a few new recipes to add to my arsenal, a simple salmon frittata with corn, peppers and Gruyere, and a dilly salmon-potato hash with shiitake mushrooms.
For the frittata, I used the general recipe here, using frozen corn and diced frozen peppers, and subbing scallions for onions and of course leftover salmon for canned. It was very tasty, but I think if I make it again with salmon, I’ll use lots of red peppers and forget the corn.
The hash worked out nicely because I just happened to have a small bag of shiitakes that needed to be eaten before they dried out. I didn’t have any sour cream, though, so I took the chance and used some Greek yogurt instead. We couldn’t tell the difference. Nolan woke up just as I was finishing it, so the pic was taken one-handed, and I forgot I had meant to top the hash with some fried or poached eggs, but it stood alone just fine.
Salmon Hash
6 T olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 C shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and quartered
1 tsp garlic, one clove peeled and finely chopped
3 C potatoes, cooked and peeled
1-1/4 lb salmon, cooked or smoked, skinned, boned and flaked
1/2 C Greek yogurt, full-fat
1 T lemon juice
2 T fresh dill, chopped
Sea salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Place 1/2 of the oil in a heavy skillet over high heat, and when hot, add the onion and saute until slightly crunchy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the mushroom, and cook until just wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Remove to a mixing bowl and set aside.
In the same skillet, add the remaining oil, bring to medium heat, and add the potatoes. Cook until the edges are just crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix with the reserved onions, and add salmon, yogurt, lemon juice, and dill. Season to taste with the salt and pepper, and mix well, but do not pack the mixture.
Return the mixture to a skillet, and cook over medium heat, tossing to prevent the hash from sticking. Remove to a warm plate, and serve. Garnish the hash with anything you like best, from sour cream to poached eggs.
Source: Adapted from The Buffet Book, by Carole Peck (available online here)
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07.07.08
Posted in Fish, Seafood, Soups at 11:04 am by julie
All of my complaints about our cool summer weather must have been heard, because—as I mentioned in my Danish braid post for the Daring Bakers—the heat caught up with us last weekend. And what better way to celebrate the start of the summer weather than by making fish soup? Well, maybe hot soup and hot weather don’t go so well together, but at least these two meals were light on fat and prep time, and didn’t require the use of the oven.
The first version I tried out owes another little nod to Emeril, who introduced me to the idea of fish cooked in court bouillion a few weeks back. (Court bouillion—seemingly pronounced coo boo-yone—is a light vegetable broth usually containing a mirepoix and an acid element, like white wine or lemon juice.) I chose a recipe from Epicurious and made the broth during one of Nolan’s naps, using my last half-onion and some use-it-or-lose-it leeks. It percolated on low heat until Jeremy was ready for dinner, at which point I dropped in my chunks of wild halibut fillet. Nolan chose this moment to wake up screaming, of course, so I ended up eating my dinner at top speed while trying vainly not to burn my tongue. I may not have been able to give it a fair shake, but the flavors were really too subtle for me (read: bland) and I ended up adding quite a good pinch of salt to my plate to make it more palatable. Jeremy seemed to like it, mostly on the above-stated grounds of lightness.
The next night, after watching an oddly serendipitous episode of Good Eats that featured fish poached in court bouillion, I decided to transform our leftover halibut and broth into a simple chowder. Using a slotted spoon, I removed the fish and most of the vegetables from the broth, the latter going in a saucepan to simmer with two small cubed potatoes. When the potato was tender, I again employed the slotted spoon to rescue some of the potatoes for texture before pureeing the soup with my hand blender. The reserved potatoes, veggies and halibut (broken into bite-sized chunks) went back into this thickened soup base to warm through, along with a sprinkle of Old Bay seasoning. We ended up with a completely different soup than what we started with—hearty but very light, and still virtually fat-free. And just to round out that whole Food Network/halibut soup thread, the episode of The Middleman I put on over dinner turned out to feature none other than the Chairman from Iron Chef America!
Halibut au Court Bouillion/ Halibut Chowder
For court bouillion:
1/4 C dry white wine
5 C water
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 small leeks, chopped, white and pale green parts only
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp black pepper
a pinch ground cloves
1 tsp salt
1 T olive oil
12 oz halibut fillet, cut into portion-sized pieces
Cooked rice
For chowder:
2 medium red- or yellow-skinned potatoes, cubed
1/4 tsp Old Bay seasoning (optional)
For court bouillion: In a 4- to 6-quart heavy saucepan bring wine and water to a boil with onion, carrot, leek, spices and salt and simmer 20 minutes. Add oil and halibut and poach fish at a bare simmer, covered, until just cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. Place some rice into shallow bowls; transfer fish with a slotted spoon onto rice, and spoon court bouillon over fish. Sprinkle fish with fresh coriander and garnish with lemon wedges, if desired.
For chowder: From leftover court bouillion, strain the fish and most of the vegetables out of the liquid, and reserve in a bowl. Place the broth and remaining vegetables over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the potatoes and simmer until they are cooked, then remove half of them to the bowl with the fish. Use a stick blender to puree the potatoes, broth and vegetables in the saucepan, then return to the heat and add the reserved potatoes, veggies and halibut (flake the latter into bite-sized chunks) to warm through. Season to taste, with Old Bay if desired.
Source: Adapted from Epicurious.
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