(Shell)Fish Monday

I tried stir-frying scallops for the first time last night.  Bay scallops, the little ones, not the big real ones.  I don't think those would stir-fry very well.  But the little ones work really nicely in a stir-fry.  Some pea pods, some mushrooms, a little teriyaki sauce, and Bob's your dinner.  Definitely something to consider again if there's a good deal on them (not that they're terribly expensive, just that they're not always that fresh in our local market).

Fish Monday - Green curry

Still plugging through that cookbook, trying new things.  This time we had milk-poached halibut in green curry sauce with a side of bok choy.

Except that the store didn't have any halibut, even frozen, so we used mahi-mahi.  And they had neither kaffir lime leaves nor lemongrass (not that I really expected them to), so the curry sauce was a little on the weak/simple side.  And like most recipes in this book, the whole operation took me over 2 hours, what with the various bits and bobs that needed assembling.  The result was tasty, certainly, but I have to say that it just wasn't really worth the effort.  I probably won't make it again, although I might steal the curry sauce and use it on something else.  Actually, I made more than we needed, so I'm already going to have to think of some other use for it.

Fish Monday - Fish cakes

I've done a post before about fish cakes.  But that was a recipe.  Last night, I found myself staring at the hunk of cod I'd bought from the store and thinking, "I don't want to just broil it like usual.  That's boring.  But on the other hand, I didn't buy or prepare any of the ingredients that I would have needed for an actual planned dish."

So, time to take a chance.  Tear some sandwich bread into chunks, and run through the food processor with some cilantro.  Hack up the cod fillet into chunks.  Run that through the processor, and add bread crumbs until the consistency looks plausible.  Add some squirts of Worcestershire sauce and mustard, and a beaten egg.  Fry some chopped onion and throw that in too.  Add less salt than it needed (this is a perennial problem-- I'm always underseasoning things).  Form into patties, and coat with panko.  Fry in olive oil over medium heat.  Start talking like Gordon Ramsay.  Serve over fresh spinach so that the heat from the cakes wilts it just a bit.  Add a schmear of mayo and a squirt of lemon.

Then add more salt and pepper since I forgot it earlier.  Sigh.

Other than that, though, it was pretty good.  Still more involved than just broiling, and definitely a bit less healthy (only pan frying in olive oil, but still), but tasty.  I think I can add this one to the "doesn't need a recipe" pile.

Fish Monday - Salmon cakes

It's Monday once again, and that means fish!

Here's the thing-- I have a problem.  Actually, two problems. First, we have exactly one nearby source of  fish, and that's the local supermarket.  Which isn't horrible-- almost everything is frozen, and fishing freezers are much better than they used to be, so as long as you don't mind "previously frozen" on all of the tags it's reasonable.  But at the same time, they're just the local supermarket, you know? I'm only going to trust them so far-- I have gotten improperly stored fish from them before, that was out in the case either too long or too warm, and had to be thrown out.  And this leads me to the second issue, which is that for some reason I have a great deal of difficulty cooking salmon to the right degree of doneness.  It's almost always either over or under, and for fish you don't trust, even a little under isn't good.  And a little over is sawdust.  So I've decided to give up on the "better" types that they sometimes offer-- the wild caught sockeye, for example.   It's just too much money to throw away if I leave it in the pan for 40 seconds too long and ruin it.  But if I'm going to only buy the cheap farmed stuff, I need to make it tastier.

Which brings us neatly to last night's culinary efforts, a recipe from Cooks Illustrated for salmon cakes that makes even the farmiest salmon tasty AND insulates against over/under cooking!

First, mix breadcrumbs, fresh parsley, one chopped scallion, one chopped shallot, some mayo, some mustard, some lemon juice, a little salt and pepper and cayenne in a bowl.  Then cut your salmon fillets (about a pound) into large chunks, and feed the chunks (in batches) into the food processor, pulsing just a few times to make large shreds.  You just want to break it up, not turn it into salmon mousse.  Mix the salmon into the breadcrumb mix.  Portion the mix out into little cakes, coat in breadcrumbs, and fry over medium/medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes per side.  Serve with lemon or tartar sauce.

It's definitely a bit fiddlier than just coating the salmon with pesto/herbs/spices and slapping it under the broiler, but it's damn tasty, and possibly even doable on a weeknight.  With a bit of practice, I could probably slap it together in under 45 minutes, especially since I just realized while I was typing this that I could have minced the scallion and the shallot in the food processor and saved a bit of time there.

Fish Monday

Not a recipe today, but a valuable fish lesson learned nevertheless-- to wit:  no matter how reliable your fishmonger usually is, it's always a good idea to ask to see/smell the fish before you buy it.

When I took the fish I purchased at 3pm out of the fridge at 6, I noticed a definite fishy odor.  Not ammoniac-- it wasn't spoiled.  But it was unappetizing.  I thought to myself, well, I'll cook it thoroughly, and serve it in a fairly heavily flavored way.  One bite?  Still tasted it.  Into the trash it went, along with a goodly chunk of my mood.

On the plus side, the emergency back-up tacos I made were actually pretty good, although that might have just been because I was pretty hungry by that point.

The Return of Fish Monday!

It's Fish Monday!  Ok, actually it's Tuesday, and actually I made the fish a few days ago, but it's the first day back from vacation and I wanted the excuse to re-start Fish Mondays, where I report on new recipes and/or techniques I've tried over the weekend (Sunday night is often fish, since I go shopping on Sundays and you shouldn't keep fresh fish around any longer than you have to).  Ahem.

This week's experiment was Butter-Basted Halibut with Red Pepper Coulis and Creamy Corn.  The creamy corn was basically just corn cooked in heavy cream with some salt and pepper-- very simple, very tasty, and very not good for you.  The red pepper coulis was a little more interesting-- chopped up red pepper, onion, white wine, and a few odds and ends, sauteed and then blended with oil to make an emulsified sauce.  Again, not especially difficult, and easily prepared ahead of time, but the first time I'd tried anything like that.  The two lessons I took away from it were 1), it is important to let it cool enough before blending.  Just in case.  And 2), even though the recipe said, "blend until completely smooth," there will basically always be flecks of pepper skin in the liquid, and don't worry about it.

The fish was the most interesting bit for me.  First, it was marinated in a cilantro oil--one bunch fresh cilantro leaves, blanched and drained and then blended with a neutral oil.  One hour later, the fish was BRIGHT green.  A little disconcerting.  Then, the butter basting, a new technique for me.  The idea here is basically to achieve some of the results of the somewhat old-fashioned butter poaching technique, without having to use a pound of butter to get enough to cover the fish.  It seemed to reach that goal, at least-- only a quarter pound of butter went into the pan.  The procedure was basically melt half a stick first, then add the fish to start browning a bit, and then add the rest of the butter.  Tilt the pan off the heat a bit so the melted butter collects at one end, and then slowly spoon the hot butter over the fish for 6 to 7 minutes.  The pan cooks the bottom half of the fish, and the butter cooks the top half.  You get a bit of browning, and a lot of cooked butter flavor.  And when you're done, a lot of the butter stays in the pan, although at this point it's also kind of bright green from washing over the marinade.

It was REALLY TASTY.  The recipe made too much coulis, so I've been eating red pepper sauce with steak and rice and some other things for a few days, but that's no hardship.  And I really want to make more of that corn next summer when it's fresh.  But the fish was the star, with a surprisingly subtle cilantro flavor and all the yumminess that cooked butter can give a dish.