Crispy salmon skin!

I have been eating a lot of smoked fish, particularly salmon and trout. I generally don't eat the skin, and have been giving it to my pets.

I had a lovely piece of salmon skin today, and I thought of tasty crunchy salmon skin sushi rolls I have enjoyed in the past. So, I sliced the skin into thin strips, heated some olive oil in a small pan, and threw the salmon skin in. It spattered a lot. And, whoa, Nelly! It's delicious!

Sorry, pets.

Experimental salmon

I usually like salmon with a fruit based or sweet sauce. I love it with mango salsa or with a honey soy sauce. But, I bought a lot of gorgeous diary products from an organic farm, and decided to try something inspired by this recipe.

I have a beautiful Coho salmon fillet. I mixed herbed garlic goat cheese, chili stone ground mustard, mayonnaise, chopped green onions and parsley. Let's see how it turns out.

Review: I thought it was delicious. The topping was gently browned on top and very pretty. And I used to think baked salmon with cheese was a major no-no. Picky scraped off most of the topping and said he only liked a little coating of it. Z liked it. Both S and Picky say they like the honey soy mustard sauce better.

F'ed up fish n chips

I was making fish n chips with frozen bake em in the oven curly fries and tilapia I was chopping into chunks and battering myself. Well, I got the huge pot of oil going, and then realized I didn't have the cornstarch called for in the recipe.

I was annoyed from tearing apart the pantry for forever, so I quickly mixed together the dry ingredients, adding extra flour to replace the cornstarch, and poured the beer in.

Well, the recipe said I was supposed to reserve some of the flour and dust the pieces after I battered them. With thinner batter that had cornstarch. Somehow it turned out awesome.

Yum. Crunch. Evil.

click to embiggen the blurry photo. Sorry, I was eating when I took it.

Inauguration party

Countdown to the inauguration celebration and food orgy!

I happened to get a Hawaiian cookbook for Christmas. I figured since Obama was born and raised in Hawaii, and I want to try some of the recipes, why not have a Hawaiian themed event?

I am not calling it a luau, and I am not serving poi. But I am serving some potentially yummy stuff from Hawai'i Cuisine by Chef Sam Choy. I just finished making a batch of traditional Lomi Lomi salmon, a dish with diced smoked salted salmon, tomatoes, red and green onions and chili pepper flakes.

I am about to make one of my own salad combinations: chick peas, hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, olives, some fancy onions, some greens from the garden, some fresh herbs from the garden, and some dressing.

I am roasting some sweet peppers and some garlic for an antipasto. I, uh, burned some asparagus that I forgot I put on the grill. I never should cook anything while I'm eating dinner.

We are really enjoying our new charcoal grill.

Islamorada Fish Restaurant

This is my favorite restaurant. Picky and I ate here on a rare private date while we were in the Keys. Thanks, family, for baby sitting!

Picky got a mahi fish n' chips basket. I am not picky (note the name of the blog), but I generally do not enjoy mahi. I am always happy when he can order some fresh mahi when we are out, and this is as fresh as it gets. You watch the boats come in as you eat.

I got blackened Florida lobster tail with roasted garlic, over a Caesar salad. It was divine.

Notice both pictures have bites missing. Whoops! We were hungry and I didn't think of taking pictures until we both had some to eat.

Where to begin?

Just because I haven't put up any posts on here in a little while, it doesn't mean that I haven't been cooking. Like a fiend. I went to Sugarloaf Key to stay with my in laws and cooked the entire time.

Most of the stuff came from Paula Deen's new all chocolate special edition cooking magazine. Why did I buy it?

Here are some of the highlights.

This is the flourless dark chocolate cake. I thought it looked so pretty puffed up out of the oven. It is supposed to fall, however.

I served it with a white chocolate sauce (recommended in by Paula) and with a dark chocolate sauce, in homage to the Two Chefs restaurant in Miami. That is how they serve their chocolate souffle. I thought it was much better without the sauce, it was so sweet. Next time I make it it will be sauceless, maybe with whipped cream or berries, and I may reduce the sugar a bit.

This is an awful photo of the malted chocolate cheesecake. It was excellent. The crust (which contained a box of whoppers, chocolate graham crackers, and butter, was way too hard. But, I used a 9" springform pan instead of a 10", and probably didn't reduce the amount of crust material enough. Or, whoppers could make hard candy like crusts no matter what, who knows. I will have to get a 10" springform pan and find out! Bummer! *adding to Christmas list*

I also made creme brulee, but that is so old hat I don't even take pictures anymore. I have perfected the art of not scorching the tops as much. Yum! The other stuff was normal breakfast and dinner stuff. I made tilapia with a recipe that Picky's mom supplied. It was very similar to my tilapia and greens recipe, but instead of the greens on top, it called for a crust with breadcrumbs, parmesan and potato chips. It was tasty. Picky's mom made johnnycakes, like her mom used to, in that kitchen, every time she made fish.

Picky took camera phone pictures of our fancy lunch out. I will post those later.

Berry nice dinner

I cannot resist rhubarb.

I am supposed to be studying. Finals are coming up. I am two weeks from being done with my first year of med school!

But, when I was at the grocery store yesterday, they had rhubarb. I couldn't make it with strawberries, because Z is allergic. I love the raspberry rhubarb preserves from Robert is Here, Florida's quirkiest fruit stand. So, inspired by those, I decided to buy raspberries to go with the rhubarb. I had already grabbed some blackberries because they were a good price and looked delicious.

Tonight we had a wilted spinach salad with red onions, pomegranate balsamic dressing, toasted slivered almonds, goat cheese and the blackberries. After a fish with brown butter course, we are going to have these tarts. I threw in some blackberries, too. The constant chilling steps were annoying. Let's hope it is worth it. Pictures to come.

ETA: Picture up! Hey, my photo isn't half bad this time. Random!

What happens when I run out of time and onions

I seem to have a folder full of pictures of food, and no blog posts that I put up with them! So, without further ado, here are the highlights of a week or so of meals:


My former roommate Charity came over for a farewell visit, and she has since moved to Gainesville, boo hoo! I really enjoyed having her by my side in the kitchen again. Here is her beautiful salad with fresh fennel from the garden:

We had a favorite meal of hers that night, one I like to call the three P's: pork, pineapple and peppers. I put pork loin country ribs over chopped celery, onions, pineapple, and multi colored fresh sweet mini peppers, cut into rings, cilantro and diced garlic. I drizzle over this pineapple juice, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil or grapeseed oil. Roast in the oven at 375 or 400 for about an hour, until the pork is done. Watch out, the pineapple gets really scorching hot, and it's hard to resist digging in right away!


I made top sirloin this past week, on one of my favorite pieces of kitchen hardware - my cast iron grill pan. This sucker weighs 27 pounds, and I saw Alton Brown using an identical one on his show recently, so it must rock. Behold its glory.

Finally, I ran out of onions and celery. If you have read any of my recipes, you will see why that would cripple me. So, I decided to veer away from my usual tilapia recipe and tried adapting a recipe for Fish Meuniere with Browned Butter and Lemon. Instead of sole or flounder, I used tilapia, and instead of fresh parsley I substituted fresh garlic chives that I originally planted for my brother-in-law more than three years and two houses ago. It was fabulous, and a big hit. Even with Picky, who usually tries to order pizza every time it's fish night. At the end of this meal, he said, "This was definitely better than pizza." I was beaming.

Salmon with mango salsa

I decided to shake it up a little bit with a diversion from my normal soy-honey-mustard-sesame sauce I normally make to accompany the fantastic wild salmon I can buy at my local Target, and also get rid of a mango that had been languishing in my fridge for almost a week.

I baked the salmon for about 30 minutes at 425 in a pyrex dish rubbed with butter, skin side down.

Mango salsa

2 T butter
1/2 a very large white onion (or 1 large onion)chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup peppers (I chose sweet mini peppers)
3 T red wine vinegar
1 mango, cubed
3 T diced garlic
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped scallions

Melt butter is skillet. Saute onion, celery and peppers until soft. Add vinegar and mango, cook for about five minutes longer, or mango is soft. Add garlic, cook for two more minutes, stirring, until fragrant. Add cilantro and scallions, stir and cook for one more minute. Put on top of salmon.

Tuna Steak with Tibetan Hot Sauce

Tonight I made tuna steaks. When I worked at a health food store, I got a free jar of something called Tibetan Hot Sauce. It was more like a cooked hot salsa than a hot sauce, and it was fantastic over seared tuna steak. When the jar ran dry, the store wasn't carrying the product. So, I had to recreate it, or something similar enough.

Seared tuna steaks with "Tibetan Sauce" over wilted greens and lemongrass rice

a stalk of lemongrass
rice
one tuna steak per person
oil (I use grapeseed oil)
a big bunch of greens (I used arugula and sorrel because that is what I had in my garden. Spinach would work fine)
lots of diced or crushed garlic, at least 3 T
salt and pepper
sesame seeds
toasted sesame oil
diced tomatoes (one can or a few ripe large tomatoes)
onion (I used green onions because I am growing them. I added the white parts in the sauce and saved the green tops for garnish)
2 or 3 stalks of celery, sliced length wise and then chopped
2 T tomato paste (I use Amore)
soy sauce
grated ginger
lemon basil
cilantro

Put 2 1/2 c of water in a pot, and bring the lemongrass to a boil. Cover and simmer until water gets and attractive dark color and smells divine. Take out lemongrass and use this water to make the rice. I use about 1 1/2 c of rice

Sear tuna on each side to desired doneness. I recommend cast iron. I like mine very rare. Keeping a tuna steak frozen until cooking makes it easier to keep a dramatic red center (which I did not successfully do this time because I was distracted.) Picky likes his grey all the way through.

While the tuna steak is cooking, add 1 T of oil to a hot skillet. Saute greens until wilted and starting to change color. Add salt and pepper, half of garlic, and sesame seeds and stir for a minute until the garlic turns opaque. Put greens in a bowl and cover to keep warm. Wipe out pan and add tomatoes, celery, onion, tomato paste, and soy sauce. Cook until onions and celery are softened slightly. Add remainder of garlic and ginger and herbs, cook for another minute or two then remove.

Put down rice, then greens, then tuna steak, then top with sauce, scallions and sesame seeds. I also add roasted hot sauce, for which I will post a recipe soon. If there were no kids eating this, I would add the hot sauce while the tomatoes were cooking.

Tilapia tomatoes and greens

Whenever it's seafood night, Picky suddenly has this sweet idea that I really need a break and maybe we should order in. Pizza, Chinese food, or something decidedly not fish.

This is one dish that, when I make it, he always cleans his plate and, at the end of the meal, says "Next time, you should make more."

You can use any white fish. I love red snapper made this way. You can substitute many vegetables in this recipe.
olive oil
chopped onions (I used green onions from my garden, or about one large)
celery (2 or 3 stalks)
4 tilapia fillets, about 1 1/2 lbs
tomatoes (I used fresh tomatoes from my garden, but you can use one can of diced tomatoes)
crushed garlic to taste
white wine (1/2 cup or so)
salt and pepper (or Trocoamare)
fresh greens (use a lot - they really reduce in size when they wilt)
Fresh green herbs, like basil or cilantro, at least a few tablespoons, chopped

Put a big skillet on medium high. Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in the skillet. Add onions and celery and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes, stirring. Add garlic and saute just until fragrant, about one minute, stirring. Spread them out and add fish fillets in a layer on top. Sprinkle with seasoning. Add tomatoes, garlic, white wine, and finally add chopped greens and herbs to the top. I used sorrel and arugula from my garden, but bag of fresh baby spinach does really well.

Cover, turn down to medium low and cook for about 15 minutes or until fish is done.

I served this with basmati rice and roasted brussel sprouts. Z crammed the brussel sprouts in his mouth with his bare hands, S and Picky picked at them, and roommate and I thought they were delicious.