Dateline: February 18, 2021 Just for the Halibut (see what I did there)

 I had some very fresh halibut from FD that I wanted to cook.  I rooted around in the veggie bins and found some string beans, and the left over veggies from the night before....what was left of them.  Bill had finished off the broccoli, so it was just potatoes, bell pepper slices, and some onions or shallots.  But, I didn't just want the same old flavorings, I wanted something different....ROMESCO SAUCE!

A eureka moment.  Did I have everything....almonds, check, roasted red peppers, check, tomatoes, check, garlic, check, onions, check, pimenton, check....I was in business. 

I used a NYTCooking recipe from Florence Fabricant for the Romesco Sauce.  Naturally, I made a few changes as I always do.  I used white wine instead of water and used lots of piquillo peppers from a jar I had sitting around that really needed to be used.  I used my homemade red wine vinegar as well.

I blitzed the toasted almonds in the VitaMix for just a few seconds, didn't want almond butter!  I sauteed the onions and added garlic, peppers, vinegar, wine, and spices.  My tomatoes were canned that I scooped out trying not to take too much juice with them.  This then got added to the blender jar and after adding in a bit more of the tomato juice and some water, I got the blender to puree everything into loveliness.  And it tasted great, needed a bit more salt and pimenton, but other than that, delish.

For the veggies, I put them in a pan, added a few more potatoes and bell peppers and stuck it in the oven until I was ready to cook the fish.

The fish was 2 halibut fillets, about 8 oz. each, they were a beautiful white firm fish.  I rarely, if ever, have cooked halibut before.  I decided to gently pan fry in the cleaned pan from the romesco sauce.  I heated up some oil and patted the fish dry and then oiled with some olive oil and salted and peppered it.  I cooked presentation side first, that was the side without the skin for this dish.  Gently flipped the fish when it had started to become opaque about 1/2 of the way up the side of the fish.  After flipping, I shook the pan to keep the fish from sticking to the pan.  Sprinkled a bit of pimenton on top of the cooked side and waited until the opacity had climbed to the middle on the other side.

This was a delicious dinner.  The romesco sauce went beautifully with everything, veggies, taters, fish, you name it.  It was just plain YUM.

Dateline: November 14, 2020 Steamed Fish and Greens

I had some tilapia that I wanted to make something asian-y.  Was leaning toward chinese, but had a zoom with some friends and they got my mind heading toward thai.

I have some Indonesian Shrimp Paste.  It is stinky and salty.  It adds just the right amount of both of those umami ingredients to delight the tongue.

I started with the aromatics: shrimp paste, onion, garlic, ginger, onions, celery, and added in some thai chilis.  I stripped the collards and chopped it into bite size pieces along with tuscan kale.  The bell peppers and bok choy were cut into manageable pieces and stir fried after the aromatics.  This was topped by the shredded greens and a little bit of water.  On top of the greens I placed a steamer tray.  Then the fish, that I divided into 2 fillet halves, cutting down the center line, was added on top.  I covered the wok and let the steaming veggies cook the fish.  

When the fish was opaque, I removed the steaming tray, and tested the greens.  I added some fish sauce to round out the flavors and served.

I think that I overcooked the fish, because it was a bit mushy. Next time, I may pan fry the fish to maintain its integrity.

Bill really liked it.

The photo above is the aromatics and the bok choy.

Here is the steamer tray.  Note the jerry-rigged handle.  A bolt with 2 lock nuts.

Finished plate full.  There was enough heat in the greens to allow the fish to be the blander foil.  The greens themselves were terrific.

Dateline: November 6, 2020 Fish Tacos!

Eugene came through with some unsolicited fish!  He dropped off 2 beautiful whole fish.  I believe he said they were black fish, but I could be wrong.  He did say that they are his favorite 

I fired up the grill, made some salsa and chipotle mayo yogurt sauce and we had dinner!

The tacos were delicious!  I was so happy, it was a warm day, and this made it feel like summer all over again!

For the salsa, I just chopped up some tomatoes, onion, tomatillos, cilantro, jalapenos, and added lime juice and a little of the sauce from the chipotle in adobo.

Fish was grilled with salt and pepper.  They were already skinned.

Dateline: November 4, 2020 Steamed Fish with Thai Garlic Shallot Sauce

I had a couple of Black Cod fillets that needed to be cooked.  I wanted Thai and no coconut milk.  I saw a garlic shallot sauce in a cook book and decided that steamed fish would go well with it.

The bad news is that we were so hungry by the time we could eat dinner, I didn't take a snap of the food.  Didn't change the taste, thought!

Garlic Shallot Sauce  Ken Hom's recipe

5 dried red chilies

2 T vegetable oil

100 g peeled garlic, finely chopped

100 g shallots, finely chopped

1 T shrimp paste

2 T fish sauce

2 t sugar

4 T water

Method

1.  Soak chilies in warm water until softened, drain and chop finely

2.  Heat a wok and add oil.  When hot add chilies, garlic, shallots, and shrimp paste.

3.  Stir fry for 2 minutes and then add the fish sauce, sugar, and water.  

4.  Continue to cook until garlic and shallots are cooked through.  Hold aside

Steamed Fish

Any firm flaky fish will do

julienned ginger

sliced scallions

thai basil leaves

Method

1.  Bring pan of water to a boil.  On a rack place the fish, sprinkle ginger and scallions over and top with basil leaves.

2.  Put rack into pan of water, cover and let steam until it begins to flake at the thicker places.

3.  Serve 

I served this with steamed green beans and a salad.  We were both amazed at how delicious the sauce was.  It really popped on the fish.  Sorry there were no photos!  But here is a photo of Ken Hom's sauce!

Dateline: October 9, 2020 Marinated Swordfish Steaks and Delicata Squash

 My FD order came with the beautiful swordfish steaks that I ordered.  They really were beauts!  Very little blood line to cut out so mostly lovely loin!

I made the preserved lemon marinade and smeared it all over the fish and proceeded to grill it along with the delicata squash halves.  The issue was that it was after sunset, i.e., dark, and I had to gauge things with a strong light and a thermometer!  Fish cooked to 130° F and delicata until they were flexible and nicely browned

Not too successful with getting grill marks, but some sacrifices must be made when cooking in the dark!

Marinade

1 preserved lemon, flesh and rind

1 clove garlic

1 nice teaspoon Calabrian pepper paste

olive oil

couple of sprigs of parsley

Grind all up together to form a paste, loosen with olive oil, if necessary.  

Remove what you need for the application and store the balance covered with olive oil in the fridge for the next use.

The fish was really tasty and quite filling.  I couldn't finish my piece, the squash is so delicious.  One of the few squashes with edible skin.

Rounded out the meal with a nice big bowl of crunchy salad.

Dateline: September 3, 2020 Fresh Yellowfin Tuna

As luck is running these days, there was a knock at the door last night just after we finished dinner.  At the door was Eugene with a BEAUTIFUL loin of yellowfin tuna which he caught the night before.  It never fails, I order swordfish and Eugene will show up with a big hunk of tuna either that day or the next.  It's a beautiful thing.

I decided to grill it and put it on a nicoise salad of sorts.

Ingredients

Tuna steaks

olive oil

salt and pepper

Handful of yellow pear tomatoes, halved

2 yellow beefsteak tomatoes, cubed

jicama, cubed

1/2 sweet onion sliced thinly

3 waxy potatoes, steamed and sliced

green beans, steamed and cut into pieces

1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced

1/4 fresno pepper, minced

1/2 orange sweet bell pepper, cubed

herbage, I used parsley, basil, mint, chives, and thyme, chopped finely

sherry vinegar

olive oil

Method

1.  Prep tuna, lightly oil both sides and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

2.  Light grill get really roaring.  When it reaches a temp of about 400°F, damp down vents, and clean grates.

3.  Assemble salad douse liberally with sherry vinegar and mix well.

3.  Grill tuna 2 minutes on a side.  No more!  If you have thin steaks, then only 1.5 minutes.  You can always heat them up more, but once they are toast, they are done!

4.   Slice enough tuna for the salad and reserve any remaining steaks.  Add olive oil to salad, as well as salt and pepper.  Toss well.  Add tuna sliced on top and serve.

Dateline: September 2, 2020 Swordfish, Farro, Cauliflower and Salad

 I ordered FreshDirect Swordfish, again.  When they rate something 5 stars, don't think about it, just order it.  It will be fabulous, unless, of course, you don't like that food to begin with!

I wanted to keep it relatively simple, as it was raining, so I would have to cook it indoors.  

Into the InstantPot went the 1 cup of farro, rinsed well, and 1.25 cups of water, along with a nice glug of leftover white wine.  Shut it up, and hit pressure, high, for 12 minutes.  Perfect!

For the cauliflower, I cleaned up the head, and sliced it into thick steaks.  Then I oiled them with olive oil and a nice coating of salt and pepper and into a 450°F oven they went.  I reduced the oven to 400°F after they went in.

Salad was beautiful yellow beefsteak tomatoes, cored and chopped into 1/2 dice, sliced onion, diced jicama, a few cherry tomatoes for color, and cucumber.  Sherry vinegar and olive oil finished it out.

For the garnishing the fish, I finely minced the other half of onion, diced a yellow bell pepper, a bit of hot pepper, 3 cloves of garlic, smashed and mashed with a bit of salt for grit.  Now I collected some herbs from the garden, basil, parsley, thyme, mint, and chives.  These all got minced up as well.

In a frying pan large enough to hold the fish in one layer, heat up some oil.  Pat the fish dry, and coat with a little bit of oil and salt and pepper it to taste.  When the pan is hot, add the fish.  You want to cook it only long enough to get a nice brown crust on the bottom side, so don't play with the fish, let it sit in the pan and just wait!

Turn the fish, and brown the other side.  These were very thick steaks, so I also checked with a thermometer and the fish was at about 125-135°F when I removed it to a waiting plate.  Into the pan went the onions, peppers, and garlic.  These were sauteed until they softened.  The minced herbs went in, along with a bit more oil and the remnants of the preserved lemon marinade from the other night and the juice of 1/2 a lime.  Combine together and add the fish back in, brownest side up, along with any juices that have accumulated.  Lid the pan and turn the heat to simmer.  Depending on how done you like your swordfish, you may just turn the heat off and lid the pan.

When the cauliflower has browned up a bit and can be easily pierced with the tip of a knife, it is dinner time.

Dateline: August 15, 2020 White King Salmon and Black Bean and Corn Salad

 I ordered from FD 2 White King Salmon Filet pieces about 8-10 ounces each.  The plan was to grill the salmon and eat it with corn and black bean salad prior to a colleague zoom meeting.

The weather looked iffy, so I opted to pan sear the fish.  I stripped off the kernels form 2 uncooked ears of corn, added 1/2 a diced sweet onion, 1/2 diced mild pepper, 1/2 diced sweet red bell pepper, about a dozen ripe cherry tomatoes cut into quarters, 1 can drained and rinsed black beans, 1 sliced garlic scape, salt and pepper, red wine vinegar, good olive oil.

The salad was fantastic, the fish quite tasty, but for me, the star was the salad.

Dateline: August 8, 2020 Grill Simple: Black Cod, Green Beans, Broccoli, Romanesco

I ordered 2 lovely pieces of Black Cod, or Ling Cod, or Sable Fish from FreshDirect.  The flesh is white, flaky, and unctuous and freakin' delicious.

I have broiled it in the past, with a miso glaze.  Today, I just wanted salt and pepper and would grill it.

The grill has been tuned up.   I love this company, Char-Grill, I wrote to them a while ago asking if they made replacement parts for the extra support at the base of the grill that helps hold the ash pan in place, along with the clips on the side.  They do not make one, so they shipped me an entire bottom section, gratis.  The other day, I got busy.  I had to dissemble the old bottom, keep all the screws together, remove all hardware and clips and then put the thing back together again with hurting myself, mentally, or physically.  I did scuff up my knuckles a bit, but that was the only injury.  The grill looks great, but the ash pan is really shot, so I ordered another one.  Pretty soon I will have a completely new grill!  Sort of like a facelift, of sorts!

Everything was just lightly oiled and sprinkled with salt and pepper and placed on a hot grill at differing times.

The beans were grilled on a copper grill mat and the other veggies were subjected to the raw heat of the fire.  

Fish readied for the grill, just oil, salt and pepper

Veggies were grilled first, as they could take the warming up of the temperature of the grill without overcooking!

Beans are done, and the broccoli and romanesco are starting to char nicely.  Next on goes the fish.

Can you hear the sizzle of the fish?  I can.  The fish cooked until it flaked but was still translucent along the line of pin bones cutting vertically thru the center of the piece.  

The flakes come off easily and are so luscious.  There is a lot of fat in this fish, which is what makes it good for you!  The end product needed nothing else, no lemon, no chimichurri, nada!  A delightful dinner was had al fresco.  Plus a glass or two of a nice chardonnay, and I was a very happy camper.

Dateline: July 25, 2020 Kielbasa, Cheese, Grilled Salmon, Asparagus, Broccoli, Salad, Fruit Salad, and Guacamole

So, sometimes things are just too darn weird for words.  I got an order from FreshDirect this morning, Bill went down to fetch it.  When he came back into the house, he said, "wow that's sure is a lot of avocados!"  I respond, "I didn't order any avocados".  I checked my order, and yup, that was true.  I did not order any.  I have accidentally added items before, and been surprised to see 15 jars of oil pack tuna.  However, this was not the case.  There were over 50 2-pack boxes of avocados, ready to eat just sitting in their own FD bag.  I assumed that they were meant for a restaurant or other business.  That was about $250 worth of alligator pears!

I called customer service, and said what was sitting on my kitchen floor, after the rep stopped laughing, she said, "let me check to make sure you weren't charged."  I was not.  She asked me to hold while she was trying to figure out where they should have been delivered.  Humming quietly to myself.  She came back on and said, "where are the avocados now?"  "In my apt", I respond.  "Oh, throw them away.  We can not take them back, they have gone inside.  If you were on the street, we could have had the truck come and pick them up.  But because they have been inside your building, we can not accept them.  Eat them, give them away, throw them out, you can do what ever you want with them."

So, 47 boxes of avocados went downstairs to the staff, and any neighbors who want them, and I kept 3 boxes.  This is why we are having guac!

You can't make this stuff up!

Everything for dinner will be grilled, except cheeses, salads, and guac.  I have prepped all the veggies, salads, and solids that go in the guac already.  So when Servet gets here, we can get down to the serious business of deciding what to drink and enjoying the glorious weather on the deck.  When we decide we want to eat, out come the fixings, and voila, stuff is ready to throw on the grill, or throw into a bowl, etc.

I kind of like having everything prepped and ready to roll.  Allows me to relax and enjoy the rest of the day.

With everything prepped, cooking went one-two-three and done, however, I forgot to take any photos.  Sigh, one margarita with a muddle of mint and salt and I can't remember what to do!

I seasoned the salmon with only salt and pepper on all sides and some cooking spray.  The grill was screaming hot after cooking the veggies, so the fish and kielbasa cooked quickly.  The fish was quite tasty, skin nicely crisped up and a beautiful medium doneness.  

The fruit salad didn't get eaten for dessert as we were too full from the guac and ezme that Servet made.  Ohhhh that was delicious.  He is going to send me the recipe.  Ezme is a Turkish finely chopped spicy vegetable salad.  I order it from a local Turkish take out and love it.  It's the freshness of the veggies and the spiciness of the added condiment that is addictive.  I learned last night that Turkish spice paste is not the same as harissa.  It can be faked by using tomato paste and a "handful" of Alleppo pepper (Servet's measuring phrase).

 

Dateline: July 20, 2020 Another Delicious Windfall of Tuna and Crunchy Salad

Dinner was to be swordfish and scallops grilled, but at 3 pm a neighbor knocked on the door and handed us a BEAUTIFUL yellowfin tuna loin. 

He just caught yesterday the fish yesterday, so super fresh.

Now we had a TON of fish that needed to be cooked.  Got Servet to come over and have dinner with us.  

Went with Union Square Cafe tuna recipe.

Ingredients

2 swordfish steaks, about 7 oz each

3 tuna steaks, about 8 oz each

1/2 lb day boat sea scallops

1 lb asparagus

2 broccoli crowns

homemade teriyaki marinade

2 lemons

1 lime

garlic

ginger 

sesame oil

sesame seeds

olive oil

scallions

salt and pepper

crunchy salad

1/2 sweet onion, sliced in thin half moons

4 stalks celery, sliced

1/2 large jicama, diced

4 mini cucumbers, quartered and sliced

20 cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 red bell pepper

rice vinegar

olive oil

salt and pepper

Method

Tuna

I made the teriyaki marinade first.  I feel soy sauce is too salty and I used 1/8 c light soy, and 1/8 c dark soy.  Why you ask?  Light soy, this is not the green capped kikkoman bottle, but light soy from an asian market, will provide all the salt you need and dark soy will provide flavor and color.  I used turbinado sugar as I was using dark soy, and grated ginger and garlic.  Since I was using it as a marinade, I did not cook or use a cornstarch slurry to thicken.  

Going back to the USQC recipe, I saw that they called for 2 cups of teriyaki, I only had about 1/2-3/4 of a cup.  I added some shochu instead of dry sherry and certainly not the full amount called for.  I am guess-timating about 2 oz in total.

I divided up the loin into 3 large steaks and 2 smaller end pieces, the end pieces went into the freezer.  Into a plastic bag of the marinade went the three steaks.  I did not cube them up as I thought, "Geez, I have this beautiful fresh loin, why the hell would I cut it into cubes?"  So glad I kept it in steaks.  The amount of marinade was perfect, perhaps even a little too much, so the amount in the USQC would have been overkill!

Swordfish

I kept this simple, juice of 1 lime, a couple of glugs of olive oil, salt and black pepper.  Into a different bag went the 2 swordfish steaks.

Scallops

Simplest of all, just olive oil

I set up a rip roaring fire in the grill and as it came up to temp, I cooked the veggies.  Once up to temp, I cleaned the grate, oiled up the tuna with sesame oil, used cooking spray on the swordfish, and kept the scallops in olive oil to cook last.

The grill was perfect in terms of temp for cooking fish fast.  With both types of fish I got great grill marks.  I got medium marks on the scallops as I was afraid to over cook them and lose their sea-sweetness.

Our feast

don't forget the veggies!

I garnished the tuna with more sesame oil and some sesame seeds, the swordfish was drizzled with some olive oil and slices of lemons rounded things out.  

Everyone was so happy with the meal.  I will definitely keep that marinade and USQC recipe in the rotation whenever I get a windfall of fresh caught tuna!

Dateline: July 13, 2020 What's the Password? Swordfish!

asparagus and broccolini

My favorite summer salad, jicama makes it!

Got 2 beautiful swordfish steaks from FD and I am currently marinating them in garlic, salt, pepper, serrano chili, and olive oil.  The plan will be to grill it off later this afternoon along with some broccolini.  Our building manager also gave me some fresh caught tuna that I will grill as well.  I had given him some of the kielbasa and this was his return gift.  I am so stoked!

My other project today was the start of turkey sausage.  That will get finished off tomorrow and pix will be posted then.

This is the tuna in the upper corner and a piece of swordfish in the lower corner

2 beautiful swordfish steaks

Everything was fabulous tonight.  The fish was delicious on both accounts, and the veggies were crispy and salty and the salad was crunchy and juicy.  Who could ask for more on a lovely summer evening?

Dateline: May 29, 2020 It's Friday, It's Fish Day

I know, that statement makes me seem to be a devote Catholic, but Friday is Fish Day because that's when my weekly delivery from FreshDirect arrives and I want to eat the fish that I ordered on the day that it is delivered!

I have 2 lovely center cut salmon fillets that I am going to grill.  I also thawed some Italian hot sausages that need to be cooked as well.  And to top that all off are the lovely asparagus.

Easy quick meal.  Fire up the grill, let it get hot, add a grill mat, salt and pepper fish and asparagus, add food, watch for a bit, kick the asparagus around the mat, flip sausages, but don't flip fish.  A pleasant surprise was that the fat from the sausages allowed the skin of the salmon to crisp up beautifully and release from the mat easily.

Just put on the grill

Off the grill, on the table

Note the salmon skin "crackers"  Bill was in heaven!

As per usual, I was panicking that there would not be enough "greenery" with the meal.  So I opted to core a head of cabbage and slice into quarters.  Oiled, salted, and peppered the quarters and put it on the grill after the fish, asparagus and sausages were done. 

After charring the cabbage, I shredded it and added some sweet onion along with sherry vinegar and olive oil to produce the salad below.

Dateline: May 22, 2020 A shrimp walks into a bar and asks the snapper....

Cleaned and dusted with Flour and Cornmeal

First batch frying up

for the snapper, Chettinad Fish Fry

There was an error in the Shrimp recipe that I will tell you about.  After frying the garlic,  draining it, you add the white pepper, black pepper, lime zest, AND SALT.  Proceed as written after that.

Here is the fried garlic, peppers, salt, and lime zest

second batch frying along with celery, garlic and scallions

cilantro, scallions, and celery

Finished product

The tasting came while we were on a zoom phone call with two friends, (Hi Lizzie and Ben).  The flavor was very much spot on, the shrimp were crispy, but not shatteringly so.  I think this was because I was making the snapper and the shrimp had to hang out in the oven for about 20 minutes.

It turned out that the shrimp was plenty for dinner, we each had 6.  Neither of us reaching for the fish, rice or green beans!

I am never quite sure if FreshDirect will provide all the things that I have ordered.  Many times, I get a notice that something was not available.  Last week it was a whole red snapper.  So to cover my bases, I ordered a pound of shrimp in case the snapper went by the wayside.  

Both arrived this morning.  Now I had 2 items that needed to be cooked ASAP.

My friend Jennifer, when I asked her if she had any requests, suggested shrimp or fish.  This was the genesis for the whole fish and shrimp in the order.

For the shrimp I chose to make Typhoon Shelter Shrimp and   

The fish was a bit more complicated.  First you had to create the masala paste, then score the fish and rub with a little bit of salt

The masala paste

Scored and smeared fish

After scoring the fish, smear the paste into all the slits and all over the skin of the fish.  Don't forget getting it into the cavity.  

Starting the fry

the flip 

Finished Product

I can't comment on the fish as we didn't even nibble on it!  I tasted the masala paste at the outset, and discovered that it was on the bitter side.  I added about 2 t agave syrup and 1/2 T of salt.  It tasted much better, still spicy, but more rounded and integrated.  These additions are for 4 times the amount of masala in the attached recipe.

Dateline: May 8, 2020 What to do with Fish Cubes?

I had ordered fish cubes, shrimp, and scallops from Fresh Direct.  Not really having an idea of how I was going to use them!  The assortment was salmon, tuna, and some kind of flaky white fish, probably snapper.  All nice looking pieces, nothing gnarly looking, all skinless.

I was craving good Indian food, sadly, take-out from the few Indian restaurants around here that are doing take-out, leaves me feeling unsatisfied and a bit duped.  Out came the Indian cookbooks, and the NYT Cooking app, and I was ready to research.

I settled on Meen Gassi.  It was worth the pounding and grinding in the mortar and pestle to get the ingredients into a smooth paste.  Once I got the hang of how to do it, it became easier to grind the chilis and seeds against the wall, rather than pounding at the bottom.

midway thru grinding process

with tamarind added

Scarily enough, I actually followed this recipe, the only substitution I made was chicken stock instead of water (as I had lots and lots of stock made).

Here are the fish cubes, sprinkled with tumeric and salt

Onion, garlic, jalapeno, and ginger sautee-ing

paste added along with chicken stoc

fish into the pool

         

finished product

To go with this, I was craving beans, much to Bill's annoyance, but I also had ordered some fresh spinach so I decided on chana saag.  

I cooked up 1 cup of green chickpeas instead of using the cans.  Green chickpeas are young beans.  They are a deep green color and take a long time to get soft.  Thank goodness for the instant pot.  I cooked on high pressure for 30 minutes.  Tested a bean, still had a starchy core and was not very tender.  Did another 20 minutes and the tester was still a tiny bit starchy, but was tender.  I drained and held aside while I made the spinach sauce.  

After the cooking time in the instant pot for the sauce, I got out the stick blender and blended everything into a dark green semi-soupy mess.  Threw in the chickpeas and tasted.  It needed a bit of salt and as I was really hungry and couldn't spend the time searching for the amchur powder, I threw in the juice of 1/2 a lemon.  All was right with the world.  

Finished sauce

chick peas in and some garnish!

We ate the meal with some naan.  I was so happy!

Note:  the fish was quite spicy and the chana saag quite bland in comparison.  I didn't want two things that might blow your head off on the spice scale.  So I was happy with the spice level in both.  The sauce for the fish was dynamite.  It would be great on any protein!  I think next time I would like it to be thicker so that I coated each piece of fish nicely.  But, it's a keeper!