Halibut and Sweet Potato Chowder

I saw this recipe on one of my notebooks as I was perusing fish recipes. It sounded like a nice one to try. You can find the exact recipe on my recipes.com.
I have amended the one below to how I made it.

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 chicken andouille sausages, sliced into 1/4" rounds
• 1/2 onion, chopped 
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads 
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/4 cup milk (I didn't do this, but next time I will)
• salt
• pepper
• 1 pounds halibut or cod, boned and skinned, cut into 1" chunks
• 1 green onion (OPT)

Preparation

1. Pour olive oil into a 4- to 6-quart pan over medium-high heat; add andouille sausages and stir often until beginning to brown. Add onion and stir often until limp. Add saffron threads, chicken broth, and sweet potato. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until sweet potato is barely tender when pierced, about 5 minutes. Stir in milk and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Lay fish chunks on top of soup, cover, and cook until it is opaque but still moist-looking in the center (cut a piece to check), about 10 minutes. Gently stir soup. Ladle into bowls and garnish with thinly sliced green onion.

 **Very nice! Easy to make.

Old English Fish Pie

My daughter is coming home for Thanksgiving and she loves this dish! I highly recommend the cookbook this recipe comes from, 50 Ways with Fish, by Katherine Blakemore.

1 1/2 lb potatoes, peeled
1 oz butter
1 1/2 C milk
12 oz smoked fish
8 oz fresh fish (haddock, cod, or ling)
1 bay leaf
1 blade mince (I use a pinch of ground mace)
6 black peppercorns
1 T cornstarch
3 T chopped parsley
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1/4 C sharp cheese

Cook the potatoes in lightly-salted water for about 20 minutes or until soft. Drain well, then mash with the butter and 3 T milk.

Put fish into a pan with the remaining milk, bay leaf, mace and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, simmer for 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat, cover pan and let stand until fish is cool enough to handle.

Strain the milk into another pan, discarding the bay leaf, mace blade, and peppercorns. Mix the cornstarch with a little cold water, add to the milk, bring to a boil stirring continuously. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Flake the fish, removing any skin and bones, add to the sauce with the parsley and eggs Taste and adjust seasoning. Transfer the mixture to a deep ovenproof dish, top with the mashed potatoes, running the prongs of a fork down the length of the potatoes. Sprinkle with grated cheese.

Cook in a preheated oven (400F) for about 25 minutes until topping is browned.

 **Yum!

Whole Roasted Snapper

Whole foods had a special on wild whole yellow tail snapper. They were kind to fillet it for me! I used part of a recipe from epicurious. My adapted version is below.

2 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
3/4 t celtic sea salt
1/4 t pepper
1 T zaatar

1 2lb whole snapper, cleaned and filleted.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Whisk together the seasoning mixture. Rub/pour it on and inside the fish.

Roast the fish in a baking dish for about 30 minutes. I cut up a tomato and put the fish on top of it- but it isn't necessary.

So sorry that we ate it all up without taking a photo first! The zaatar spice mixture makes this dish. Be sure to stop by Cafe Istanbul on Wyoming and Constitution and pick up a bag of it.

Seared Scallops

I have never cooked scallops, but my daughter loves them. I found wild scallops. I don't tend to buy any seafood that is farm-raised, unless it is sustainable and organic. I found this recipe on the food network.

• 1 to 1 1/4 pounds dry sea scallops, approximately 16
• 2 teaspoons unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Remove the small side muscle from the scallops, rinse with cold water and thoroughly pat dry.

Add the butter and oil to a 12 to 14-inch saute pan on high heat. Salt and pepper the scallops. Once the fat begins to smoke, gently add the scallops, making sure they are not touching each other. Sear the scallops for 1 1/2 minutes on each side. The scallops should have a 1/4-inch golden crust on each side while still being translucent in the center. Serve immediately.

**The scallops were absolutely delicious. You can see I steamed the zucchini. You will also see raw tomatoes from my garden (Black Russians) and from LPO. The cucumber is Armenian from my garden, although we have LPO cucumbers, too.

 

Spicy Garlic Salmon

Found this recipe on another blog. I've changed it below to match what I did.


Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed 
• 1 t chili paste with garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon whole grain mustard 
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• sea salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large filet of wild salmon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). 
2. Blend together the marinade. Coat the salmon with the paste mixture. (I marinated the fish for a while before baking)
3. Bake salmon in the preheated oven until it registers 145 with an internal thermometer.

**Delicious! Got multiple thumbs up. 

Potato encrusted salmon

Found this recipe today and thought I'd give it a go. It indicated that the recipe is courtesy of Chef Bryan Woolley. It calls for spinach, but I didn't do that part of the recipe.


4 (6 ounce) salmon fillets
2 tbsp whole grain mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 cups grated potatoes, rinsed
2 eggs
2 tbsp Italian style bread crumbs
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 cups raw spinach

1. Rinse salmon and pat dry. Divide the brown sugar and the whole grain mustard between the salmon fillets.  Cover each fillet evenly. Set aside until ready to use.
2. In a medium size bowl, whisk the eggs together.  Add the bread crumbs, and grated potatoes. Mix together.
3. Divide the potatoes evenly into 4 parts.
4. Using your hands, press the potatoes onto the flesh side of the salmon.
5. Heat a non stick skillet to medium high and add about a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil.  Sear the potato side of the salmon in the hot pan until golden.  Turn salmon over and place on a parchment lined baking sheet and place in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes to finish cooking.
6. While salmon is baking off in the oven, add the spinach to the sauté pan you were using for the salmon.
7. Lightly wilt the spinach.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Divide the spinach between four plates and serve the potato encrusted salmon over the spinach.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve and enjoy!

**I plopped the potato mixture without the salmon directly into the frying pan to sear it. I left the salmon on the baking sheet and then put the seared potato patty on top of it. This method kept the salmon from drying out. If I cook this again, I'll put some herbs into the potato mixture. I used very little brown sugar and it was still a bit sweet for me.

Salad with tuna and egg

First tomato from the garden on this salad. Poached egg, tuna, and capers. Delicious!

Pasta with Salmon and Peas in an alfredo sauce

This dish works with either fresh, frozen and cooked, or smoked salmon. It works with fresh or frozen peas. It works with packaged or freshly made alfredo sauce. This is another staple dish at our house.

2 pkgs pasta (we use gluten free)
2 pkgs alfredo sauce (or make your own)
1/2 bag frozen peas (or fresh)
salmon to taste

Cook the pasta. While it is cooking, make the alfredo sauce. When the pasta is finished, drain it on top of the frozen peas. Put it back in the pot, stir in the salmon and pour the alfredo sauce on top.

 **Delicious as always. The kids made it this time.

Potato Salad with Herring

I have some leftover red potatoes after making the Manhatten Tuna Chowder and I have been reading that we need to eat more herring. I opened some herring from the Talin Market the other day and now I need to use it up. Here is the online version of the recipe. Although this calls for bottled beets, you could use fresh. I will use the pickles that I canned last summer. I will also cut the herring into very small pieces so they don't compete with the meatballs that I'm serving with this dish.

serves 4

salt and freshly milled white pepper
675 g (1 1/2 lb) new potatoes
4 pickled herring fillets
1 large onion
1 large, fairly sour apple
225 g (8 oz) bottled beetroot
100 g (4 oz) cocktail gherkins
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
5 tablespoons low fat natural yogurt
1 tablespoon wine vinegar

method

1. Half fill a medium-sized saucepan with water and add a generous pinch of salt. Scrub the potatoes under running water, add them to the saucepan, bring the water to the boil and boil the potatoes in their skins for 25 - 30 minutes.

2. Rinse the herring in cold water, pat dry and cut it into squares. Cut the onion into rings. Peel, quarter, core and dice the apple. Drain the beetroot in a sieve and cut it into cubes, reserving 2 tablespoons of the juice. Slice the gherkins.

3. Beat the mayonnaise with the beetroot juice, yogurt, vinegar and pepper. Drain the potatoes, leave them to cool, remove the skins and slice. Gently mix the potatoes with the herring, onion rings, apple, gherkins and beetroot in a large bowl.

4. Fold the dressing into the salad, cover the bowl and leave to stand for a few minutes before serving. Season to taste with salt. 

Manhattan Tuna Chowder- Crockpot

No time to cook on Tuesday- so I thought we could try this chowder recipe. I've got everything but the red potatoes on hand... and most of the recipes from the Better Homes and Gardens Ultimate Slow Cooker cookbook have been good.

Serves 6

2 14-oz cans chicken broth (I'll use my own)
2 C chopped round red potatoes (2 medium)
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
1 C chopped celery (2 stalks)
1/2 C chopped onion (1 medium)
1/2 C coarsely shredded carrot (1 medium)
1 t dried thyme, crushed
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/8 t ground black pepper
1 12-oz can chunk white tuna (water pack), drained and broken into chunks

Combine broth, potatoes, undrained tomatoes, celery, onion, carrot, thyme, cayenne pepper, and black pepper.
Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-31/2 hours. Gently stir in tuna. Let stand, covered for 5 minutes.

per serve: 40 calories, 2 G fat, 25 mg chol.,900 mg sodium, 1 g carbo, 3 g fiber, 16 g protein.

 **I don't think this dish could have been any easier. I wasn't crazy about it, but the 2 out of the other 3 eaters besides me thought it was great. I paired it with buttermilk biscuits.
##I might make this again.

Chili con Pesce

I found this fish cook book in Australia. It is called 50 Ways with Fish by Katherine Blakemore. You can order it on-line and I also saw a site that you can supposedly download it. It has many great easy recipes for fish. My last comments on this particular recipe were "great- fast and easy."

Serves 4

1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 T oil
1/4- 1/2 t chili powder, or hot chili sauce
2 t cumin
2 t oregano
14 oz can chopped tomatoes
3/4 C beer (lager)
salt and pepper
1 1/4 lb boneless, skinless white fish, cut into cubes
1 T chopped fresh cilantro

In a large pan, cook onion and bell pepper in oil until soft Add chili powder, cumin and oregano, cook for 1 minute, add tomatoes and juice from can, beer, salt and pepper.
Cook uncovered for 15-20 minutes stirring occasionaly until sauce is a thich consistency. Add the fish to pan, cover and simmer gently for about 10 minutes until fish is cooked through. Stir in chopped cilantro.
Transfer to a warm serving dish and garnish with fresh cilantro. Serve with rice, refried beans and corn chips.
Prep- 15 minutes
Cook- 30-35 minutes

**I will sub green chili for the bell pepper, use chipotle chili powder, use Rio Grande Green Chili Cerveza for the lager, my frozen tomatoes instead of canned, and ono fish. I'm not sure that I'll serve it with rice, beans, and chips. If I have time to get some fresh corn tortillas, I'll probably serve it with them.

 **Great! I got some fresh corn tortillas and had them with the stew. Mine was nice and spicy.