I don’t have much of a story to go with this recipe.  I can tell you that I “forgot” that the fish needs to marinate for 30 minutes before going into the oven.  I can also tell you that I was quite unhappy when I “remembered” this fact having come home hungry, late, and sweaty from a trip to the gym.  I guess the last thing I should tell you is that The Mistah and I kept giving each other big thumbs up signs when we finally sat down with Salmon with Sweet Chili Glaze.  We were too busy stuffing it in our mouths to use our words.

Salmon with Sweet Chili Glaze

Adapted from Bon Appetit

BAH Note: I can’t claim this trick as my own but I want to share it with you.  The person who sent me this recipe said her secret to broiling the salmon was to cook the salmon on the center oven rack for 6 minutes and then move it up to the top rack for two minutes more.  Obviously, you’ll want to position your racks before you turn the broiler on.  But I used her method and had great results despite my unnatural fear of the broiler.   According to the original recipe, you’ll have enough sauce for six salmon fillets.  I put half of the sauce in the fridge to use at another time.

• 1/4 cup Asian or Thai sweet chili sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 salmon fillets, with or without skin

Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil and coat lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk together the chili sauce, soy sauce, and ginger in a small bowl.

Place salmon fillets on sheet pan (skin side down if applicable) and spoon chili sauce mixture over the top of the fish.  Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Set the oven to broil.  Using a spoon or pastry brush, baste the salmon with any marinade that has spread onto the sheet pan.  Broil for 6 to 10 minutes or until browned in spots and nearly opaque in the center.

{printable recipe}

image from www.istockphoto.com

I have a problem buying fish.  Actually, I don’t have a problem buying fish.  I have a problem buying fish that I like.  Most times I buy any old fish, am not happy with it, then forget what kind of fish it was and I end up making the same mistake over and over again.  I think I’ve bought cod three or four times and still can’t make myself remember that I don’t like it.  Or maybe that was haddock.  See what I mean?

In a perfect world, I would have, as Alton Brown says, a fishmonger.  Actually, I probably could have a fishmonger.  The nice folks at Wegman’s and The Fresh Market seem pretty knowledgable about fish.  But since I usually buy my fish frozen, and there doesn’t tend to be a store employee chilling out in the frozen fish case, I’m left to my own devices.  Since I also shop at a couple of different stores and they all package their frozen fish differently, I can’t keep track of what  I’ve bought and liked or not liked.  Geez, it’s a wonder I manage to feed myself at all.

Recently, I decided to give the fish counter at the Asian Market a try.  That would be the H Mart at Rt. 40 and Rolling Road for anyone reading locally who wants to go on a field trip.  They carry several varieties of whole fish that you can have cut to order.  If they have it, they will scale, gut, and fillet it for you.  I can’t say that The Fresh Market does that but I have seen some whole fish being cut down at Wegman’s…more as entertainment than a regular service of the seafood department.  The fish counter at H Mart even has a few tanks with live fish.  The sign said that it was Tilapia that was swimming around.  While that would be some fresh fish, the thought of seeing my dinner plucked out of a tank  and watching as it gets butchered makes me a little uncomfortable.

So anyhow, I found myself at the fish counter looking for either grouper or halibut.  They had both so I had to choose between them.  According to the guys at the counter, the halibut would be moister than the grouper.  Usually, when I don’t like a fish it’s because it’s dense and dry.  So I was hoping that by choosing the moister of the two, I wouldn’t end up with something that would be a disappointment on my plate.  And let me just say that for $12.99 a pound, that halibut was an expensive gamble.

Thankfully, it was gamble that paid off.  The halibut steaks that I cooked up were tender and moist.  The fish had a mild flavor that did not compete with the cilantro, ginger, shallot, chile, or coconut milk.  Actually, it was the perfect canvas to showcase those other flavors.

So now I know that I like halibut.  I know that right now, at this moment.  I just hope I can remember that the next time I’m at the store.

For those of you, like myself, who can’t figure the difference between a mackerel and a monkfish, there’s this guide.  I only stumbled on it when I was googling my research for this post so I can’t vouch for its accuracy in description of the different species it lists or its recommendations for substitutions.  I wonder if somewhere there’s an app for that?

Grilled Cilantro Fish in Coconut Broth

Adapted from Cuisine for Two

BAH Note:  I used halibut instead of grouper.  Instead of fillets, I got halibut steaks at the store.  If you use steaks instead of fillets, watch out for bones…they are everywhere.  I don’t have a lot of confidence in being able to judge when meat or fish is done so for the halibut, I figured it was done when it started to fall apart.  The presentation wasn’t pretty but the fish was perfectly cooked.  If you have a grill, CFT says you can grill the fish over direct heat, covered.

For the Fish:

• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• juice of 1 lime (about 1 to 2 tablespoons)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• kosher salt
• 2 fresh halibut or grouper fillets

For the Broth:

• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 2 tablespoons minced ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 Vietnamese or Thai chile, seeded and thinly sliced

Place the cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, and a pinch of kosher salt in a food processor and pulse until it forms a rough paste.  Transfer the paste to a shallow dish, add fish, turn to coat, and marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute shallots, ginger, and vegetable oil over medium low heat for approximately 5 minutes until soft.  Add the coconut milk, chicken broth, sugar, fish sauce and sliced chile.  Using an immersion blender, carefully blend the sauce.  Add kosher salt to taste.  Then simmer gently until the sauce is reduced by about half.  If the heat is too high, the sauce will foam up and boil over the sides of the pan.

Lightly coat a grill pan with vegetable oil and heat over medium flame.  Remove the fish from the marinade and place on the prepared grill pan.  Cook for 7 to 10 minutes per side or until the fish flakes easily and is firm.

Ladle broth into two bowls and top with fish.

{printable recipe}

I’m a bad typist.  I remember taking typing in high school thinking that the class was a complete waste of my time.  Why did Cecil County Public Schools think that I needed to know how to type?  This was all back when computers as we know them today were insanely expensive. They weren’t in people’s homes and they certainly weren’t in schools.  But the Board of Education said I had to take typing.  So I did.  I spent hours in Mr. Cleek’s classroom with typing drills – The quick brown fox jump over the lazy dog…or some such nonsense.  Actually, I probably paid more attention to the boys in the class than to my IBM Selectric.  So is it any wonder that I’m a typo queen?

That youthful indiscretion and spell check.  Between the two of them, a middle schooler probably types better than I do.  Used to be that to correct a mistake you had to have correction tape or white out…or better yet, avoid the typos by knowing how to spell AND type.  How completely 20th century.  Now, I can bang out all sorts of jibberish unconcerned about i before e, except after c, or when sounding like a, as in neighbor or way. I used to be a spelling whiz.  I always aced my spelling tests.  I used all sorts of big, complicated words.  And then the computer allowed me to get lazy.  I stooped careing.  See how easy that was?

The reason for all this TMI, is that every time I look at this recipe, I want to type it as Salmon with Roasted Cheery Tomatoes.  Maybe it’s my brain being lazy.  Or maybe it should be Cheery Tomatoes, because after a quick roast in a hot oven those cherry tomatoes develop a deep, rich flavor.  It’s the kind of flavor that sings, or maybe it signs; whatever, I’ll let spell check figure that out.  In a word, it IS cheery.  So take that spell check.  I’m doing it my way whether you flag it or not.

Salmon With Roasted Cheery (Cherry) Tomatoes

Adapted from Cooking Light

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning (I used Penzey’s Pasta Sprinkle) or 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 salmon fillets (approximately 6 ounces each)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine the tomatoes, herbs, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl and toss to combine.  Spread the tomatoes out on the prepared sheet pan and roast for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, pat the fish fillets dry with a paper towel, drizzle lightly with a bit of olive oil and season with a pinch of kosher salt.

Add the fish to the baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Serve the roasted tomatoes over the fillets, drizzled with the lemon juice.

{printable recipe}

image from www.istockphoto.com

If you were to poke around in our freezer on any given day, you would most likely find a bag of salmon fillets.  We tend to be a little predictable here at BAH.  When we like something, we stick with it.  Over time that can get a bit mundane so I’m always looking for ways to put new flavor into our favorite dishes.  Our latest salmon entree was inspired by The Kitchen Witch and her take on a Men’s Health Magazine recipe.  The Mistah used to get Men’s Health.  Actually, someone gave him a gift subscription.  Honestly, I was a little disappointed that it didn’t come with a free gift like a football phone, but if I had put my disappointment behind me and peeked between the covers, I might have discovered Salmon with Ginger Soy Butter.  It may not be a football phone but then again, I bet I could get one of those on eBay along with the complete series of Time Life Home Improvement books, all for about what I spend on a bag of salmon fillets.  See, it all works out in the end.

Salmon with Ginger Soy Butter

The Kitchen Witch and Men’s Health Magazine

• 4 salmon fillets
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 tablespoon minced chives
• 1/2 tablespoon grated ginger
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

Place the butter in a ramekin and melt carefully in the microwave.  Add the chives, ginger, lemon juice, and soy sauce and whisk to combine.  Set aside.

Dry the salmon fillets and season with salt and pepper.  Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan or grill pan until just smoking.  Add the salmon (skin side down if using a fillet with skin) and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.  Carefully turn the fish over and cook for 2 to 3 more minutes.

Serve the salmon with about a tablespoon of butter sauce spooned over the top.

{printable recipe}

So my first attempt at a Cook Wise recipe didn’t go so well.  While I haven’t retaken the Raised Waffles exam, I have aced the Salmon Fillet with Mustard quiz.  It’s quite similar to the Honey Mustard Chicken Breast that we like so much here at BAH.  But quicker.  And who doesn’t love a quick recipe?  While I could use that extra time to study up on the Raised Waffles, my assigned reading this week is The Sweet Life In Paris.  And I think there’s going to be a pop quiz coming up so I need to be ready.

Salmon Fillet with Mustard

Cook Wise

• 2 cups apple juice
• 1/2 cup coarse grain mustard (I personally adore Inglehoffer’s Original Stone Ground Mustard)
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill, finely chopped
• 2 to 4 salmon fillets, with or without skin
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.

Bring the apple juice to a boil in a small saucepan over medium high heat until reduced to approximately 1/4 cup.  Whisk in the mustard and dill and remove from the heat.

Pat the fish dry with paper towels and place (skin side down if applicable) on the baking sheet and season with salt.  Spoon the apple juice mixture over the fish and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Serve immediately.

{printable recipe}

I grew up eating bland food.  Very bland food.  The only spices I remember being in the house were salt, pepper, cinnamon (sugar), and poultry seasoning.  So it has taken me a while to dip my toes into the vast ocean of spices.  The folks at Penzey’s do their part to expand my palate with paprika, cumin, and cayenne pepper.  But one thing I have yet to fully embrace is curry.  My taste buds have not been trained to savor the complex flavors, or potentially blinding heat, of curry.   Call me a one note gal, or a wimp, but I don’t enjoy food that sets my mouth on fire.

In an attempt to move past my flavor prejudices, I have stared making dishes that bring some heat.  Of course, I try and balance the burn with something soothing like coconut milk, yogurt, or sour cream.  But I’ve got to tell you, I don’t think there’s enough milk in the world that can get me to bite into one of those fiery red chiles from the Asian market ever again.  My wimpy taste buds and I can live without repeating that experience.

I’m much happier enjoying some curry heat when I can tame it.  Thai Style Fish with Coconut Curry Broth does this beautifully.  And for those of you with asbestos coated taste buds, simply add more curry paste to get the level of heat you desire.

Thai Style Fish with Coconut Curry Broth

Adapted from Ellie Krieger

BAH Note: 5 cups of baby spinach sounds like a lot but when it is steamed, it will wilt down substantially.  Unless you have a bowl big enough to hold all that spinach, and a microwave big enough to hold that bowl, work in batches.

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 shallots, diced
• 3 1/2 teaspoons red curry paste
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup coconut milk, well shaken
• 4 fillets firm white fish such as Halibut, Talapia, Cod, Orange Roughy, or Red Snapper
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 scallion, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 5 cups baby spinach

Place the spinach and about a tablespoon water in a microwave safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave for approximately 2 minutes and set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat in a large, nonstick skillet.  Add the shallots and cook for approximately 4 minutes, until they begin to brown.  Add the curry paste, stir, and cook for 30 seconds.  Add the chicken broth and coconut milk.   Bring the liquids to a boil then lower the heat and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce is reduced by half.  Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the fish to the pan, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes until the fish flakes easily with a fork.  Stir in the green onion and cilantro.

Place some steamed spinach in the bottom of a shallow bowl.  Top with a piece of fish and sauce.

{printable recipe}

I don’t utter that phrase often.  It’s  like a loaded gun waiting to go off.  I might think something is foolproof but since I’m not in the kitchen with you, I can’t know if ingredients get substituted or the recipe is somehow changed.   And I don’t want to be responsible for kitchen drama.  I cause enough of it at my own house.  That’s why I try and use words like “nearly” or “darn near” anywhere close to the phrase foolproof.  But sometimes I slip up.

When I shared a Miso Salmon recipe with a coworker recently, I made the mistake of saying it was foolproof.  Then when I asked her how it turned out, she said it had not gone so well.  The first time she made it, she didn’t have miso so she used soy sauce.  The results were edible but not great.  The second time, she used miso but read the baking time as a broiling time. Charbroiled miso does not sound appetizing.  I imagine that it didn’t smell so good either.

So this time, I’ve got a foolproof salmon recipe that she’s got to try.  You should too.  Because short of the launch of a global nuclear war, I don’t think this recipe can be broken.  In fact, the next time The Mistah draws KP duty, I’m going to ask him to make this.  And if I think The Mistah can make this, anyone can.  Ok, he may need help reducing the marinade but that’s why I’m the sous chef when he cooks.

Maple Soy Glazed Salmon

Bon Appetit – Fast, Easy, Fresh

• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon adobo sauce (from canned chipotle chiles)
• 4 salmon fillets

Whisk together maple syrup, soy sauce, and adobo in a large shallow bowl or pie plate.  Add salmon and turn to coat.  Marinate for 30 minutes, turning occasionally.  Drain marinade into small saucepan.

Heat a heavy, nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add salmon and cook about 3 minutes per side until slightly charred outside and just opaque in the center.

Meanwhile, boil the marinade until reduced to about 1/4 cup glaze, about 5 minutes.

Serve fillets drizzled with glaze.

{Printable Recipe}

Posted in Cooking, Fish, Food, Main Course, Photo, Recipe Tagged: Bon Appetit, Foolproof, Maple Soy Glazed Salmon ]]> http://bonappetithon.com/2009/12/28/foolproof/feed/ 9 pmf1852 Maple Glazed Salmon with Asian Slaw http://bonappetithon.com/2009/11/20/mango-salad-with-seared-tuna/ http://bonappetithon.com/2009/11/20/mango-salad-with-seared-tuna/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:00:49 +0000 Wendi http://bonappetithon.com/?p=336 Continue reading →]]>

Who came up with idea for the word leitmotif? I like words.  Alot.  But that one, in particular, always confused me.  Of course learning that it is derived from the German leiten (to lead) and motiv (motive), it makes perfect sense.  But I failed miserably at German I in college (I thought switching from French to German was a good idea because?) so without the help of Mr. Merriam Webster, I would have still been in the dark about that one.

Have you noticed any of the themes that run through my kitchen?  There are several leitmotifs hiding here at BAH.  Fast and Easy are probably the most obvious.  But if you poke around enough, you’ll see that I often try variations on a recipe.  So today I present you with another tuna experiment.

I liked the first one so much that when I saw this recipe, I kind of bumped it towards the top of the test pile.  If I had to put them side by side and rate them, I’d say that I’d take the spice rub from Jason Wilson’s recipe and marry it with Rick Bayless’ spicy dressing.  There’s something about the heat from the chile and the sweet of the honey that really make the dressing sing.  Even The Mistah commented that it had lots of flavor, giving it his highest accolade of “very tasty”.

I didn’t use the pumpkin seeds that the original recipe called for.  And I adjusted the amount of oil that I added to the food processor to about half of what was in my skillet after the garlic and chile had been cooked.  Wanting to get as much heat as I could out of my chile I still didn’t have jalapeno so I used a small red chile instead.  I really should find out what kind it is, I opted to leave the seeds with the pepper.  I don’t know if this was the reason that my infused oil had a slightly scorched taste.  To try and balance it, I added extra honey and lime juice.  Next time I’ll consider leaving the chile seeds out of the mix.  And it made more sense to me to prep my lettuce and mango before starting on the dressing.  I didn’t have any avocado but if I did, I probably would have waited until the tuna was resting before slicing it up.

Mango Salad with Seared Tuna

Adapted from Rick Bayless’ Recipe as posted on The View From the 32nd Floor

• 1 pound quality raw tuna
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• sesame oil
• 1 head Boston lettuce, leaves separated
• 2 large ripe avocados
• 2 ripe mangoes

Place a small skillet over medium heat and add the oil, garlic and chile.  Cook for approximately 8 minutes, stirring frequently, until the garlic is soft and lightly browned.  Scrape the oil, garlic, and chile into the food processor.  Add honey and salt and process until smooth.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Rub the tuna with a bit of sesame oil, salt, and pepper.  Sear tuna over medium high heat in a skillet or on a grill for 1 minute on each side.  The tuna should be pink in the middle and cooked just around the edges.  Let rest and then slice.

Divide the lettuce among 4 plates.  Top with avocado and mango slices.  Place tuna on top and drizzle with the dressing.

{Printable Recipe}

As I’ve said before, cooking late at night is risky because I tend not to pay attention to what I’m doing.  I’m too busy thinking about getting the cat off of my pillow so I can have visions of sugarplums, or Don Draper, dance through my head.

In my last minute rush to get the fish marinating before going to bed one night, I assumed that all the liquid ingredients got mixed together for the marinade.  It wasn’t until I went to cook it up the next day that I realized the vegetable oil was for the frying pan….oops.  I don’t think it made too much of a difference but this is just another reason why I have no business working in the kitchen after 9pm.  That late, my attention wanders to things like how in the world women got talked into stuffing themselves into girdles for decades.  I guess those Mad Men really can make just about anything sound like a good idea.

I imagine that Betty Draper would never serve up a dish that had anything as exotic as miso or mirin.  Although I can picture a big bottle of sherry on the bar somewhere between the bourbon and gin.  It’s a shame that Betty’s cooking isn’t a little edgier than meatloaf and pot roast because Top Chef Sea Bass might just have gotten Don to come home from the office a little more often in Season One and Two.

Top Chef Sea Bass

Sporkorfoon

• 6 tablespoons mirin
• 1/4 cup miso paste
• 1/4 cup terriyaki sauce
• 1/4 cup sherry (mine was dry sherry and I used about 1/8 cup)
• Two 6 ounce pieces sea bass, mahi mahi, or other firm fish
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Combine mirin, miso, teriyaki, and sherry in a bowl.  Place fish in a resealable plastic bag, add marinade, and refrigerate overnight.

In a medium frying pan, heat the oil over medium high.  Remove fish from the marinade, scraping off the excess, and pat dry.  Put the fish in the pan and cook, without turning, for three minutes until well browned on the bottom.  Turn and cook the other side for about 3 minutes, or until well browned and just cooked through.

If your fish is thick cut, brown both sides as described above and then place pan into a 350 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until fish is done.

{Printable Recipe}

Green Bean Salad with Feta and Lemon

Washington Post

This is a quick, easy side dish.  And probably closer to something  Don Draper might find on his plate.

• 1 pound green beans, ends trimmed
• 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 medium sweet onion, cut into small dice (about 1/2 cup)
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill, or 1 tablespoon dried dill
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Prepare an ice water bath.

Bring a 4 quart pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.  Add the beans and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, until the beans are tender.  Immediately transfer them to the ice water bath and let cool for 5 minutes.  Dry the beans with a dish towel.

Transfer the beans to a large bowl.  Add the feta, dill, onion, lemon zest, and oil.  Toss to combine.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve  immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 3 days.  Allow the salad to come to room temperature before serving.

{Printable Recipe}