Ginger Sesame Tuna Steak

So tasty and so fast. Fresh ginger gives it zing and a touch of toasted sesame oil makes it a pungent and pleasing meal.

That's about one inch of fresh ginger I grated into a bowl. 

Season your tuna steaks with salt and let a pan get nice and hot with TBSP of grapeseed oil (or olive oil) and a splash (maybe 1/2 tsp) of sesame oil.

Add your tuna in, seasoned-side down, and cook about 2 minutes per side depending on thickness. Remember you want it to finish still pink inside before you take it off the heat.

Once I had flipped the tuna I added the grated ginger to the pan so it could infuse the oil in the pan and get into the tuna.

Finish by sprinkling with sesame seeds (I used black sesame seeds) and drizzle with the ginger-sesame oil.

In the background is some leftover avocado purée, as tuna & avocado are a fabulous pairing, but if you had a regular avocado, just slicing it and giving it a spritz of lime juice and a sprinkle of salt would make a nice creamy accompaniment.

This was a definitely a successful dinner to keep in mind the next time tuna steaks go on sale!

Linguine a la Cioppino

This is an alternate use, or use for any leftover Cioppino base that you may have on hand.

Lately I have been devouring cioppino, a.k.a. Italian fish stew. I just love it as a light dinner of fish poached in a light but flavorful tomato base with a hunk of bread to sop up the remains.

Also, once you have made the base and have it in your fridge, dinner only takes 10 minutes.

And as previously stated, in the summer, having any source of heat at a minimum is best.

This time around I only had enough for one, so I decided that just using it as a base for pasta and clams might be good.

And it was.

Above you see the sand and grit that was expelled from the clams when I put them in a bowl of cold salted water for half an hour. 

Do not skip this step, as you definitely do not want all of that crud in your food!

With the pasta already dropped into boiling salted water, I brought the leftover cioppino stew base up to a simmer and added the cleaned clams.

Put the lid on the pot and let it bubble for 6-7 minutes, or until all the clams have opened.

Give the pot a jiggle every few minutes if the clams are cramped for space to open.

I prefer to remove the shells before serving so there's less mess while eating.

Discard any clams that do not open.

Add the cooked pasta to the cioppino sauce for the last minute of cooking.

This really could have served two people in the end, so I'll remember that for next time.

But it turned out quite nicely, kind of like a cross between red clam sauce and marinara, but with the undertone of fennel.

Nice change-up from the usual fish stew.

Turbot with Avocado Purée & Pineapple Salsa

OK, I have come up with the finishing element to round out my previously posted meal:

avocado purée.

1 ripe avocado, 2 TBSP fresh lime juice, 2 TBSP diced shallot or red onion, 1/4 cup cilantro, 1 seeded jalapeño pepper, and salt to taste.

Place everything in a food processor and blend until smooth.

If your avocado is still a bit under-ripe, you can add 1 tsp of low-fat mayo or greek yogurt to help bring about a creamier consistency.

This meal was made with 2 rather huge turbot filets, which I seasoned with salt and a bit of chili powder before sautéing in a combination of butter and olive oil.

I had issues turning the huge filets over. 

So much for presentation.

I added a splash of white wine to the pan after turning the fish, for just a little extra touch of flavor in the fish itself.

As the side dish (tho the Hubs preferred it on top of his fish) I made what was almost my new favorite pineapple-mango salsa, except I didn't have any ripe mango, so it's just 1/3 of a cored pineapple with 1 seeded jalapeño, half a medium shallot finely diced, the juice of one lime, salt, and a little drizzle of agave.

It's best to let the shallot and jalapeño mellow in the lime juice and a couple pinches of salt while you dice up the pineapple, so they are not as sharp when bitten into.

This salsa is better if you make it a few hours ahead as well, so the flavors and juices can really combine.

Not-so-sexy shot of the avocado purée on the plate, awaiting the hot fish on top.

Drizzle any pan juices over the fish.

The richness and zing from the avocado purée is exactly what this meal was missing before. 

Fish with fruit salsa may be great hot weather food, and even diet food, but I needed a little something more substantial to round everything out, and I was quite pleased with this finished dish.

Try it out!

Pineapple-Mango Pollock

It is currently "99º feels like 112º" at noon in NYC.

Cooking is at a minimum.

I made this delicious pineapple-mango salsa again and used it over some very quick-cooking pollock.

(Or tilapia, flounder, turbot... whatever has a good price.)

Minimal stove time is a plus right now.

That said, it was nice, but maybe missing a little something.

I have an excellent idea for the next time I make this.

Which if this heatwave continues much longer, may be in just a few days.

Stay tuned... and cool if you can.

Super Crunch

I've been sick all weekend so this is more of a "tip" post than any great meal recipe. But hopefully it will be the kind of forehead-smacking tip that works out for you.

Do you ever wonder why your breaded fish or chicken doesn't come out as crispy as you want it to when you make it at home? It's not just because restaurants put beer in their fry batter.

I'm going to tell you a super easy (and obvious) way to fix that problem:

Double bread it!

Flour, egg, panko breadcrumbs, then BACK in the egg, back in the breadcrumbs, and then into a hot pan with oil.

Ignore the mess of grilled zucchini and focus on the fish

I start by seasoning the fish (this one happened to be a massive flounder filet) with salt (and optional pepper), and I add sweet paprika and ground savory to the flour for dusting. 

Shake off the excess flour and dip it into the egg, and then into your breadcrumbs. 

(I prefer both the taste and the texture of panko to traditional bread crumbs. I also add a little grated parmigiano reggiano or pecorino to my breadcrumbs!) 

Allow the bread crumbs to set for a few minutes, and then go for a second dip in your beaten eggs, and then back in the bread crumbs.

In a non-stick pan, use just a little more oil than you would if you were cooking the protein un-breaded, so that there is enough to turn your breading golden-brown, but not so much that it's a soggy mess.

I frequently add more oil to the pan for each batch that I cook.

The resulting crust should be thick and crispy, and totally satisfying for crunch factor.
Good luck!

Not Floundering For A Meal

Ha ha. Yes.
Terrible pun.
Shoot me.
Apparently I have some of my punster grandfather in me other than just the legs*.

Dinner last night was flounder, as it was on sale and every once in a while I try to feed us something a bit lighter than average for dinner. Especially since it's a relatively warm weekend for October, so the light fare feels good.

Have you ever done a search online for recipes for flounder? They are all SOOOOO boring!!! And the other 80% of them are recipes for flounder stuffed with crabmeat (of which I am not the greatest fan).
So, I did a spin on a sauce I made for chicken, and I have to say it worked great on the flounder. (Or any other white fish.)

For the cooking of the flounder, I simply patted it dry, seasoned with salt, dredged through a little flour, and cooked it in a sauté pan for about 2-3 minutes per side. It's done when you try to remove it and the friggin' thing will not stay in one piece for a pretty plating shot.

Not shown: Grandpa fresh dill, wine, stock

The above is the basis of the sauce. About half a pint of grape tomatoes, halved, 1 shallot, 2 cloves of garlic, the zest and juice of half of a lemon, about 2 tablespoons of capers, white wine and a splash of chicken stock if  you want to mellow the wine flavor a bit.

In olive oil, sauté shallot until softened (about 3-4 minutes). Then add the tomatoes and allow them to cook for 2-3 minutes, or until they look like they are starting to soften. Next add the garlic (minced or grated) and cook off for about 30 seconds, stirring well.

For 2 fish filets, I probably used about 1/4 cup of white wine and 1/4 cup of chicken stock to make the sauce. After adding the liquids, squeeze the juice from the half lemon, toss in the zest & capers, and about 2 tablespoons of freshly chopped dill.

(Reserve a bit for garnish.)

Let the sauce reduce and thicken a bit, season with salt, finish it with a tablespoon (more or less) of butter for richness and gloss, and pour over the fish.

Very tasty, and the tomatoes made it slightly different from the average lemon-butter-dill sauce.

To round out the meal I used some leftover leek & white bean purée (which I really just love, and this time did not contain mascarpone) and tossed in some peas for good measure. I enjoyed the meal, and so did the hubs.

Don't like dill? 

Try substituting cilantro. It will give a bright kick to the sauce.

But this is a light meal packed with protein and veggies.

Enjoy!

*While my face clearly resembles my mother (tho she was much more of a knockout than I ever was) the rest of my body is kind of an odd amalgamation that does not directly reflect on either side of my family in any particular way. However, when I was still a teenager, possibly 18 or so, we were looking through some old black and white photos, and my mom found one of her father at the beach wearing swim trunks. She paused for a moment, pointed and exclaimed to me, "You have grandpa's legs!"

Rock.
Maybe not exactly what every teenage girl wants to hear, but at least it solved part of the puzzle that is me.

Tilapia with Lemon Thyme

The weather is hot and the tilapia was on sale for just $5.99/lb, so the hubs and I had a light but delicious dinner on the cheap.

For the tilapia:
I started out by seasoning the fish with salt and then lightly dredging it in a bit of flour in order to create more of a crust, as I had decided to sauté the fish in my non-stick frying pan rather than bake it in aromatic liquids and tinfoil in the oven, which is often my modus operandi when it comes to white fish.

I added the fish to the hot pan in a bit of olive oil, and when it was time to flip the fish (opaque halfway through) I added half of a diced shallot to the pan, as well as about a tablespoon of fresh lemon thyme.

If you have never encountered lemon thyme, I suggest you search it out. The smell is so vibrant and... well, lemony, that it brightens any dish right up. I already love to cook with fresh thyme, but this was much more exciting for me.

Once the fish was cooked through I set it aside under some tinfoil to stay warm while I made the sauce which consisted of: olive oil, leftover minced shallot, salt, about a teaspoon of flour (whisked in and cooked for at least a minute before adding), half a cup of white wine (stir and reduce for a few minutes), the juice of one lemon (stir and reduce again) and a finishing of more lemon thyme. Super flavorful and instantly made the tilapia much more interesting.

For the veg: I very thinly sliced one smallish zucchini into rounds and cooked the slices super fast in some olive oil and salt, and finished it with half a teaspoon of lemon zest right before removing it from the pan. The idea was for the zucchini to still taste of fresh zucchini and still have a bit of bite left to it, but not be raw. Another option I suppose would be to blanch it in boiling water, but I wanted to incorporate the lemon zest, so I chose the quick sauté instead.

For the side: Because I had lemon going as a theme throughout, I decided to make a quick and creamy orzo dish. (And it's much more figure-friendly than my favorite orzo concoction.) I also decided to make orzo because if we only ate the fish and zucchini, we would be starving in about an hour or two.
I cooked off the orzo first and set it aside. Then I added some olive oil to the pan and grated one large clove of garlic in and let that simmer for a minute or so. Then I added a splash of white wine (maybe 3 tablespoons?) and let it cook down for a couple minutes. Then I added about the same amount of half & half (or cream, whatever you have in the fridge is fine) and stirred well to combine. (I was eyeballing it all just so I'd have enough to coat the orzo I'd cooked for the two of us, but not enough to make a soupy sauce.)
Add a pinch of salt and check the seasoning before adding the zest of one lemon (minus the small bit used in the zucchini) and then add the cooked pasta back in. Stir to combine, and add any leftover chopped lemon thyme (I had about a teaspoon worth left) and call it tasty.

 And tasty it was.

Panko Crusted Skate

My good friend Corrie asked me a while back for a recipe using skate, so I am complying today with what is probably one of the easiest way to cook the fish, although it should probably be finished with a bit of chopped parsley.
I just happen to hate parsley.
Another option would be to make a gremolata to sprinkle on top.

I started out by chopping a number of almonds down into a fine sprinkle.  I only used about a dozen almonds. This was a mistake. I should have used at least twice as many, if not three times. I suggest using much more almond than panko if you actually want to taste the almond.

I also zested half a lemon into the panko crust.

You can see how much more panko I used than almond.

It was enough to encrust three pieces of skate, but if you want to taste the almond, as I said before, use fewer panko flakes and much more chopped almond.

It still looks like an appetizing crust, tho, doesn't it?

I learned tonight that skate is actually part of the ray family.

I presumed before that the "skate wing" was just a fish like a flounder, explaining away the shape that way. My mistake. I can't believe it's a ray!

Or that I find it so much odder to eat a ray than a fish.

I seasoned the skate wings with salt and then dredged them through flour (shake off excess), then beaten egg, and then the above almond/panko/lemon zest crust.

In a hot pan on medium-high, heat a few tablespoons of oil and about 2 tablespoons of butter. When the fats are beginning to sizzle, add your skate wings.

Cook about 3-4 minutes per side, making sure not to crowd the pan. (Crowding only leads to soggy, steamed fish. Ick.)

To finish the dish I squeezed fresh lemon juice over the hot skate and served it right away. 

You do not want to serve cold skate.

Yick.

Dinner, however, was very tasty.

When the hubs commented that he really liked it and that the fish was in no way "fishy" I simply replied, (pretending to be all knowledgeable) "That's because it was a ray."

Seafood makes you smart.

Or insane from mercury poisoning.

Wonder which way I'll go...