Smoke ‘Em Out!

Now that is one of my favorite Bush-isms. OK, I like his references to the Internets too. And his definition of Sovreign… I could just keep going on and on. Sorry Bush fans… or should I say fan? HA! Anyway… sorry if I offend anyone, but it really was a good title for my cedar smoked salmon. I smoked ‘em out all right, but this was in my grill.

I’ve been wanting to make cedar plank salmon ever since I had it at a restaurant a few years ago. I saw cedar grilling planks for sale at my local Publix, and first cringed at the price… $9 for two planks. Sheesh, its just wood. A bit pricey, but when I saw that you could use them a few times, I threw my frugal caution to the wind and bought them. Boy was I glad I did! This made such a fantastic dinner, and I did basically NO work for it, as I used my basic orange juice glaze. That is a total win-win situation for me.

Spring Has Sprung

It must be spring because English Peas are available in my local grocery store. Of course, its hard to believe its spring because it is already Africa hot down here in Ft Lauderdale. Its been in the 90’s for the past few days. However, it did cool down a bit last night… to 75 degrees. What a treat. This time of year is when I feel pangs of envy towards the snowbirds that have the luxury of spending summers up north and winters down here. Best of both worlds, right? Sighhhhhh.

This is a very simple meal with one of my favorite veggies, English Peas. I kept the salmon simple and healthy with a pomegranate and orange juice glaze and the mashed potatoes extra flavorful and fattening with a nice big dollop of goat cheese and roasted garlic. Everything in moderation. The Peas were kept extra simple… shocked and buttered.
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May 13, 2008 | Filed Under Dinner, Seafood

14 Critiques

Easy Peasy Season-y

One of my favorite things about my blog is the opportunity to try items I would probably never try otherwise. I received an email from Urban Accents, a company out of Chicago that specializes in gourmet spices, herbs and assorted seasonings. They asked if I’d like to try some of their products and of course, I said yes.

A few days later, I received a nice box of goodies that included dryglazes, lemon and orange pepper and saffron rice. The first thing I noticed was the packaging is very modern and clean, not something you would see in a grocery store. The second thing was the ingredients… all natural herbs and spices. I have this thing about eating food that has ingredients I can’t pronounce with more than 15 letters. Monosodiumslimslam. OK, I made that word up, but you get the drift. The seasonings were also not loaded with salt, which it seems most prepared seasonings are. So no worries of having a case of hot-dog fingers from the excessive sodium! Whew!

I liked the idea of the dryglazes. All you do is coat the meat with olive oil and then sprinkle on the dry rub and place in the fridge. In half an hour, the rub becomes a luscious glaze. All I did then was simply grill the chicken. It was so moist and tasty you would have thought it marinated for hours. Perfect for those evenings you don’t have much time to cook, and are contemplating boring grilled chicken for the third time this week. Both the Puebla Mole and Vermont Grill were flavorful and will definitely be used again.

Here is Broiled Salmon with Sonoma Pepper. I marinated the salmon in orange juice for 30 minutes, sprinkled with salt and Sonoma Pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and broiled for 7-8 minutes. Great citrus flavor from the orange and lemon zest.

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April 10, 2008 | Filed Under Chicken, Dinner, Product Review, Seafood

11 Critiques

Kona Kampachi Sushi

One of my favorite things to eat is sushi. Although I’m half Japanese, I was a wimp and didn’t try sushi until I was in my early 20’s. I was always afraid of eating raw fish, but after my first taste, I was hooked. With all the different things I cook and bake, I’ve never made sushi until the other day. I had the perfect opportunity to make sushi with the Kona Kampachi (Yellowtail) so I figured it was time. Of course, I winged it as usual, and ended up with a ridiculous amount of cut veggies and not enough rice. Who woulda thought it took so much rice (and so little veggie) to make sushi? I really wanted to make Nigiri-Sushi, but I ran out of rice before I got to it. Oh well… we still had more than we could eat.

To be honest, I’m not sure if I’ll make sushi again, as it was really quite labor intensive. We also have a little family owned Japanese/Thai restaurant close to our home that has fantastic sushi. I try to go there at least once a week to cure my sushi cravings. However, the flavor was unbelievably good. The fresh Kona Kampachi with the just cooked rice… you can’t get that, even in the best Sushi restaurant. OK, maybe I’ll make sushi again if I have an amazing piece of fish that warrants home made sushi!
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March 26, 2008 | Filed Under Asian, Seafood

14 Critiques

Fishing Online?

Since I’ve experienced the joys of online shopping, my days at the mall are few and far between. I’ve recently started to buy some food related products online, and it’s just opened up a whole new world!

I received an email from Kona Blue and was quite intrigued. They asked if I’d like a sample of their product, which is Kona Kampachi. After a little research, I found its more common name is Yellowtail, which happens to be my favorite fish when eating Sushi or Sashimi. So I said… bring it on! I was expecting to receive a little fish, you know, maybe a pound or so.

Imagine my surprise when I got a large box that contained a huge fish! I was excited, then terrified, then came full circle back to excited. I had absolutely no idea what to do with it. The only time I’ve cleaned a fish was in culinary school, and that was almost 10 years ago! So I sharpened my biggest knife, and decided to cut it into steaks instead of filleting, as it was big enough to do that. In the end, I was successful, but my counter looked like Tony Soprano had whacked someone on it.

I’ll admit, I was a bit wary of having fish sent to me. However… it arrived, surrounded by quite a few ice packs, and was very very cold. I decided to keep my dinner simple since the fish was so fresh, and chose to pan saute the fish steak and serve it with an orange-passionfruit glaze. Fabulous, absolutely fabulous. The quality is out of this world. Next time I’m in the mood for some fabulously fresh fish, I will definitely be ordering from Kona Blue.

I was too scared to try making Sushi or Sashimi this time, but will definitely try another day. Hmmm, maybe even ceviche. Come back to see what else I do with it… as I’ll be able to make several dinners from this one fish!

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March 18, 2008 | Filed Under Dinner, Product Review, Seafood

6 Critiques

Lobster’s in the Air…..

On Valentines Day, I have recently started to prefer staying at home and cooking Stephan a nice dinner instead of battling the crowds in restaurants. I went all out this year, and made uber-fancy lobster risotto. Can we say decadent? I’ve had lobster risotto in restaurants many times, but since I was making this at home, it was more like lobster with a bit of risotto mixed in. In the end, I probably spent more moolah than had we just gone out, but it was totally and completely worth it! We also opened up a fabulous bottle of German Ice Wine that we’ve been holding onto for quite a while.

To be honest, this is the first time I’ve cooked lobster at home. The last time I did cook lobster was in culinary school. I had this chef instructor who insisted we kill the lobsters before boiling them. This really bothered me, and that is the main reason I’ve been lobster shy for the past 8 years! This time, I tried not to look the lobster in the eye, and simply placed them into the boiling water. Not sure if that is humane either, but its better than a knife through the noggin, right? :)

I made it just like I always make my risotto, but omitted the Parmesan cheese at the end. As usual, I like to eat with my eyes first, so I added a small handful of diced red and orange bell pepper more for color than flavor. I also painstakingly cracked the claws and kept the claw meat intact for garnishing. In addition, I made a lobster stock with the shells, but you can always use chicken stock. I ended up using half lobster stock and half chicken stock so the final product wouldn’t be overly lobstery (yes, that is a word!)

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February 16, 2008 | Filed Under Dinner, Seafood

20 Critiques

Going Nuts

After Thanksgiving, I had quite a few pecans left and wanted to use them up before they go bad. After pondering a moment, I figured I’d make pecan crusted Mahi Mahi. I made it similar to how I make my schnitzel, but used half panko and half chopped pecans. It was a nice alternative to my usual broiled fish. I accompanied it with a tomato and avocado salad.

I also decided to try mashed turnips… and it wasn’t good. I was trying to find a healthier alternative to potatoes, and thought… hey, what about turnips? Yeah, it tasted like mashed cabbage, but worse. Note to self: Never boil and mash turnips… they are not and never will be potatoes. Lesson learned.
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December 13, 2007 | Filed Under Dinner, Seafood

4 Critiques

My Neighborhood Has Crabs!

A few weeks ago, I was walking outside my house and saw something odd scurrying across the road. After a little inspection, I realized it was a large blue crab. Strange… I have absolutely no idea how a crab got into my neighborhood, as I live about 4 miles from the beach. Maybe it got lucky and escaped someone’s crab boil? Perhaps it was tired of the Fort Lauderdale beach scene and wanted to head west to the ‘burbs? I suppose I will never know. Is it wrong that I licked my chops when I saw it, and thought ‘mmmm crab’? Not surprisingly, I have been craving crab cakes since I saw the little bugger.

This is my Asian inspired version of Crab Cakes, made with Panko breadcrumbs to keep with the Asian theme. I served it with Asian slaw.
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November 12, 2007 | Filed Under Asian, Dinner, Seafood

6 Critiques

Do you Ragout?

I decided to recreate a fish entree I ordered at a restaurant recently that was pretty good, but lacked a little flavor. I love to attempt recreating restaurant dishes… and sometimes, I think mine is better!

The sauce is a chunky quick cooking ragout (pronounced ragoo.) I honestly just threw it together, hoping for the best. The result was a very flavorful, but uber-healthy topping for the fish. I served it with pearl couscous cooked with chicken stock and finished off with a generous tablespoon of pesto sauce and a bit of parsley.

Seared Shrimp and Orzo

This is a delicious, quick cooking shrimp dinner that is sure to impress! Its made similar to shrimp scampi, but is served on Orzo instead of Linguine. Orzo is actually a wonderful semolina pasta that looks like a flat rice. I added a little diced red and yellow pepper to make it pretty, but it can always be omitted.
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