Archive for the ‘Seafood’ Category

Smoke ‘Em Out!

Posted by Candace on Monday, June 2nd, 2008

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.
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June 2nd, 2008 by Candace / Filed under Dinner, Kitchen Gossip, Seafood / 19 Critiques

Spring Has Sprung

Posted by Candace on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

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 13th, 2008 by Candace / Filed under Dinner, Seafood / 14 Critiques

Easy Peasy Season-y

Posted by Candace on Thursday, April 10th, 2008

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 10th, 2008 by Candace / Filed under Chicken, Dinner, Product Review, Seafood / 11 Critiques

Kona Kampachi Sushi

Posted by Candace on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

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 26th, 2008 by Candace / Filed under Asian, Seafood / 14 Critiques

Fishing Online?

Posted by Candace on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

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 18th, 2008 by Candace / Filed under Dinner, Product Review, Seafood / 6 Critiques
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