Smokin’ It

Posted on April 16, 2017 by melsmosaic

I love seafood, I love smoked seafood. So on my weekly or bi-weekly trip to Trader Joe’s I of course swung by the demo station. Had a bite of what they were serving (I think it was a egg salad). And at the station, they had a stack of Smoked Trout. While I have had their (and others’) vacuum packed/sealed stuff, this one was canned. Think of a sardine can, with a pull-top lid. It’s farm raised (not my favorite), skinless and in canola oil.

So I grabbed some and used it on a salad. Simple arugula, tomatoes, kalamatas, hearts of palm and baby Brussels sprouts. Just delicious blend of flavors. So as long as you’re not totally against the farm-raised, this is great stuff to have on hand. Stack it in the cupboard with the tuna and the other stuff and you’re good to go.

Opah!

Posted on January 12, 2017 by melsmosaic

Wanted to find something fun to cook the other day so swung into Whole Foods to see what they might have. Roamed over to the seafood section and found something I hadn’t noticed before — Opah. Went to the counter and asked one of the guys what he knew about it. He mentioned it was sort of a cross between tuna and swordfish. Ok, might as well give it a try.

I asked him about cooking and he said either grill or roast. I’d love to grill it but I don’t have the luxury of doing so because I live in an apartment building. I asked about pan searing and he said that works just fine, too. Seasoning-wise, he said don’t go crazy, no more than S&P.

While waiting for it to defrost (dropped it in a bowl of water, still wrapped), did some research on the Opah. They are pretty cool looking. Also found out they are pretty much a Hawaiian fish. Nice way to think about warmth.

It definitely lived up to the ‘firm’ preview. It had a really nice taste — some creaminess to it and was quite filling. I served it with some kale chips and pita & hummus.

And, let me tell you, the leftovers tasted awesome! Totally worth checking out if you see it at the store.

Fish Taco

Posted on December 26, 2016 by melsmosaic

I had heard so much about Fish Taco that I eventually had to try it. Also did it by taking a friend there as a thank you for picking me up from the airport. Good excuse, right?

Their background is ‘Our food is rooted in traditional flavors inspired by various regions including Baja California, Mexico and the Southwest. We embrace local, seasonal and authentic ingredients presented simply, yet prepared with passion and precision.’

It’s one of the restaurants where you go up and order and they call your number when it’s ready, the new fast-casual, or something along those lines. I had sort of wondered about that, or how exactly they worked. They have three locations in the DC-area, and I visited the one on Old Georgetown Rd.

Was torn on what to order. I was assuming that based on their background (and name) they’d have ceviche (or some sort at least), but no.

I ended up getting the Blackened Fish Salad; mixed greens, romaine hearts, baby kale, avocado, grilled mango, cherry tomatoes, red onions, cotija cheese, blackened fish, and our house made Lemon Cilantro Vinaigrette (minus the cheese) — $11.95. The seasoning was nice, but the fish was pretty greasy.

My friend went with the Adobo Barbacoa (Brisket) Tacos; fresh white corn tortilla, adobo marinated barbacoa, pickled jalapeno/carrots/onions, guajillo sauce — $8.95. This was apparently darn good, but not a very big portion.

To kill time we also ordered chips and salsa. It’s always a strike against when at a mexican restaurant (generic term) you have to pay for chips and salsa. And, it was $4! (and not that ample of a size).

I can see why this place gets hype. It was relatively quick and easy. But, I personally wasn’t all the impressed. I would rather cook at home. And it was overpriced for what’s offered/delivered. But, it is Bethesda/DC so you come to expect it. Glad I was able to pass the opinion myself.

Citrus-Cured Salmon

Posted on July 12, 2016 by melsmosaic

Finally made a recipe the other day that I’d been eyeing for awhile. Had to plan ahead because it needed at least 24 hours to be ready. It’s the Citrus-Cured Salmon from Bon Appetit.
Ingredients:

5 ounces kosher salt (1 cup Diamond Crystal or ½ cup Morton)
⅔ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound skin-on, boneless salmon fillet, preferably wild king
½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
½ teaspoon finely grated lime zest
½ teaspoon finely grated orange zest

Prep:

Combine salt, granulated sugar, brown sugar, peppercorns, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes in a medium bowl.

Spread half of curing mix in the center of a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet roughly the same size as the fish. Place fish, skin side down, on curing mixture. Spread lemon zest, lime zest, and orange zest evenly over fish; cover with remaining curing mixture. Bring edges of foil up and over salmon and crimp to enclose.

Place another baking sheet on top of salmon and weigh down with several large cans or a heavy pot. Chill, unwrapping and flipping fish halfway through, 24 hours.

Rinse fish and pat dry; place, skin side down, on a cutting board. Using your longest, sharpest knife and wiping down blade with a moist towel between slices, cut on a diagonal ⅛”–¼” thick, leaving skin behind.

Do Ahead: Salmon can be cured 3 days ahead. Cover tightly and chill.

Overall very good. But problem on my end is that I ended up getting fish with no skin. At first didn’t think it would matter. Come the end I realized that this meant the salt got into the salmon full strength from both sides. So, this was some salty fish. The flavors were all very nice, but do remember to get the skin-on salmon. Will have to try it again with the proper cut/side of fish.

The Morrison, Sydney, AUS

Posted on June 10, 2016 by melsmosaic

First night in Sydney, wanted to have something easy and close to the hotel. The concierge recommended The Morrison, which was about a block away. That worked.

They had a interesting spread on the menu. We opted to actually try one of those funky guacamoles that was on the special — pea guac. Not bad, though I like it ‘straight.’

For the main course we went with a whole baked fish, believe it was flounder. Absolutely delicious! They just use chilli, olive oil and parsley.

We paired all this with a nice white, Under & Over Pinot Gris. Nice and refreshing and a perfect match for the meal. The service at the restaurant was not tremendous but the food made up for it.

Depot Eatery, Auckland, NZ

Posted on May 9, 2016 by melsmosaic

First night in Auckland, received a suggestion from the concierge to not walk more than 100 feet outside front door of the hotel to this place called Depot Eatery for dinner They don’t take reservations so you just either get there early or wait patiently in line.

We were fortunately there on a weeknight so it wasn’t too crazy but still had to wait. Once we got a seat, we got to sit at the bar, which makes it more fun. While looking over the menu of course it was necessary to grab a drink. There was wine on tap. Awesome! Always love trying that stuff. It was perfect.

Then, they bring you white bean hummus and pita bread to nibble on while picking food.

While looking over the menu we asked for suggestions from the bartender. It was the kingfish. Ok, sold. The description was Kingfish belly w/ eggplant kasundi, lime & toasts. We chose that and Brussels sprouts — ‘not your mothers’ w/ ‘Otello’s’ pancetta & walnut crumbs.

There was nothing left on either of these plates. Amazing food. So glad this restaurant was recommended and can totally see why it has a wait.

Oh My Cod

Posted on November 16, 2015 by melsmosaic

Another new recipe, of course. What would I do if cooking magazines went out of publication? I love posole and normally it’s made with chicken. But in a recent edition of Bon Appetit (can you see what I get often?) there was a recipe for Green Posole with Cod and Cilantro (Duh on the last ingredient!!! How can you live without that stuff?).

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 serrano chiles, thinly sliced, divided (skipped these, see below)
8 medium tomatillos (about 1¼ pounds), husks removed, rinsed (Lazy on these because I use green salsa. I usually just get the ‘normal’ stuff from Trader Joe’s. Well they just came out with some super spicy green stuff — Hatch Valley. So I used one jar of the normal and one jar of the spicy, which replaced the chiles, and oh I am glad I only used one jar!)
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
1 cup cilantro leaves with tender stems, plus more for serving
1 pound cod fillet (frozen chunked from Trader Joe’s)
1 15-ounce can white hominy, rinsed (used a bigger can, because that’s what I had — 25 oz)
1 8-ounce bottle clam juice
3 small radishes, trimmed, thinly sliced (skipped them because it was garnish)
Lime wedges (for serving) (ditto as above)

Preparation:

-Heat oil in a large pot over medium. Cook shallots, garlic, and half of chiles (this is the part I skipped, chile-wise because of the salsa), stirring occasionally, until soft and fragrant, 6–8 minutes.
-Meanwhile, purée tomatillos in a blender until smooth.  (didn’t have to do this because of the ease of green salsa)

-Add half of tomatillo purée to pot and cook, stirring often, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1 cup cilantro to remaining purée in blender and blend until smooth; set aside.  (I just chopped the cilantro very well and added it a step down).

-Add cod, hominy, clam juice, and 1 cup water to pot. Bring to a simmer and gently cook over medium-low until cod is opaque throughout and beginning to flake, 8–10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in reserved raw tomatillo-cilantro purée, breaking cod into large chunks; season with salt and pepper.   (If you used the cubed stuff from Trader Joe’s or elsewhere, you don’t have the break down the cod, already done — simplicity in the kitchen!).

-Divide stew among bowls and top with radishes, cilantro, and remaining chile. Serve with lime wedges.

This stuff was good! Pretty thick/heavy, too. A bit spicy for me, but my friends inhaled it and loved the spice. Love getting variations on posole. Definitely recommend giving this a try.

Crusted!

Posted on September 20, 2015 by melsmosaic

Tried another recipe from a recent issue of Bon Appetit — Wild Rice-Crusted Halibut. Sounded pretty unique so had to give it a try. Also relatively easy to make.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
½ cup wild rice
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
4 5–6-ounce skinless halibut, hake, or cod fillets (I went with the cod, much more affordable)
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
Lemon wedges (for serving)

Preparation
Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a medium skillet over medium-high. Add rice and cook, tossing occasionally, until grains have popped open like popcorn and are lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Transfer to paper towels and let cool. Pulse in a food processor or blender to a fine powder. Perfect in the mini-prep.

Preheat oven to 350°. Place flour in a shallow bowl. Beat eggs and 1 Tbsp. water in another shallow bowl. Place wild rice powder in a baking dish. Season fish with salt and pepper. Working with 1 fillet at a time, dredge in flour, shaking off excess, then dip into egg mixture, turning to coat evenly. Coat with rice powder, pressing gently to adhere. -Was tough to get it to totally adhere, but still got a good amount on there

Heat remaining 2 Tbsp. oil in a large ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high. Cook fish until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer skillet to oven and roast fish until just opaque throughout, about 3 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.

The crunch you got from the rice was great! And I have now taken this concept and used it for just extra in ‘stuff’ — I toasted the wild rice the other day and pulsed/crushed it just not quite as fine and tossed it with some brown rice. Gave it great extra crunch. Going to see what else to do with it now.

Sashimi-me

Posted on August 2, 2015 by melsmosaic

Hot days mean cool dinners. When Bon Appetit arrives at my door it means reading the index of recipes first to see what needs to be made! The recent issue has so much good stuff it was/is hard to pick. But with the recent temps of 90+, little cooking is ideal. So the recipe of Snapper Sashimi with Seaweed and Fennel could not be turned down (the hardest part, honestly, was going to the grocery store after sitting at the pool for awhile).

Ingredients (oh the fun…)

-2 teaspoons dried cut wakame seaweed (I went to Whole Foods. You can either buy a bag of these things for about $8. Or, after talking to one of the guys who works there, we decided that I could try using one of the little seaweed snack pieces, that look like green stained glass, that cost $1.99 cost the entire box…hmmm…
-3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 teaspoon finely grated peeled horseradish (I can’t eat the stuff so can’t tell you what it tastes like with this, but I am sure it add tons of great taste)
-1 teaspoon soy sauce
-1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
-Small pinch of sugar
-Kosher salt
-¼ small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced on a mandoline (just random, there were no regular size fennel bulbs, just these tiny guys, maybe the size of 2 or 3 grape tomatoes, pretty cute, then they have tons or fronds. I saved those, heck yeah!)
-2 small radishes, trimmed, very thinly sliced on a mandoline
-½ pound skinless, boneless red snapper fillet, sliced ¼ inch thick (Let’s talk about Whole Foods and fish. The recipe also says “The type of fish you use is less important than its quality. Black bass, striped bass, and fluke all translate well.” They didn’t have any of those on a Friday evening. It’s ‘rush hour’ — I didn’t know what to do, not did the guy working. He deduced that I could try Cobia. I just still just a bit taken aback that Whole Foods didn’t have any of the prime seafood it called for)
-½ cup chervil leaves (Another problem, Whole Foods had no chevril leaves, ok, I live walking distance from it and did not want to drive to get anything. The produce guy said the best substitute would be flat leaf parsley)
-1 teaspoon fennel pollen (optional)
-Flaky sea salt

Getting all this together was pretty easily, definitely fun.

Directions:

-Soak wakame in 1 Tbsp. cold water in a small bowl to rehydrate, 5–8 minutes; drain. Ok, it was sort of slimy afterwards — very cool.

(Don’t forget to take those radishes and that fennel to the mandoline).

Combine lime juice, oil, horseradish, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and sugar in a medium bowl; season with kosher salt. Add fennel, radishes, and seaweed to dressing; toss to combine.

Arrange snapper (or fish at hand) on a platter. Spoon dressing and vegetables over and top with chervil and fennel pollen, if using; season with sea salt. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.

WOW! The Asian-flair of flavors all came together to hit the palate and gave an amazing taste. I also happened to serve this on a platter I bought in Japan so of course it made it taste even better! So good. Will definitely try it with bass, too.

U5?

Posted on December 30, 2014 by melsmosaic

Finally made it to the DC Fish Market on Maine Avenue last month. I have only lived here how long (next year will be 15 years) and have been meaning to get there. It’s full of great fish vendors and tons of stuff to check out.

So much amazing seafood!

My friends and I decided we’d each grab something to contribute for dinner that night. After surveying, I decided on shrimp, and I couldn’t just grab everyday shrimp, that would be too easy for a fish market. I saw these big guys that I could not turn down — U5s. If you’re not completely sure what than means, it’s that there are 5 or less shrimp per pound! When you see ‘normal’ shrimp selection in the grocery store, there/they are 21-25, 31-40, in most cases. But really, U5? The pictures do them no justice.

When we got to the kitchen, I could pretty much cozily fit the three of them that I purchased for the three of us in one pan. Just seared them with some olive oil and garlic.