Poke Tuna

Posted on September 3, 2015 by melsmosaic

I love tuna, I love sashimi, but then was told about Poke Tuna — new one to me. Hmmm…time to check this stuff out. Of course had to google this term and millions of things came up. How to narrow this down? Was tough to pick one, but it did have to happen.

Ingredients

1 pound Ahi tuna loin cut into 1/2 inch dice — used the frozen stuff from TJ’s after some recommendations because it’s flash frozen
1/4 cup minced maui onion
1 teaspoon grated ginger
3 tablespoons scallions thinly sliced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Juice of half lime

Whisk together all ingredients except for tuna. When ready to serve combine dressing with tuna and squeeze a half lime over top.

So good, so easy…and tough not to keep eating and eating! Great for summer (though, yes, I know it’s about over), since it’s a no-cook meal. Have some this weekend as we head into Labor Day and the hot temps are still around.

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.

Riverside Hotpot

Posted on April 15, 2015 by melsmosaic

Checked out a new and new type of restaurant recently. It was Riverside Hotpot.

Some history of hot pot —

“The Chinese hot pot has a history of more than 1,000 years. Hot pot seems to have originated in Mongolia where the main ingredient was meat, usually beef, mutton or horse. It then spread to southern China during the Tang Dynasty and was further established during the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. In time, regional variations developed with different ingredients such as seafood. By the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644 to 1912), the hot pot became popular throughout most of China. Today in many modern homes, particularly in the big cities, the traditional coal-heated steamboat or hot pot has been replaced by electric, propane, butane gas, or induction cooker versions.
Because hot pot styles change so much from region to region, many different ingredients are used.”

In short, you get tons of food, especially since it’s all you can eat! First you pick the base broth you want:

Then choose all the veggies and meats to throw in there. OMG! Way too much to pick from!

They bring the broth out first so it can heat up. Then they start bringing the other stuff out and you throw it in there when you’re ready and at what pace you like.

You go and go until you are maxed out. It’s just amazing. They also have a spice bar, with sauces and topping, that you can choose things from, including soy sauce, sesame seeds, green onions, etc. So much fun. What’s also great is you can make it full of veggies, full of seafood, full of meat — it totally caters to what YOU want. I can’t wait to go back!

Smokin’ (Scallops)

Posted on April 5, 2015 by melsmosaic

Scallops = good. Smoked flavor = good. Combining the two = must inspect. Came across some Smoked Scallops the other day while at Whole Foods and it just sounded intriguing. I was planning to make some form of salad for dinner and they seemed liked they’d be a great ‘topping’ for it. The scallops were small — as in nowhere near U5s. Likely U50s? Do they count that small? I just don’t know the count for the size of that (yes, I’m biased; I love U5-10). Anyway…picked them up in the nice package.

Got home, opened the package and popped one in my mouth. WOW! Nice taste! That smoke, just like that taste I like in Pinotage. In the end (after nibbling on several) threw them on top of a nice arugula salad. Worth trying if you’re up for something new.

Gimme Some Gumbo

Posted on January 28, 2015 by melsmosaic

Something had me craving some gumbo the other day. What, not sure. I flipped through the great reference I have, The Little Gumbo Book by Gwen McKee and found the recipe I was looking for. It’s a Seafood Oven Okra Gumbo that uses a Dry Roux. The reason I love it is that you can throw it in the oven for a couple hours AND the (dry) roux it uses has no butter or oil. It’s just flour.

So, here we go —

Skillet Dry Roux

Place 1-2 cups flour in an iron skillet on medium heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the flour is the color of the outside of pecans (about 15 minutes). Cool and store in a jar. To use: Mix equal parts of dry roux with water or oil.

Seafood Oven Okra Gumbo

Oven Okra (this makes a lot, also none of my quantities really matched in proportion to the recipe)

3 pounds okra, sliced (ok, I grabbed one bag of the frozen stuff)

3 onions, chopped (I used one big one)

3 ribs celery, chopped (I used several ribs, why not, it’s veggies!)

3 cloves garlic, minced (only 3?, yeah right)

1 (28-ounce) can tomatoes, chopped

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

1 teaspoon K’s Cajun seasoning **see recipe below–note I sort of threw in a bit of each of those ingredients (or S&P)

Combine all ingredients in large heavy pot.

Cover and cook 2 hours in 300-degree oven, stirring twice during cooking. Uncover and cook another 20 minutes. *I didn’t feel like it needed to cook that long.

Makes enough for 2 pots of gumbo. This can be halved or doubled; freeze portions for later quick-fixin gumbo!

Next…

3-4 cups Oven Okra (I’ve always just taken all that I had)

2 quarts water

1/2 cup Dry Roux

2 pounds peeled uncooked shrimp

8-10 crabs, cleaned, halved or 1 (6-ounce) can crab meat (this time I used scallops)

1 1/2 tsp K’s Cajun Seasoning or S&P

Mix roux in 1/2 cold water. Stir into Oven Okra. Add remaining water. Bring to a boil, then add seafood; season. Cook 30 minutes. Served over hot rice. Serves 8-10.

NOTE: Add chicken stock or most any poultry, seafood or meat to Oven Okra to create your own special gumbo concoction.

It was just what I was looking for. So good, lots of flavors. Be warned…don’t taste it right from the pot or you can easily burn your tongue. And, be ready for lots of leftovers. This would be great to serve at a Super Bowl party. Enjoy!

K’s Cajun Seasoning

1 (26-oz box) salt

3 tbsp black pepper

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp Accent (optional ) — what is this?

2 tbsp dried parsley flakes

4 tbsp red pepper (cayenne)

2 tbsp chili powder

Mix all in large bowl and store for daily use.

Honey Smoked Salmon

Posted on December 26, 2014 by melsmosaic

Keep hearing these non-stop, repetitive ads for this smoked salmon. I have worked in radio marketing/advertising and will say they are quite effective. I also can’t even imagine the cost of them. Well, the exact brand that is being advertised is Honey Smoked Fish Company ‘available at (all local stores),’ mostly in Colorado. Was at Costco and had to look for it. Reasonably priced so decided to pick some up.

You have the normal lox, you have smoked salmon, but I will say, there was something about this stuff. Totally worth the ads getting stuck in my head swaying me to pick some up. Could not stop nibbling on it! Hopefully you live where it’s available and can grab some. It is available to order on their site, but much more expensive than in store.

Oh My Oyster

Posted on November 20, 2014 by melsmosaic

I kept hearing about grilled oysters in New Orleans. I might have grilled oysters once a year at Christmas when half my family eats raw oysters and then my brother is kind enough to threw a few on the BBQ for the rest of us who aren’t quite that intrigued by those raw guys. I normally put some lemon juice and Tabasco on my grilled one and it’s great. So, being in NOLA, with all this hype, I had to give them a try. I received several restaurant recommendations and ended up at a super local place – Felix’s in the French Quarter.

The guy behind the bar/counter, Magic, was awesome because I asked how they grilled them and I also asked if there was butter (mentioned I was lactose intolerant). In the funniest way, he said ‘these are the biggest waste of your time, you are not going to get the taste you need, it will be like water!’ They put parmesan cheese, sometimes butter and all sorts of other stuff on them. It was HILARIOUS what he was telling me. They pretty much refused to serve me any oyster (unless I was to go raw) because of my lactose issue. Props to them. They had fun, debating for several minutes, what I could eat at their super local place. They came up with some phenomenal grilled shrimp and their ‘amazing’ sweet potato fries.

While I was waiting for this to come out, I was intrigued watching the guys shuck the oysters. I even got an (oyster) pearl. Is this my good luck charm from NOLA? (Yes, this pic almost looks like a macadamia nut).

Then my dinner came out. WOW! I still vividly remember it. The shrimp were so juicy and I don’t really like fries that much and these things were to die for. I would totally recommend this diner-like place, beyond local, over the big names. Go Felix’s. Thanks for a great dinner!

Zuch and shrimp and peas and corn

Posted on August 4, 2014 by melsmosaic

…and SO good! Last weekend I caught up with a friend I hadn’t seen for 14 years and we both love to cook, so we had to make some good stuff. Well, I sifted through tons of recipes that I’d been wanting to make and decided on one from a recent issue of Health Magazine. It was actually pretty easy to make, but packed with flavor! So, the main dish of the night was Zucchini ‘Pasta’ with Shrimp.

Ingredients

4 large zucchini (about 2 1/2 lb.) — why weigh the stuff? that would make it right/be too easy
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound large shrimp (about 22), peeled and deveined
Salt and pepper
2 cups fresh corn kernels — I heard the freezer calling!
1 1/2 cups fresh peas — and that freezer called right back!
1/2 cup dry white wine — some people reading this blog are laughing at dry white wine. You just add water, right? I just went with the bottle that was open in the fridge, as I normally do.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter — because of my lactose issues, I used olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup torn fresh basil

Prep

1. Using a vegetable peeler, shave sides of zucchini to create ribbons (discard peel), turning zucchini once you hit seedy core.

2. In a deep, heavy 12-inch skillet, warm oil over medium-high heat. Season shrimp with salt and pepper and cook, turning often, until just pink and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

3. Add corn and peas to skillet and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Add zucchini and wine. (Don’t worry about crowding skillet; zucchini will wilt.)

Cook, tossing with tongs, until zucchini is crisp-tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Add butter (or oil) and continue tossing until all vegetables are tender, about 1 minute. Add shrimp and cook, stirring, until shrimp are warmed through, about 1 minute more.

Remove skillet from heat. Stir in lemon juice and basil, season with salt and pepper and serve.

Prior to this we enjoyed some great figs with goat cheese, prosciutto and honey.

The food was all enjoyed with some of my favorite Oregon wines — Sokol Blosser (Pinot Noir) Rose and Penner Ash Pinot Noir. Such a rough night!

Crawfish Boil

Posted on June 14, 2014 by melsmosaic

Today I was able to take advantage of a (fairly) local event and have a non-local treat of crawfish! Breaux Vineyards in Purcellville, VA had their 17th Annual Cajun Festival and Crawfish Boil on this perfect day. You get to the check-in and they give you a wine glass and beads. New Orleans?

You had several vendors to pick from from for great food. Everything from gumbo to beans and rice to of course what the event calls for.

I took no time to dig in and enjoy. Paired the crawfish with some nice red wine and enjoyed the beautiful day.

Loster Tail!

Posted on February 11, 2014 by melsmosaic

The other day I was flipping through the grocery store ad and they had lobster tail in there. For some reason that just jumped out at me. Hadn’t had lobster for awhile and it sounded so good. Did some quick thinking and determined some good food to match with it and had a delicious basic dinner of lobster tail, asparagus and home fries.

Just picked up some red and sweet potatoes and tossed them with rosemary, S&P and garlic powder. Baked them at 425 for about 40 minutes.

For the asparagus, decided to just blanch it. So put it in boiling water for 2-3 minutes then rinsed with cold water (you can be really good and dunk it in ice water, but this can be just as effective for a quick method). For the lobster tail, I boiled them for about 5 minutes and it was perfect.