Mediterranean Whole Baked Steelhead Trout

 My family loves steelhead trout among other family favorites like tuna, Mahi-Mahi, tilapia, salmon, basa and halibut. Today, I wanted to do something different with whole fish, since I would usually prepare whole fish stuffed with cashews and green onion oil and cooked on the grill or baked. This fish would be eaten with herbs, lettuce, vermicelli wrapped in rice paper.
Straying away from this Vietnamese favorite, I wanted to incorporate flavors of the Mediterranean. What screams at me are tomatoes, olives, garlic, oregano, olive oil. mint, lemons, saffron and a great deal of other spices and ingredients. This whole trout was treated with the utmost respect of ingredients, slow baked and served with a Tomato and Zucchini Saffron Pilaf and creamy but refreshing Cucumber and Mint Salad.

 

 

All Gone!

Steelhead Trout with Mango Salsa

 I haven't cooked dinner in a very long time and today I whipped up a trout dish for the fam. I picked up a steel-head trout fillet at Costco and a box of mangoes along with some corn, bell peppers, and avocados.
In around one hour after getting home, I served up a dish full of delish; trout fillets cut into individual portions, lightly seasoned, grilled and glazed with a my favorite mesquite sauce (a raspberry chipotle mix). Served with a refreshing mango salsa and placed on top of red rice and corn and black bean medallions. Yummeh!

Mango Salsa

1 large tomato, pulped and diced
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1 tbsp sugar
1 mango, diced
handful of cilantro, chopped
1 medium avocado, chopped (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Cayenne powder to taste (optional)

Place tomatoes, peppers, red onion and sugar in a medium boil. Mix it up and let it sit for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients.

Corn and Black Bean Medallions

2 large russet potatoes, peeled, chunked, boiled and mashed
1/4 cup corn
1/4 cup black beans
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
handful of cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1/2 small red onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Sautee corn, beans, peppers, cilantro and onion until slightly browned. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour mixture into mashed potatoes and stir in bread crumbs and cheese. Form into little patties and pan fry until both sides are golden browned.

Mango Salsa without avocados because my brother does not like avocados

Mango Salsa with avocados for the rest of the family

Grilled Halibut and Lemon-Dill Quinoa

So...it has been a VERY long time since I last posted anything on my blog, so my apologies. My schedule was very busy and I never had enough time to cook. I have also been away on a trip to Victoria, BC, visiting my best friend and some pals. Since Victoria is an island on the west coast of Canada, seafood is a must in local cookery. On the day I headed back, I dropped by Fisherman's Wharf and purchased some fresh crab, halibut, and smoked tuna for the flight home. As soon as I got home, I boiled the crab and served it to my family with a salt n' pepper with lime dip, which they LOVED. Mom said that the crab was delicious and coming from someone who does not enjoy crab, that means a lot.
For the halibut, I sliced it up into three portions and marinated it in a soy and sesame mixture. I grilled the slices on a hot griddle. I cooked up some quinoa and tossed it in some lemon juice, olive oil and chopped dill.  I drizzled a sweet soy and red vinegar reduction on the dish before serving it with some local Pinot Gris from the Vancouver Islands. Yummeh! :)

 

Steelhead Trout: Baked in Exotic Herbed-Butter

Quick dinner today featuring steel-head trout baked in an aromatic butter spiked with Thai basil, coriander and mint. The fish takes 20-25 minutes to cook in a 375 C oven. Served with rice and a drizzle of coriander-lime brown butter. As for me, I had some fresh goat-cheese ravioli with fresh pasta sauce with lotssss of garlic and lotsss of basil.

Coriander-Lime Brown Butter

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tbsp fresh or dried coriander seeds
1 tsp lime zest
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Place the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook until the butter turns a golden brown color, and takes on a nutty aroma. Reduce heat and keep warm until ready to serve. When ready to serve, turn the butter up to medium heat and whisk in the lime juice. As soon as the mixture comes to a boil, add the coriander seeds and zest, turn off the heat and spoon on fish and rice.

  

Roasted Grey Mullet Congee

This weekend totally sucked, the sky has been all gloomy, cold and rainy. My mom got sick and I wasn't feeling good either so I decided to make a dish that was an absolute must for sucky days such as this: congee.
Congee is a comfort food made from simmering rice in water until a semi-thin porridge-like consistency is achieved. There are many variations of congee and my variation was a fish congee, using chunks of roasted grey mullet, ginger and scallions. I scaled and gutted a grey mullet, making sure to keep the delicious fat cushioning the fat. I placed the fish and the fat on some tin foil, scored the flesh and seasoned with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Baked the whole thing in a 450 F oven for approx. 20-25 minutes while I brought a pot of water to a boil and simmered around 3/4 to 1 cup of long-grain Jasmine rice, slightly toasted beforehand. Once the rice has broken up and the porridge becomes thick, I added my desired amount of thinly sliced fresh ginger and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper to taste. I left the pot on low heat while I went to de-bone the fish into meaty chunks. If you don't want to go through the process of de-boning an entire cooked fish, you can cook up some fillets (sole, cod, whatever you want) but I personally like to cook a whole fish cause all the juices and flavor are further enhanced. On very low heat, I added the grey mullet meat, gently stirred and added 1 tbsp of fish sauce to boost the flavor of fish in the soup. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve hot with sliced scallions for a nice hot meal on an ugly cold day.

For my own vegetarian twist, I made the same rice soup base and added around 1 cup sauteed Cremini mushrooms. I sauteed the mushrooms separately in a small skillet with some shallots and 1-2 tsp of Kikkoman soy sauce. The reason why I used Kikkoman instead of regular soy sauce is because Kikkoman is light to the palette and it does not give a sour-like after taste once added to the soup. Another alternative of Kikkoman is Maggi Seasoning Sauce. I seasoned the soup with salt and pepper and a bit of mushroom seasoning powder. (Sorry, I didn't take any pics...)

Steamed Tilapia with Black Bean Sauce

I absolutely love cooking with fish and seafood because it is very fast and easy to prepare. As bonus, this Tilapia came gutted and scaled so preparation was even easier (I made sure to rinse it in cold water and removed the coagulated  blood along bones inside the fish to remove the fishy stench, as well as the fins and part of the tail). The sauce was very easy to do, just a  few tablespoons of sweet fermented black beans, soy sauce, brown sugar, and sesame oil-all to your taste really. Before pouring the sauce on the fish, I stabbed the poor thing a couple times on each side with a small pointed knife then sparingly rubbed the fish with salt and pepper, outside and inside. I added sliced green onions and ginger into it's gill cover and it's stomach to further remove the strong fishy odor, and the remaining I placed on top. Spoon the sauce over and inside the Tilapia, shake on some ground pepper and steam over high heat for 20-22 minutes. And Voila, serve with hot rice and you are set!!

Salmon on Gold

Basically just baked salmon steaks served with warm bacon and potato salad, pan fried golden beets and creamy Philly caper sauce. It was a simple preparation for a Friday family dinner.

Valentine Salmon Dinner

So for a Valentine Family Dinner, I cooked some sockeye salmon steaks in butter and served it with some baby bok choy green things and a warm Quinoa and Kalamata Olive Salad. Very simple, very delicious and perfect for the fish lovers in my family.
I had a Tuscan Veggie Chicken Breast with Tomato and Basil Sauce.

Tempura Udon and Unagi Maki

So, for dinner today, I made Tempura Udon Soup and Unagi (Grilled Eel) Makizushi for my brother.
Udon is a thick, Japanese wheat noodle, almost equivalent to the Shanghai thick noodle. Broth for the soup was made from shiitake mushroom concentrate and seaweed broth; it was then seasoned with mirin, sugar, soy sauce and sake, along with salt and pepper. I bought new bowls to make this specific dish (mwahaha! I am such a nerd). Toppings included kamaboko (steamed fish cake; I accidently bought the white kind instead of the 'aka' or pink kind), naruto-maki, spinach, chikuwa, egg and shrimp tempura. Perfect for a cold night. (The broth was vegetarian so I added my own toppings that were non-meat/fish to it for myself).
For the side, I made Unagi Maki, which was a sushi roll filled with cucumber and sliced ginger and topped with grilled eel. Seved wtih pickled ginger and wasabi (on the new plate that matched the bowls mwahaha!). Yum yum!! My brother loved it!!

New Years Eve Dinner

Today, I prepared a seafood dinner for my family for New Years Eve. I bought ready-to-cook stuffed salmon from Costco and baked them in the oven. I made Irish Champ (coarsely mashed potatoes with scallions) and Bacon wrapped Scallops. I served all with a little dollop of creamy dill sauce.
As for myself, I bought  butternut squash ravioli from Costco and made a creamy, Bechamel sauce to go with.

Have a Happy New Year!

Stuffed Salmon with Champ, scallops and creamy dill sauce

Butternut squash ravioli with bechamel sauce

Steamed Red Snapper with Lemongrass Rice

 Red Snapper steamed in soy sauce, scallions and ginger. My mom bought this whole snapper but it was a tad too big to fit my freezer so she asked the fish monger to saw the head off. So here, I only have the body and tail part (I'm saving the head for a soup). I steamed the fish after marinating it in soy sauce, fish sauce, water, and sesame oil. I steamed the fish with scallions, ginger and lemongrass over a pot of boiling water with white wine and a few stalks of lemongrass for aroma. Rice was cooked with lemongrass stalks and lime zest. Served with Gai Lan that was stir fried in garlic and sesame oil. Garnished with scallions, cilantro and sweet n' salty, deep-fried lotus root slices. Fish was filleted before serving. Yummeh!

Body and Tail of Snapper

Dressed for the steamer

The finished steamed dish

Mahi-Mahi Fillet with Jewel Coconut Rice

Mahi-Mahi Fillet with Jewel Coconut Rice

This is a little fish dish I cooked up for dinner tonight. Mahi-mahi is a fish that I have never cooked before so it was interesting. Doing some research, I found that the fish resides in subtropical waters thus I decided to make a Hawaiian inspired dish. When thinking of Hawaii I think of pineapples, coconuts and fresh ingredients as well as bright colors. So thus, I made the pineapple puree and the rice.

I did not want to challenge the natural flavor of the fish so I only lightly seasoned the fillets with salt, pepper and a little bit fish sauce. I pan fried the fillets in olive oil and served it with Jewel Saffron-Coconut Basmati Rice and a Spicy n' Sour Pineapple Puree. Very healthy and delicious!

Mahi-Mahi Fillet with Jewel Coconut Rice

Pineapple Puree
1 can of chunked pineapples in juice
1/4 cup reserved pineapple juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp chopped chilis
2 tsp cornstarch

In a sauce pan, mix all ingredients together and cook over medium heat until pineapples produce more juice. Remove from heat, cool and pulse in a blender. Return to sauce pan and heat through, keeping warm before serving.

Rice
2 1/2 cup of brown basmati rice, rinsed and drained
1 can coconut milk
2 1/4 cups of water
1 pinch of saffron
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
5 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

In the rice cooker pot, combine all ingredients and turn switch to cook.
If you don't have a rice cooker, combine all ingredients in a pot and turn heat to medium-high. Cook for covered for 30 minutes or until rice is cooked.
Saute red and green peppers with 1 tsp salt until peppers are tender.
In a large bowl, mix around 2 cups of cooked rice with the sauted peppers. Season more according to your taste. Add in cilantro. Set aside.

Fish
4 Mahi-Mahi fish fillets
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt
4 tbsp fish sauce*
1 tbsp olive oil

Season the fillets with salt, pepper and the fish sauce (1 tbsp each fillet). Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook skin down until skin is crispy around 3-5 minutes. Flip over and cook other side for 2-3 minutes.

Serve hot with puree and rice. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro if desired.

*I used the Squid Brand which is lighter or I use the Three Crab Brand which is a bit more bold.