Salmon en Croute

Salmon en Croute

Well at least my version of en Croute; i looked at all the recipes and thought i can put my spin on this.

Ingredients

2 8 to inch fillets of Salmon

Puff pastry dough, pre made, much easier

1 6 to 8oz package of cream cheese at room temp

1 pint of mushrooms of choice, diced

1 1/2 teaspoons whole grain Dijon mustard

1 egg, mixed with a bit of water 

Olive oil

Bunches of the following fresh herbs, diced

Chives

Italian Parsley

Dill

Thyme

Tarragon

2 teaspoons Lemon Zest

4 cloves of Garlic, diced

1/4 teaspoon Turmeric

1/4 teaspoon ground Chipotle Chili pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground Ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground Seeds of Paradise

Salt to taste

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

Clean Salmon and set aside.

Place mushrooms and Olive oil in skillet and brown the mushrooms. Right before you are to remove from heat add whole grain mustard and toss. Set aside

Roll out pastry dough on parchment line cookie sheet

In a bowl place the following: Cream cheese, fresh herbs, garlic, lemon zest and spices.  Mix well.

Place one of the Salmon fillets on pastry, to one side.

Next spread half the cream cheese mixture on top of fillet.

Place the other Salmon Fillet on top, spread the balance of the cream cheese mixture, followed by the mushrooms.

Fold pastry over the top, roll up and crimp edges to close.  I have been told i need to work on by presentation with my pastries.  I am working on it, i am concerned with the taste first.

Place in oven and back for 25 minutes, remove brush with egg wash and return to the oven for another 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.  

Remove, let rest for 5 to 10 minutes, then slice and serve. 

Serve with Cucumber and Tomato Dill salad.

Enjoy Cooking.

Tuna Fish Salad Sandwich

This mourning a received an interesting request for a Tuna Fish Salad Sandwich recipe.  At first I was like "Hmm?" but then I though why not, so here is my take on it.

Ingredients

1 medium Onion, diced

1 medium Bell Pepper, diced

1 hand full of fresh Italian Parsley, chopped

1 spring of fresh Oregano, diced

3 7oz cans of solid light Tuna in Olive Oil, drained

1/2 cup Olive Oil Mayo

3 tablespoons of Dijon Mustard

1 tablespoon of Balsamic Vinegar

1 teaspoon ground Cumin

1 teaspoon Smoked Mild Paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground Turmeric

Pinch of ground Ancho Chile Pepper

Elder wood Smoked Salt and Pepper to taste

Dice Bell Pepper and Onion

Add it to the a bowl with the mustard, vinegar, herbs and spices: toss to coat

Next add the Tuna to the mixture and combine

I love the above brand of Tuna, which you can get at Costco, but any Tuna will be fine

Now add the mayo and stir to combine.  The mixture will have a red tone to it do to the Paprika

Serve on a nice Artisan Bread.

Note: Most of my "Sandwich Salads" start the same way: Onions, Peppers, Dijon, Vinegars and Spices that are list above, so play around and add different proteins instead of the Tuna, 

Enjoy Cooking 

Earthy Fish Stew

Here is another of my soups I have been working on over the past few weeks. It is really warming on a nice cold night and it is not too heavy, Enjoy.

Earthy Fish Stew

Ingredients

4 cups low salt Veggie stock
2 red onions, diced
2 red peppers, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 cup of diced carrots
2 cans tomatoes, diced, 15 to 16oz cans
1 can chickpeas, drained, 16oz can
1/4 cup dried cherries, diced
1 1/2 lbs shrimp, peeled and cleaned
3 catfish fillets, cut into 2 inch slices
1/4 cup fresh parsley
2 table spoons olive oil
1 green chili sliced into rings, seeds removed
salt to taste

Now for the spices - I used this spice mixture i made up for my Moroccan BBQ chicken: so you are going to make allot and only use about 2 tablespoons for this dish but its is great on meats too.

2 teaspoons of cardamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons mace
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Mix well in a jar and then pull out 2 tablespoons for this dish and save the rest.

Directions

In a deep soup pot place 1 of the diced onions along with 1 tablespoon of oil, saute until soft over medium high heat. Now add the cherries and saute for an additional 2 minutes. Remove from the pot.

In the same pot add the remaining onion a long with the carrots, celery, peppers and the remaining oil. Saute until soft. Now add the tomatoes, stock, the 2 tablespoons of the spice mixture and the chickpeas, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Now add the catfish and simmer for 5 minutes. Next add the shrimp, stir, cover and turn off the heat. Let stand covered for 5 to 7 minutes, until shrimps are cooked through and tender. Noe add parsley, stir and serve. Garnish with the green chili rings.

Enjoy Cooking

BBQ Peach Salmon

Sorry its been awhile since i last posted a recipe. I have been playing around over the last few weeks and most oft he recipes still need more testing, but here is a simple that everyone has loved.

BBQ Peach Salmon

Ingredients

1 cedar plank - soaked for at least 3 hours
2 to 3 lb piece of Salmon - i usually get one that fits the cedar plank
1 large peach, cored
2 table spoons Dijon mustard
3 table spoon horseradish
3 table spoons fresh dill, diced of course
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Place the peach in the food processor and pulse to chop. Next add the mustard, horseradish, dill, salt and pepper and pulse until almost a puree. Remove from food processor, place in a bowl and chill for at least 2 hours.

Start the grill.

Place the salmon on the plank and top the fish with the peach sauce and let sit at room temp while the grill is heating.

Once grill is ready, place plank/fish on grill and cook to desired done-ness.

Remove and serve.

Real simple - I have also spiced the sauce up a bit with a desired chili or two.

Enjoy Cooking

Po'boy Sandwich

I received a request for this sandwich i served last summer at the cabin. It is really simple.

Po'boy Sandwich

Ingredients

4 catfish fillets
1 baguette, sliced into 4 sandwich servings
fresh baby salad greens
sliced tomatoes of choice
Fresh pickles slices (see my pickle recipe)
My Goat cheese tartar sauce

1 cup of unbleached flour

veggie oil

2 table spoon onion powder
2 table spoon garlic powder
2 table spoon dried oregano
2 table spoon dried thyme
2 table spoon dried basil
1 table spoon of paprika
1 table spoon of ground yellow mustard
1 table spoon of ground cinnamon
1 table spoon of ground celery seeds
1 table spoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 teaspoon ground pink pepper
salt to taste

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Take all the dried spice and place in air tight container and shake to mix.

Clean and dry fish, place flour in a shallow dish and sprinkle some the mixed spices, about 1/3 of it and whisk ti mix. Dredge fish in flour and set aside.

Fill skillet with a half an inch of oil, bring oil to a shimmer over high heat. Next sprinkle fish with more of the spice before frying. Fry fish about 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Place on rack on a cookie sheet and place done fish in the oven to keep warm. When you are on your last fillet of fish place sliced baguette into oven to warm.

Once all fish is done start to assemble the sandwich. Spread goat cheese tartar sauce on both sides of the bread, next layer the baby greens and sliced pickles, followed by the fish, top of with more tartar sauce and tomatoes slices and then the bread.

Serve with a cold white wine or an ale.

You can also BBQ these sandwich, you will need to either BBQ fish on tin foil or on a fish board on the grill. To toast the bread spread with olive oil first on the bread and rub it with garlic then place on the grill.

Enjoy cooking

Mango Ceviche

Here is another ceviche i make often, it is really simple

Mango Ceviche

Ingredients

4 red snapper fillets, cut into cubes
3/4 cup lime juice
1 teaspoon fresh oregano, diced
1 teaspoon salt

1 mango diced
1/2 of fresh orange juice
2 table spoons of garlic vinegar
1 jalapeno diced
1/2 cup water

1/2 cup of diced jicama
1 red onion diced
1/4 cup cilantro diced stems removed
1/4 diced green onions
2 teaspoons of fresh mint diced
1 lime juiced

Directions

In a large glass bowl place the lime juice, salt and oregano and stir, next place the fish in the bowl and toss to coat. Set aside for at least an hour.

In a blender place the 1/2 the mango, orange juice, vinegar, water and jalapeno and blend until smooth. Pour sauce into another glass bowl. Now add the remain ingredients into the bowl and toss to coat. Now drain the fish from the lime juice and add to the bowl with the other ingredients and toss. Let is sit for about 20 minutes before serving. Right before serving I add the remain mango.

I plate in small bowls that i line with cilantro and garnish with long slice green onions.

Enjoy cooking

Ceviche

This is also a dish i will be serving at our next dinner party along with the eggplant souffle.

Ceviche

Ingredients

3/4 lb of fresh halibut
3/4 lb of fresh wild salmon
1/2 of fresh bay scallops
1 red onion quartered and thinly sliced
3/4 cup of thinly sliced and seeded cucumber
1/2 cup of diced avocado
1/2 cup seeded and diced tomatoes
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro, stems removed
2 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/4 cup of fresh lime juice, zest the limes prior to juicing
2 table spoons of fresh grapefruit juice, pink or red of course
1 teaspoon of pineapple vinegar
2 teaspoons of the lime zest
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of raw honey

Directions

Cut up the fish and scallops into bite sizes pieces and place into a plastic bowl or Tupperware. Next add the onion and jalapeno in to the bowl. In a glass bowl mix together the lime and grapefruit juices, vinegar, salt, honey, zest and cilantro. Pour mixture over the fish and toss to coat, cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes but no more than hour or the fish become chewy.

Five minutes before serving add the balance of the ingredients and toss to coat and let stand for 5 minute then serve.

I plate these up in small bowls lined with cilantro leaves and i garnish with thin sliced lime and grapefruit wedges.

Enjoy cooking

Blue Tortilla Fish Cakes

I got requests for more cookies: I will post more cookies soon.

Now for fish, i love fish and i try to serve it allot but i need to come up with new ways to serve it so i do not hear complaints from Michael. I wanted to make a fish cake one night, and i got started preparing them when I realized, to late to stop of course, that i had no bread crumbs left in the house, then i saw the Blue Tortilla chips and figured why not.

Blue Tortilla Fish Cakes

Ingredients

Cake
1 cup of crushed blue tortilla chips
1 red onion, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped but this time we want the stems, half the leaves are for the sauce and the balance is for the garnish
olive oil
1 jalapeno, diced
about a pound and half of fish of choice, I use either Cod or Catfish
1 large egg
salt and pepper to taste

Sauce
4 oz of goat cheese
3 teaspoon of diced garlic
1 table spoon Worcestershire sauce
4 table spoons Diced Gherkins
2 Shallots diced
4 table spoons olive oil mayo
1 lime, zest and juiced
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Sriracha hot chili sauce, find in the at the Chinese Market

Garnish
1 lime sliced

Directions

cakes
Prehaet oven to 350 Degrees.
Place 1 table spoon of oil into a large skillet over medium high heat, now add the onions, cilantro stems (about 2 table spoons diced) and jalapeno. Saute until soft then remove from pan and set aside.
In the food processor place the fish, egg, salt and pepper to taste. Pulse a few times to combine but not to puree the fish. Next add the onion mixture and pulse a few more time. You want a lumpy texture, not to big but not to small. Remove from food processor and form into patties. Place blue tortilla crumbs into a plate and dredge cakes in the blue crumbs, coat well on each side.
Do a quick wipe out of skillet, add about a table spoon of oil to skillet over medium high heat, place enough cakes in the skillet, but do not crowd. Brown the cakes on each side, do not worry about cooking through, you just want a golden brown color on each side. Place cooked cakes on a wire rack that is on top of a cookie sheet and then cook the remaining cakes, adding more oil to the pan. Once all done, place in oven and cook for about 10 to 12 minutes, until cooked through.

While fish cakes are in the oven, place all the remain ingredients into the food processor and pulse until smooth.

Plate up cakes, spoon sauce over cakes and garnish with limes slices and cilantro.

Enjoy Cooking

Fish Tacos

Micheal's sister make a very good fish taco but i think these come very close.


Fish Taco

Ingredients

4 fillets of white fish, i use cat fish
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground mustard
salt and pepper to taste
2 limes, zest and juiced
3 table spoons olive oil mayo
2 cup shredded red cabbage
1 cup shredded jack cheese
corn tortillas
Salsa - see recipes posted earlier
Safflower oil

Directions

Warm oven, cover a baking sheet with a wire rack.
Cut fish in one inch wide strips and salt and pepper to taste.
in a shallow dish mix together the panko, flour, dried spices and lime zest.
In another shallow dish whisk together the mayo and lime juice.
Soak each side of fish in the mayo mixture; next dreg fish in the breading mixture so that fish in completely coated. Let fish rest a few minutes prior to frying.
Place a large skillet over high heat. Fill the skillet with about 1/8 inch of oil. Once oil is nice and hot place a few pieces of fish in at a time. Fry for about a minute or two on each side. Transfer to the wire rack and place in the oven to keep warm while you fry the rest of the fish. Also place the tortillas in a damp towel in the warm oven at the start of the cooking process. I place about six tortillas per towel.
Once all cooked, place on a serving platter. Place the cabbage, cheese and salsa in serving bowls, do not forget the warm tortillas; this way each person can make their own tacos. Or you can make the up and place in a Taco serving rack on the table.

I also make a quick mayo to also serve with the tacos, you need;

4 table spoons of mayo
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1 jalapeno minced
2 table spoons of minced red onion
2 table spoon lime zest

Whisked together all ingredients and chill for about an hour before serving with the Fish Tacos.