seafood

Rosemary Skewered Halibut

April 21, 2013 by Eva Louise 2 Comments

Recently, my mom gave me about a dozen rosemary branches from her garden. It was a lot of herb and I didn’t want it to go to waste, so I made this Rosemary Skewered Halibut. Rosemary is an intensely woody and lemony herb that I normally associate with meats, but Halibut is a pretty bland and trim fish, so the intensity of the rosemary actually worked quite nicely. The halibut can easily be substituted for chicken, red meat, lamb or tuna, and since it’s almost summer, these skewers would be happiest when cooked on the grill.

The secret to this dish is marinating the halibut for at least 1 hour beforehand in a really intense herb blend. I tossed some fresh thyme, seasoned salt, paprika, garlic, Italian seasoning, herbs de provence, an herb mix containing dried chervil, parsley and coriander (pretty much the entire spice rack) and olive oil in a medium sized glass bowl and let it hang on the counter for about 10 minutes. If you try this recipe, the marinade should be almost pasty and super intense in flavor.

While the marinade rested, I rinsed and pat dry a beautiful filet of halibut and cubed it into 1 inch chunks, added it to the marinade bowl and chilled it for 1 hour.

I then heated the oven to 475 and lined a cookie sheet with tin foil and olive oil. With an entire stalk of rosemary, I laced 3-4 cubes of halibut down the rosemary from the bottom up and laid them on the cookie sheet so no halibut cubes were touching, then baked them for about 8-10 minutes until they were golden brown (they go fast, so keep on eye on them so they don’t over cook). Note: the rosemary edges will burn at this high heat. This is fine, but just have someone ready to do the “dish towel helicopter” under the smoke detector just in case.

I served the skewers with a kale salad and mushroom polenta and I can’t wait to get my hands on more fresh rosemary so I can do this again….

Halibut Top Ramen

February 27, 2013 by Eva Louise Leave a Comment

Last week I did a post featuring a fried halibut sandwich with one of two halibut fillets we had. The fate of the second fillet is featured above– an Asian-style halibut soup with tender ramen noodles, shiitake mushrooms, leeks, baby bok choy…and about 100 herbs and spices. I really got into it and made the soup using my wok and a wooden sushi spoon as a ladle. (I’ll admit, I was even a whisker away from wearing a Hello Kitty apron…)

Like many of my recipes, the ingredients are interchangeable but the trick here is to layer them properly to get the right depth of flavor and the right consistency (ie not mushy, not too salty or bland). So below I’ve outlined, not a recipe, but conceptual steps to take to make a tasty Asian-style soup.

aromatics/sturdy vegetables and proteins + seasonings and oils + broth + noodles + delicate vegetables and fish + serve+ garnish = so awesome.

Step 1: Saute mushrooms and aromatics (onions, garlic, shallots etc.). If you’re using beef, tofu, shrimp or chicken as your protein, cook them here to get maximum flavor and color. They are sturdy enough to withstand the boiling broth.

Step 2: Season liberally with all your “Asian-style” pantry goods: soy sauce, dash of rice wine vinegar, green onion, ginger, mirin, seasame oil, lemongrass.

Step 3: Add broth: I mix 1 carton of chicken broth and 1 carton of vegetable broth. Combinations of beef, mushroom or fish stock would be equally as delicious.

Step 4: In separate pot, boil noodles only until tender. Drain and set aside. Ramen – the jerry curl of noodles – is my noodle of choice since they are easier to grip with chopsticks.

Step 5: while the noodles cook, add delicate vegetables: bok choi, spinach, leeks, zucchini and fish: haddock, cod, salmon, halibut etc. and stir gently for about 2 minutes.

Step 6: Add a generous scoop of ramen noodles into the bottom of a pretty bowl then ladle soup making sure to get all the good bits; the vegetables and protein.

Step 7: Garnish with sesame seeds, green onion, hot chili oil, whatever your heart desires.

A serious bouche-amuser: Crispy Polenta and Garlic Shrimp

December 26, 2012 by Eva Louise 2 Comments

…because everyone has a food model handy.

In order to understand the above picture, you need to understand my family around Christmas time. We’re Jewish, with a Catholic dad. This means– thankfully–we are not subjected to the Chinese Food + TBS movie on Christmas Eve cliché, but we’re not exactly celebrating Jesus’ birthday either. So, naturally, we do as any other family in a similar situation does… put on a series of elaborate Christmas dinners, where the five of us take an imaginary adventure to some other time/place in bizarre costumes and toast to each other with bad accents, acting in line with offensive and/or inaccurate stereotypes. (Some gems from years past are below).

This year, I was passed the baton and was charged with taking my family on a culinary journey on Christmas Eve. Equipped with a sous-chef (my little brother), I, Frau Lulu, countess of a small Swiss village, served my esteemed guests an elaborate four-course meal in my modest country home. First on the menu, presented above ever so elegantly by one of my guests, the internationally recognized singer-model Ze Frau Emilie, was the amuse-bouche: polenta discs with garlic shrimp, marinara sauce and goat cheese.

Serves about 14 discs, 2-3 per person

1 tube pre-cooked polenta (in the pasta aisle)
12 shrimp, raw, de-shelled and de-veined
garlic
marinara sauce, preferably homemade
goat cheese
S/P
Italian seasoning

1) slice the polenta into about 12-14 even slices. Season them each with S/P and Italian seasoning

2) heat a large skillet with olive oil to medium-high heat and saute the polenta. About 10 mins

3) While polenta cooks, heat another skillet. Mix shrimp with 2 T olive oil and 3 crushed garlic cloves in a small bowl. Season with S/P and place gently into skillet. Once the shrimp hit the pan, do not flip them for 2 minutes to ensure they get good color. Turn off heat once they are pink and seared.

4) Once the polenta are crispy, place them on a large ungreased cookie sheet. Place 1 shrimp on each polenta disc, then add 1 teaspoon of marinara. Crumble an ample amount of goat cheese on top of each disk.

5) place in the oven and broil for about 5 minutes. Watch constantly to make sure nothing burns.

6) wait about 5 minutes before transferring to a pretty plate. Serve and enjoy!

Here are some of those gems mentioned above:

Disco Christmas 2010

“Arabian Nights”…yea, this happened too. Christmas 2011

Superwoman’s Salmon, Fennel and Mushroom Pot Pie

November 26, 2012 by Eva Louise Leave a Comment

Coho Salmon, Fennel, and Mushroom Pot Pie with Truffle Cream

Ray and I woke up early, had a delicious breakfast and headed to the Metropolitan Museum to see the Warhol and Protoshop exhibits, amongst a thousand other amazing works of art. After three lovely hours of photographs, paintings, vases and tombs, I managed to do three loads of laundry at the laundromat (with Ray’s help), mend our ripped duvet, go to the grocery store, workout for an hour and then bake what I’ve been craving for weeks–a salmon pot pie, just in time for half time of the Giants game. Flaky and rich, this pot pie blew the traditional chicken-carrot-pea-celery combo straight out of the water. I call it “Superwoman’s pot pie” because I’m having one of those Sunday evenings where I can’t stop high-fiving myself because I was so awesome and productive all day.

High-fives aside, I juiced this dish up by tucking a teaspoon of truffle butter under the hood of puff pastry before serving. Since I’m amazing at following recipes (not), I used the Food Network’s here.

I tried to be cute and put pastry fish on the top, but after being in the 400 degree oven it looks like two of them got a little fresh…

Tofino Time: What’d you do with all those chanterelles?

August 17, 2012 by Eva Louise 1 Comment

After picking a heap of chanterelles the other morning, I was sort of at a loss on what to do with them (although thank you to my friends for the inspiration!). But then, two amazing things happened 1) we went for a beach hike and found mussels, (Lie. Dad yanked them off the rocks while Emily and I napped on a log); 2) we went to an amazing ocean front farm and bought fresh goat cheese. With those deliciously serendipitous run-ins, I decided on Mussels with Fennel, Tomatoes and Chanterelles in White Wine and a simple Goat Cheese and Chanterelle Tart (recipe from old post, here).

Tofino Time: Steamed Shrimp and Crab Shumai

August 13, 2012 by Eva Louise 2 Comments

Crab and Shrimp Shumai

This next week is the Tofino edition! The family and I are nestled in the balmy Pacific Northwest for a week of action-packed fun: fishing, prawning, crabbing, hiking, camping, and best of all – dinner roulette: where dinner is entirely dependent on whatever Dad catches on his 16-foot boat. Given that I’m with the fam damily this week, I’ll have some guest contributors!

Guest Contributor//Emily: There are about 1 trillion things that I adore about my sister – one of the biggest ones being that she has a true adoration and admiration for all things food. Of course, it’s always a pleasure to dine on whatever Eva “whips up”, but, since she always makes it look so fun, I thought I’d jump in. We cranked the Reggae, poured two glasses of wine and let the fun flow! Sissy and I are very similar and very different – in this case, our differences in the kitchen really do keep things smooth sailing. As her honorary sous-chef for the evening, I was keen on ensuring that she had a clean workshop to let her creativity flow. It’s really something to watch her work – a certain smell or color or texture will inspire a whole new direction, only more delicious than the previous one. I enjoy following her direction – in a life of constant unknowns, she is precise with her guidance and is mindful of being kind to a novice (like me). One of the greatest parts of this experience was capturing her creativity, documenting the magic that she really does create, and being able to celebrate it time and time again. – EJSF –

Last night, Emily and I decided to make shrimp and crab shumai because, you know, we just happened to have them fresh from Dad’s boat. For our shumai, we used my knight in shining armor – wonton papers – to make these delicious seafood dumplings, perfect as an appetizer. This is definitely an activity meal, so enlist a sous-chef before you get started and prepare these little pinwheels of delight in advance. Conversely, if this is part of the “performance” make sure guests have something to nosh on while watching the action.

Ingredients:

Fresh crab, shrimp, scallions, ginger

Shumai Filling

12 small shrimp, (can be raw or boiled)
1 cup fresh boiled crab
2 scallion, white and green chopped
1 T Fresh ginger finely chopped
Egg wash: ramekin of 1 scrambled raw egg and 1 T water

Asian-style goodness

Dipping Sauce

2 splashes Soy sauce
1 dash Rice wine vinegar
1 splash Sesame oil
Sesame seeds
1 t. Dijon mustard
1 pinch sugar
1 T fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 scallion, white and green chopped

The Gist:

The idea of the shumai filling is to have multiple textures, achieved by staging the mixing process. I was without my trusty Cuisinart for this recipe and used an old blender making it difficult to control this. We ended up simply rough chopping several ingredients by hand and mixing them in a bowl after we got the pasty base.

Shumai Filling

Make the dipping sauce first. This mixture will season the filling.
Add half the crab and shrimp and 2 T of dipping sauce to the food processor and mix until paste like.
Add the rest of the shrimp and crab and scallions and pulse.

Fake it ’til you make it…

To wrap the shumai:

Let’s be honest here – Emily and I had no idea what we were doing and had a blast taking creative license making our little dumplings. The nice thing about shumai too is that it’s actually opened on the top, so it made it easier to hide our neophyte skills. I’ve had shumai before and really like the pleating of the dumpling wrap so I attempted to replicate it. Regardless of your style, it’s important use the egg wash before pressing any two corners of the wonton paper together so they stick together.

Finally, steam the shumai, 3-5 minutes ideally in a bamboo steamer lined with cheesecloth (to keep the shumai from sticking). We didn’t have this luxury, so I poured enough water to cover 2 inches of the bottom of a large pot and fashioned a pedestal in the bottom using a trivet (so the bowl was not in direct contact with the burner) and an overturned bowl, then placed the plates of shumai directly on the raised surface one at a time. Worked out pretty well, thanks Sissy for all your help!

My oh my, shumai!

Dinner with Basil: Homemade Pesto + Caprese Salad

August 11, 2012 by Eva Louise Leave a Comment

Green Gold

Red, White and Green

Earlier this week, Ray and I had a special guest for dinner, basil! This beautiful broad-leafed herb is definitely in season with the bundles so big, I could barely tell it apart from heads of lettuce in the produce section. When I get a bouquet of basil this large, there’s really only two things I want to make, homemade pesto and a caprese salad. And that’s what I did: Seared Scallops with Pesto Rigatoni with a Caprese Salad drizzled with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. I think I’d like to have basil over dinner more often!

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For the Pesto: I never follow recipes, so in my Cuisinart I just blended pine nuts (they have pre-packaged 1/4 cup bags in the baking aisle at the store), whatever Parmesan I had in my fridge and garlic. I then added the basil leaves and the juice of one lemon. Word on the street is to keep the Cuisinart running while you add the olive oil through the top feeder until the mixture is smooth. At the last minute I added zest of 1/2 lemon and I’m pretty sure that took the pesto to a whole other level of amazing both in flavor and color. For perfect single-servings down the road, scoop any extra pesto into an ice cube tray and cover with plastic wrap making sure it’s flush with the pesto and place in freezer. For the rule followers, Ina Garten has a great recipe for pesto.

Two Coudies Archive: Fine Investment Father’s Day Rockfish

June 17, 2012 by Eva Louise 2 Comments

Daddy-Happy Father’s Day! Along with great hair, thank you for gifting me with a discerning and rather expensive palette. You’ve programmed me to thrive best when consuming fine wines and champagne, imported cheeses, charcuterie, caviar and fresh seafood. While my wallet doesn’t appreciate it, my belly definitely does.

Since it is Father’s Day I’ve pulled from the Two Coudies Archive this Father’s Day fish post. It reminds me of such a great Father-Daughters trip we took a couple of years ago, I’m happy to have a place in cyber space to remember it forever. Love you, Dad!

*************************************************************************

For Father’s Day, my sister and I took Dad to St. Michael’s, Maryland (GO THERE!) for a nautically-inclined weekend. Amidst sunset sailing, an antique boat show and a private plane ride over the Chesapeake Bay (!), we set him up with a fishing guide. Luckily for me he caught three HUGE Rockfish (called Striped Bass, where I’m from). He couldn’t take them back on the plane with him so when I returned to DC, I invited some of my girlfriends over and made a super simple Parmesan Rockfish. To celebrate summer I added a feta and watermelon salad. While we ate the meal with rice, I’ve added a recipe for some insanely rich mashed potatoes…because that’s what the rockfish would have wanted. Thanks to my girl Nicole GoodHat Aguirre of Worn Magazine for the photos.

Parmesan & Parsley Fish:

Preheat oven to 350 and begin marinating fish.

Marinade:

2 large garlic cloves crushed
2 1lb filets of rockfish (or any other white fish)
the juice of 1 lemon
splash of white wine
2 tsp salt and pepper
3 tsp olive oil
2 shakes of chili flake if you want to get KrAZy

Topping:

1/2 cup Parmesan
2 tsp finely chopped parsley

Mix fish and marinade ingredients together in gallon-size Ziploc and stick in fridge. After it’s chilled again, place in buttered glass dish large enough for filets to lay flat. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh chopped parsley.

Depending on thickness, bake for approx 13-15 minutes. The fish should flake when you pull a fork through it.

**WiLd SiDe:turn on the broiler at the end of cook time for 2 minutes to brown the top.

They will love you Forever Boursin Mashed Potatoes:

Russet, Yukon Gold or bliss potatoes
1-3 garlic cloves
3/4 small package of Boursin or Alouette herbed cheese
2 T butter
2 T sour cream
splash of milk or cream
1 egg
salt/pepper

Quarter and boil potatoes in large pot for about 30 mins. Potatoes will be ready when you can pass a fork or knife straight through with little pressure. When cooked and tender, drain and return to large pot and turn heat to low. Mash slightly with with masher or hand mixer. Incorporate all other ingredients except for egg. Continue to taste to adjust flavors and consistency to your liking. Add raw egg and blend.*

*If you have a Jewish family member in the kitchen, do this discreetly. If you get caught, deny everything.

I-Am-A-Sex-MaH-Cheen Watermelon and Feta Salad:

Vinaigrette:

1 part lemon juice
2 parts Extra Virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt/pepper
1 tsp sugar
the leaves of 4 thyme sprigs, finely chopped
5 raspberries, optional
splash of any good quality fruit juice in the frig (lemonade, limeade, raspberry juice)
1 T dijon mustard

Mix all together in blender until smooth. If it’s too sweet, add one more lemon and/or pepper. Too tart, more olive oil, then more sugar.

Place a handful of washed spring mix, arugula or spinach on a salad plate. Serve with a slice of watermelon and a feta cube, drizzle with vinaigrette.

Birthday Fish Tacos

June 5, 2012 by Eva Louise 5 Comments

This past weekend marked Mom’s __th birthday, celebrated just the way she likes, with all her chicks back in the nest on Cape Cod. Since Mom is rather difficult to shop for, I kept to what I know and made her dinner – Birthday Fish Tacos with a Carrot and Cabbage slaw, Black Bean and Hominy salad and a homemade “crema lima.” This dish is easy, inexpensive, and loaded with vibrant and flavorful raw vegetables. It’s hot and cold, crunchy and soft, spicy and mild and has ingredients that can be easily swapped out for picky or sensitive palettes. Long story short…crowd pleaser.

: Black Bean and Hominy with Cilantro and Red Onion

: Crema Lima

: Carrot and Cabbage Slaw with Crystallized Ginger

This dinner was a team effort, so after we perched Mom on the couch with some tune-age, we all (armed with plenty of wine and SoCo) took off in separate directions like oil and vinegar. The men congregated around the BBQ (despite heavy rains!) and we ladies set up shop in the kitchen to make the salads. The result was a perfectly balanced family-style meal . Check out the recipes below, which have been adjusted to feed about 4 people.

Seafood:

For my version of these tacos, I was lucky enough to have salmon, halibut and shrimp on hand, and even luckier, had Dad on hand to grill the seafood with smoky Mesquite wood chips for insanely intense flavor.

8 oz filet of fish – Halibut, Salmon preferred. Local options: Hake, Bluefish, Cod. Cheap option: Tilapia
1 lb shrimp (frozen is fine but de-shell and de-vein before grilling)
McCormicks Cajun Seasoning
Cayanne Pepper
Paprika
Juice of 2 limes
3 T Olive Oil
Salt/Pepper to taste

Slice fish into 2-3 inch filets against the grain, rinse and pat dry, put into gallon Ziplock with shrimp (fresh or frozen). Put back in frig.

For marinade: In a small bowl, mix juice of 2 limes, olive oil, 2 taps of Cayanne, 2 taps of paprika and 1/4 canister of McCormick’s Cajun (seems like a lot, but just trust me). It should be pasty but not dry. Add more oil or a splash of whatever you are drinking to thin it out, or dump in more spices if it needs a charge up. Be sure to taste it to see what the salt/pepper situation is, add S & P accordingly. It should taste really intense since it’s a marinade.

Pour mixture over fish and shrimp and shake bag around so all seafood is coated. Keep in frig and hold off on cooking until salads are done, about 30 mins. (We’re getting there.)

To BBQ: call your Dad to prepare and insanely hot and smokey grill for you. While he does this, create 2 foil boats (1 for fish, 1 for shrimp) so that the marinade doesn’t escape once you place the seafood down on grill- nothing fancy. Once BBQ is ready, set foil boat on grill rack and place just the fish filets to cook, about 4-7 mins on each side (depends on thickness of fish). Remove and add the second foil boat with shrimp and cook 2 minutes on each side. Do them separately since shrimp cook wicked fast.

If Dad is not available/Stovetop Instructions: Heat large frying on med-high. The pan is ready if you flick water into it and it spits. Don’t add oil or butter because marinade already has considerable amount. Add just the fish filets using instructions above. Once cooked, keep filets under foil or in low heat oven while you cook shrimp.

While the fish marinates…make salads

Carrot and Cabbage Slaw

1 small red cabbage, or 1/2 large cabbage (don’t buy the pre-shredded)
1 bag of pre-shredded carrots
1 box crystallized ginger (in the dried fruit/nut section)
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/4 chop cilantro, rough chopped
4 T Olive oil
Salt/Pepper

In a small bowl, wisk vingear, olive oil and salt and pepper. Taste. The rule is 1 part acid to 2 parts oil, so adjust this based on your salad size.

Slice cabbage into thin pieces to match carrots. Be sure to remove white core. Thinly chop about 12 pieces of ginger. In large bowl toss carrots, cabbage, ginger, cilantro and vinaigrette so salad is coated evenly. Place on dinner table.

Black Bean and Hominy salad:

Black Bean and Hominy with Cilantro and Red Onion

1 can black beans
1 can hominy
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1/4 c cilantro, rough chopped
3 T Olive oil
Juice of 1 lime

Drain and rinse beans and hominy (can substitute yellow corn). Toss all ingredients together. Place on dinner table.

Crema Lima

Sounds fancy, super simple.

Crema Lima

juice of 1 lime
1 canister creme fraiche or sour cream
salt

In a small bowl mix creme fraiche, lime juice and pinch a salt. Should smooth, runny and super tangy.

Serve meal buffet-style with warm corn and flour tortillas.