So, I’ve been afraid of fish for a while. Not of the fish themselves, but of cooking them. I know it’s good for you, and I grew up with my dad cooking some really yummy fish, but I’ve not really worked up the courage to try (and possibly ruin a pricey cut of fish!) I finally tried poaching some inexpensive flounder a few weeks back, but it was so delicate that it basically came apart in the water as it cooked and turned into unintentional cioppino with floating aromatics. I fished out (ha!) most of the pieces and we had fish piles that night. Not too bad, just not super great.
Cue a few weeks later; I’d signed up for the “Something’s Fishy” class at Great News, probably the best casual cooking school and non-ripoff cookware store I know of. The class was taught by a couple of managers and chefs from Iowa Meat Farms and Siesel’s, which would be the best place I know of to get meat and occasionally seafood. (Even they admitted it was a bit weird for a meat place to do a seafood class, but it worked.)
Anyway, the other night I picked up a side of salmon (not sure what you call it) to try out. Their recipe was for plank-grilled salmon with maple-mustard glaze, which was really tasty when I had it at the class. I haven’t washed the grill in ages (I know, sacrilege, but it’s been too hot to do much outside next to a giant heat source), so I figured I’d try the recipe, but bake the salmon instead.
Here’s the salmon fresh out of the package:
The glaze is really simple — basically, you take some sweet onion (the recipe called for just a half, but I used a whole one), then sautee it to translucent, just before it starts to caramelize. (You don’t need the extra sugar in this case.) Then, add half a cup of whole-grain dijon mustard and a whole cup of maple syrup. Mix it up and bring it to a simmer; let it reduce for about 5 minutes, or more if you want it thicker. Be careful not to let it burn, since there’s a lot of sugar in there.
Brown isn’t always appetizing, but the end result is yummy.
Once the glaze is ready, let it cool down somewhat. Then brush and drizzle it all over the salmon, and put the salmon in the oven at 400 degrees. Let it go for between 10 and 20 minutes depending on the size of the piece; I added more glaze if needed at 10 minutes, and started checking it at about 15.
One of the key things about fish that I didn’t really get until now was that you can’t go off of time; you really need to check the fish and look for signs that it’s done. I started pulling back pieces of the salmon and checking to where it was touching the baking dish — after three or four times of doing that, it looked like there was only a tiny piece that was still raw-ish. This was also the point where the salmon’s fat started coming out of the piece of meat (as you can see a bit in the picture). Remembering that carryover does its thing and that it’s better to undercook fish than to overcook it, I pulled it out at this point and got a really tasty meal (and lunch and dinner the next day, too).
Here’s the final prize:
Serve it with some more of the glaze on the side.
The other things I really liked at the fish class were the bacon-wrapped margarita-glazed scallops and the steak that went with it. I have to say that I’ve been to a couple of really good steak restaurants, but none of those could match the steak at this class. It’s enough to make me want to take these guys’ beef class when it comes up next.
I don’t normally title anything ‘dragon whatever’, but in this case I’d like to make an exception. I’m getting rather tired of everyone assuming that ‘dragon whatever’ must be incredibly spicy and cause you to reach for the nearest firehose to douse the flames. Dragons have taste buds too, and appreciate subtle complementary flavors as well as the truly spicy.
So here I present my dragon scrambled eggs.
INGREDIENTS:
4 to 6 eggs, shell-pasteurized if possible (eggs will be cooked wet at lower temperature, so better be safe than sorry)
1 tablespoon (more or less) of cream cheese
Pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Butter for the frying pan
DIRECTIONS:
Crack the eggs into a bowl, and beat with a fork for 30 seconds or so. Take the dollop of cream cheese cold from the refrigerator, and add it to the bowl. Break up the cream cheese a bit with a fork, and continue beating. Add the salt, continue beating. Your goal is not to get the ingredients to mix completely; rather, the cream cheese will be in small chunks or lumps. Add the cinnamon, and beat some more. Note that it will be very difficult to get the cinnamon into the mixture — it will want to coat the bowl instead. Just do as best you can.
Heat up the frying pan low to medium hot; you want to slowly cook the eggs, more slowly than normal scrambled eggs. Add a good dollop (half to one tablespoon) of butter, and let it melt and coat the pan. Dump the egg mixture from the bowl into the pan. Stir it around slowly with a spatula or other device. Once the eggs start to set, flip chunks over so the still-raw top can cook a little bit. Once the eggs look almost set, plate them quickly; they’ll set up a bit as they get plated, and you don’t want to cook them any more!
Serves 1 to 2, depending on if you have side dishes. I usually don’t.
Ingredients
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 1 (2- to 3-lb.) top sirloin steak, cut 2 1/2 inches thick
- 4 Tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
- 4 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
- 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons seasoned pepper
- 1 cup (4 oz.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Remove excess fat from steak. In a small bowl, mix butter or margarine, oil, garlic, seasoned salt and seasoned pepper until blended. Spread on all sides of steak. Mix bread crumbs and cheese. Press into butter mixture on steak, coating steak well. Place steak in a brown paper grocery bag. Fold end over and secure with staples or paper clips. Preheat oven 375 degrees. Place bag on a rimmed baking sheet and bake 30 minutes. For medium rare steak, increase oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake 15 minutes longer, a total of 45 minutes. For medium well steak, reduce heat from 425 degrees to 375 degrees and bake 5 minutes longer before removing from oven, a total of 50 minutes. Remove steak from bag. Let stand 5 minutes before carving into thin slices. Makes 4 to 6 servings. Yummy..yummy!!!! Lots of love and hugs..Mom
These are from a friend of my dad’s. They are not to be toyed with; 2 or 3 of these will have you quite pleased with yourself; any more and you risk slipping under the table. ALSO NOTE — these are definitely not for the underaged among you.
INGREDIENTS:
2 and a half cups finely crushed vanilla wafers (Nila wafers, for example)
1 cup powdered sugar, plus extra for coating
1 cup finely chopped nuts
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup (or more; the danger comes from the full cup of brandy Gerri uses)
3 Tablespoons corn syrup
DIRECTIONS:
Mix vanilla wafers, sugar, nuts, and cocoa. Add corn syrup and brandy.
Mix well with hands or whatever’s convenient. Roll into 1 inch balls, then roll around in powdered sugar to coat.
Notes:
* 1 cup crushed graham crackers can be substituted for vanilla wafers, if desired. Never tried this variation, though.
* Balls may be rolled in granulated or superfine sugar instead of powdered sugar — Gerri prefers them rolled in granulated sugar.
* Wafers, nuts, sugar, and cocoa can be put through a grinder or food processor to make them as fine as possible.
Here’s the chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve been using lately. It’s pretty good; especially at making the gooey soft chewy cookies I like. Originally I found it here, with modifications picked up through a night of frantic googling.
INGREDIENTS:
2 and 1/4 cups pastry flour (makes cookies lighter)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (very important; we left it out as kids, not knowing how much it helps flavor)
1 cup (2 sticks or 1/2 pound) of softened butter
3/4 cup granulated (white) sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon (not teaspoon) of vanilla or other flavoring extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12 ounce package) of Toll House semi-sweet chocolate morsels (or other morsel product — they have lots.)
DIRECTIONS:
Start by combining the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl (not the main mixing bowl).
Melt the butter in another bowl, and mix together with the brown sugar till the brown sugar is as dissolved (or suspended) in the butter as it will get.
In the mixing bowl, add the granulated sugar and the extract, then pour in the melted butter and brown sugar. Let it cool somewhat so that the eggs don’t cook when you add them. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate morsels, then immerse the bowl in ice water or put it in the refrigerator to chill the dough.
Drop rounded tablespoon sized portions onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes at 375 degrees F. Note, the temperature is somewhat important — our oven is about 50 degrees cooler than what the temperature is set at, so do as Alton Brown says and get an oven thermometer.
Note that to play with this recipe even more, you can substitute things like peppermint or rum extract for the vanilla extract, or try different flavored morsels — I tried cappucino morsels once, and that wasn’t very exciting, but the mint and raspberry ones sound pretty good.
This recipe comes from Amy via Sandy.
Ingredients:
Salsa Chunkage
- 1 package (1 lb.) frozen sweet, whole kernel corn, thawed
- 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ cup chopped red onion
- 3 Italian plum tomatoes (Roma) chopped (I used 6 tomatoes)
- 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
Salsa Dressing
- 1 tablespoon kosher or regular salt
- ¾ teaspoons ground cumin
- 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice – 2 limes (I bought a bottle of 100 percent lime juice and used that. It’s in the juice section at the grocery store)
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees; in a bowl mix the corn and oill; spread mixture out on a cookie sheet; bake 18-22 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes until corn starts to brown; let cool.
Combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl or Tupperware container; shake well.
In large bowl, combine cilantro, onion, tomatoes, jalapenos, bell pepper, garlic, beans and roasted corn; mix well; add avocados and dressing just before serving; toss gently.
Serve with corn chips. You guys will chow this one down!!
