Poached Tuna with Kumquats and Jalapenos

This dish takes less than 15 minutes from start to finish.  It's great for a work night. I served it with some couscous from a box.  I put it in a pot to cook before I began my prep work on the tuna and they finished at about the same time.  Don't overcook the tuna!  This batch was 2 minutes on one side, 3 on the other since my steaks were a little on the thick side.  The tangy kumquats and hot jalapenos play nicely together.  If you think the jalapenos at your grocery store might be on the more mild end, get a serrano instead, the spiciness is really important.

I have descended into full blown cooking nerd mode. (Saffron-Scented Halibut)

I spent most of high school and college avoiding chemistry.  Then I got into cooking.  My husband bought me an immersion circulator for Christmas!  I didn't know that there was a model that could hook on to an ordinary large pot instead of a giant plastic tub.  It looks more like lab equipment than a cooking tool. I've always been curious about cooking with one because I watch way too much Iron Chef America.  The Anovo immersion circulator is very easy to use.  I'm using it here with a pasta pot and some tin foil. One of the first things I wanted to try out was fish.  This is saffron-scented halibut with tomato compute and zucchini.  It was fantastic!  The zucchini was cooked through, yet still crunchy instead of mushy and gross.  The tomatoes had the right amount of softness.  The fish was perfectly cooked.  It was moist, flaky, and evenly cooked.  The saffron sauce had the right amount of zing from the oranges but it didn't overpower the flavor of the fish.  This dish did involve a good bit of prep work but total cooking time for everything was 17 minutes.

To make the meal, I attached the immersion circulator to my pasta pot, set it for 140 degrees F through its very simple touch screen interface, and covered the pot with tin foil.  The instruction manual emphasized that covering the pot is necessary and suggested tin foil if a special lid wasn't available.

I feel a bit like a mad scientist.  

Lobster Mac and Cheese

I love mac and cheese! I know it's not good for me to eat 6 pounds of cheese, but I don't care.  Lobster is awesome too.  I've tried lobster mac and cheese at several restaurants and figured it was time to make my own!  My husband doesn't love lobster as much as I do and he still enjoyed this dish.  I don't think it took very long, there is very little chopping involved.  But there is a ton of grating.  A lot of it can be done while the pasta cooks.  I would definitely make this again, but I'd probably alter the recipe to use a different cheese instead of colby jack, which I thought was too mild.  I don't want to overpower the lobster, but I want my cheese to be a little more flavorful.  This is fantastic comfort food!  The recipe says it serves two.  It was too much for my husband and I, we both had seconds and then I had some left over for lunch the next day.  It reheats well.

The finished product!

"Pesto" Crusted Mahi Mahi with Asparagus

I've become a little obsessed with coating fish with panko.  It's easy, relatively quick, and there are tons of variations!  This picture is terrible, but my camera was telling me it had .0001 seconds of battery life left and so I didn't get a chance to redo it. The crust looks burned, but it really wasn't that bad.  That said, I don't recommend the power burner for heating oil  Just sayin'.

The sauce from the asparagus goes well with the fish, too!

Success! Mushroom Crusted Rockfish with Asian Coleslaw

A local restaurant that I really love makes amazing mushroom crusted fish.  I finally decided to try to make my own without a recipe!  I worked off my basic panko crusted fish recipe, but added some shiitake mushrooms to the panko mix.  Instead of using a lemon and caper sauce, I sauteed a random shallot I had sitting around and put it on top of the fish.  I made some Asian coleslaw with miso dressing to go with it. The slaw has a tasty dressing and a second sauce would have ruined the it.  The panko mushroom mixture browned nicely and the panko stayed crunchy even with the addition of mushrooms. It was the best of both worlds, a nice shiitake flavor but still crispy.

If you have a partner who is not a fan of mushrooms, this dish might be a good way to sneak some in because the flavor isn't overwhelmingly mushroomy. ;)

The Asian coleslaw was fantastic and went really well with the fish.  The dressing was tangy but not overpowering. There also wasn't a ton of it so it didn't make the bottom of the fish too soggy.With only one tablespoon of mayo for 6-8 servings, this salad is pretty healthy!  If you make extra dressing, maybe don't put the fish on top of the slaw.  If you're making both dishes, make the coleslaw first, the fish doesn't take very long.

The Asian Coleslaw is also quite pretty. 

Panko Crusted Fish with Quick Caper and Lemon Sauce

Here's a quick fish dinner!  Searing fish with a panko crust is a pretty quick way to cook fish. The crunchy panko crust is quite tasty. I've been making a sauce with shallots, garlic, lemon, capers, wine and butter and it's really good!  I also season the flour with some salt, pepper, and garlic or shallot salt.  I buy mahi mahi, rockfish, or halibut, depending on what I can get.  This picture is of mahi mahi.  I served it with some spinach sauteed with garlic, but any green vegetable will do. I've paired breaded fish with broccoli and asparagus and sometimes I add a small salad.

Yeah, I really need to start using some smaller plates.  The fish and spinach look like they're having an armed standoff.  

Skate Wing with Lemon and Green Olives

Okay, so the original recipe called for preserved lemon.  But I don't have any, and the last time I bought a jar of preserved lemons they achieved consciousness in the back of the fridge because I rarely used them.  I could have made my own, but that was way too much forethought.  My grocery store only has skate wing intermittently; I had this recipe on standby in case it was available.  I served the skate with a side of steamed asparagus with lemon pepper and a small salad because both are simple. This dish has relatively little chopping and doesn't taste very long to make!  This dish is very doable on a work night.

Skate wing is pretty mild, so I was worried that the salty olives and sour lemon would overpower it.  It did, to an extent, but it was still very good.   It probably had something to do with the fact that I used extra olives because I love them.  If you don't want a slightly overwhelming sauce, stick to using 4 to 6 olives.

My skate wings didn't have bones in them.  Instead of cooking them for 4 minutes each side, I did 3 each side and that was plenty of time.  For thicker wings, 4 minutes each side or longer is probably necessary.  My skate wings were so thin that they were falling apart a little too much when I served them, next time I'll probably cook them for less time.

Skate Wing with Lemon and Green Olives
Slightly adapted from Arabesque
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 small skate wings (about 1 lb)
salt to taste
juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon, to taste (but at least use 1/2)
zest from 1/2 lemon
4 to 6 large green olives, pitted and chopped (I used way more, probably about 12 olives)
1 Tbsp chopped parsley or cilantro (I used parsley because that's what I had sitting around)
lemon wedges for serving

Method
1) Heat the olive oil in a nonstick pan large enough to hold the skate wings without stacking them.  Add the skate wings, sprinkle with salt, and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes over low heat.
2) Flip the skate wings over and add the lemon juice.  Cook for 3 or 4 more minutes or until the flesh starts to come away from the bones if the skate has bones.  Otherwise be careful not to let them separate too much and fall apart.
3) Add the lemon zest, olives, and herbs and heat through in the oil and juices.
4) Put the skate wings on a plate, top with olive and lemon zest mixture.  Serve with lemon wedges.

Broiled Scallops and Pasta with Smoky Red Pepper Sauce

I don't make scallops very often, but I really like them.  The handful of times I've made them, they've been sauteed.  Today, I didn't feel like sauteing them, so I decided to bread and broil them. I also wanted some pasta so I could play with an idea for a sauce. Now, both elements of this dish were separately very tasty.  But, I wouldn't serve them this way again.  It didn't occur to me until I served it, but the breading from the scallops came off a little into the pasta.  It didn't ruin the pasta, but it wasn't what I intended.  Next time, I would serve the pasta as its own dish, and place the scallops on a plate with nothing under them and some kind of side dish or salad.  Or, just put the scallops on the place and put the pasta next to them.  The sauce was thick enough that it wouldn't spread onto the scallops. 

Instead of using regular breadcrumbs, I used panko.  I added some chopped almonds, sumac, and a little Aleppo pepper.  Even though I didn't add a ton of each ingredient to the panko, they gave the scallops a nice flavor, especially the almonds, which got toasted under the broiler.  My inspiration for the breading came from Chicken with Pistachio and Sumac Breadcrumbs. I didn't have any eggs, so instead of dipping the scallops in egg, I brushed them with melted butter before rolling them in the panko.  For my pasta sauce, I used roasted red peppers, a spoonful of harissa, and some smoked paprika.  I didn't want to make a tomato sauce, and roasted bell pepper goes well with the almonds and sumac in the breading.  The red pepper sauce was quite good.  I didn't add any additional liquid, so the sauce wasn't watery, and it was a nice bright red color.  The little bit of harissa gave it a slight spiciness, and the smoked paprika added a level of complexity that I liked for a sauce with only 3 ingredients.

First Time Cooking Mussels

I love mussels! When I went to France last fall, I was a woman on a mission!  I wanted moules-frites.  There are restaurants in DC that serve them, and they're great.  But, there is nothing quite like eating my weight in moules at a cafe in Paris.  Unfortunately, Dave doesn't share my enthusiasm for the marvelous mollusk.  But, he isn't here!  I'd never cooked mussels before.  A lot of the recipes in my cookbooks called for tons of liquid and a steaming basket.  I've got a small steamer, but it only works if there's an inch or less of liquid.  So, those recipes were out of the question.  I decided to go with the most simple recipe I could find. I whipped out my Larousse and read the entry on mussels.  Not only did it have important information about How Not to Cook Mussels That are Already Dead, it had some simple recipes that didn't call for a steamer basket.

I made moules à la marinière!  It had relatively few ingredients and didn't take long to cook. 

15 minute lunch: Harissa Squid and Shredded Carrot Salad

On weekends, I don't like to cook lunch.  I don't like sandwiches very much, and there aren't a lot of "lunchy" things that take very little time that I enjoy eating.  Most of the time, Dave and I end up going out.  But, he's not here today and I can't justify going to Baja Fresh when I have stuff in the fridge that I can make.  I bought some random squid tubes at the grocery store yesterday because I wanted to see what I could do with them.  I made this lunch in about 15 minutes from start to finish, not including clean up time!

I made the shredded carrot salad because I had two lonely carrots leftover from last week.  It's loosely based on a Moroccan salad I saw in The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.  The squid is something I came up with on my own.  It turned out really well!  The harissa had just enough kick to it, without overpowering the squid.  The lemon juice added a nice tang.  I would definitely make this again because it was so quick.  Plus, it's healthy!

Grilled Tuna with Tomato Caper Sauce, Leek Salad, and Dolmas

Since the point of this blog is for me to document my learning experiences, I promised myself that I would post the dishes that weren't completely successful as well as the ones that were fabulous.  :)  The tuna tasted great, so did the sauce.  It just looked...unattractive.  The sauce didn't have any extra water added, but the tomatoes released their juices and the end result was a watery sauce.  The leeks were supposed to just be on the plate next to the tuna.  Amusingly, I saw a picture of this dish on a different blog later, and the author smartly photographed it from the side instead of from the top.  The sauce was intended to be a fancy version of the traditional Middle Eastern lemon and oil sauce.  There was a lot of oil in it, and I don't know if adding corn starch (my cheat to thicken sauce if I don't have a ton of time to reduce it) would have been appropriate.  The leek salad was quite good.  It's from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.  The recipe noted that leeks are very popular in Egypt, something I didn't know.  It was very easy to make and required very little active time. The dolmas are from Wegmans.  ;)