Swordfish is one of the fishes that I truly enjoy. Mostly, I’d say, it’s a texture thing. I like that’s it’s more firm, almost meat-like. And swordfish has a distinctive taste. In this preparation the swordfish shines through but is accented with the Greek type additions – lemon juice, fresh oregano, white wine, garlic and olive oil. We don’t have swordfish often – it’s one of the fishes that’s highest in mercury, so we definitely do NOT want to eat it with any frequency. And pregnant mothers or women who might become pregnant are advised not to eat swordfish. With that in mind, I don’t eat it but a couple of times a year.

The fish steaks were washed gently and dried. Then they were marinated for a few hours in the refrigerator (or 30 minutes at room temp). My DH grilled them about 4-6 minutes per side until they were just tender. Well, a correction -  he took them off the grill, we sat down to eat and discovered they were still quite firm and chewy. I cut my steak in half and touched my finger to the center – it was just lukewarm. Back they went on the grill – for a very short time – and then the fish flaked easily with a fork. Now, it won’t flake as easily as halibut, for instance. It’s a firmer fish to begin with – it’s more dense. Maybe that’s a better way to describe it. Anyway, the lemon juice just highlighted the fish altogether. My DH professes to not like swordfish very much. It’s not that he won’t eat it, but he says he’d never order it out. He just prefers other fish. But he admitted this was really good, and he’d have it anytime the way I made it. I have another 4 or 6 swordfish steaks in the freezer, so we’ll be having this again, for sure. In six months.

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A year ago: Bing Cherry Compote (oh, was that ever good – it’s cherry season so I should make it again)
Two years ago: Irish Cream Brownies
Three years ago: Pasta a la Puttanesca (a big family favorite)

We’re now getting some lovely frozen wild salmon fillets from Norway. The steaks are absolutely delicious. Tender, and so tasty. A salad sounded good. So I made a mayo-based Caesar dressing with some spicy heat to it. I had some lovely spring asparagus, and a perfectly ripe avocado. It was so good.

The salmon was baked on parchment paper in a 450 oven. Meanwhile, I’d made the Caesar style dressing an hour or so ahead so the flavors could meld. The asparagus was simmered over hot water in my handy-dandy asparagus steamer. The avocado was huge (thanks, Joan!) and perfectly ripe after sitting on my counter for a week! I grated some additional Parmesan on top and added some cilantro to the salad. So it wasn’t strictly speaking a traditional Caesar.

The dressing is a mayo one with all the typical Caesar ingredients. But instead of anchovies in it, I took Phillis Carey’s idea (from a Caesar dressing of hers which is my really top-favorite Caesar dressing) and used capers instead. Then I added some hot Vietnamese chili sauce to give it some zipped up heat. And I let it sit. The salad needs more dressing than you might think; just keep that in mind. But add other things to this if you’d prefer broccoli, or tomatoes, or? This was just my version with what I had on hand.

One year ago: Lemon Cake with Limoncello and Lime Mousse (oh, outstanding!)
Two years ago: Barbecued Short Ribs (my go-to recipe, always)
Three years ago: Algerian Carrots (gosh, this is a favorite in the cold side dish arena)

There was some lovely fresh, wild-caught halibut at Costco the other day. No question I’d buy some of that. The $16+ piece of fish was cut into 4 pieces and 2 went into the freezer for later. The recipe I adapted came from a 2009 issue of Gourmet. It was for mahi-mahi, but I assumed halibut would work just as well. And yes, it did. Their recipe called for a tomato side salad, and also included fresh dill in the topping. I didn’t have dill, so just used fresh mint.

This recipe is SO easy. I kid you not. Place the fish on oiled parchment (I just put it on my Silpat Non-Stick Mat), mix up a little combo of mayo, Feta cheese, lemon juice and fresh mint, slather it on top of the fish, top it with a few slices of fresh lemon and broil it. When the lemon slices reached the degree of brown you see above, the fish wasn’t quite cooked through, so I covered the fish lightly with a piece of foil, turned off the broiler and left the pan in the hot oven for another 3-4 minutes. Perfection.

No need to make tartar sauce or prepare anything else to go on the fish. The mayo/Feta mixture not only moistened the fish, but it’s a perfect addition to each bite of fish. We didn’t eat the lemon slices, but you probably could if you like it! I’ll be making this again and again.

A year ago: Jackalope Ranch (a restaurant in Indio, CA)
Two years ago: Broccoli with Mayo Mustard
Three years ago: Mock Caesar Dressing (one of my old standbys)

Seems like I’ve been pressed for time at dinnertime for several evenings lately. The other night was no exception. We’d just returned from a 3-day trip to No. California and arrived home at 5:30 pm. After unpacking the car I quickly looked in the freezer and spotted some frozen filet of sole. Submerged in cold water, the plastic-sealed pouches defrosted in about 30 minutes. I grabbed a recipe I’d clipped out of Cooking Light ages ago and re-designed it to what I had on hand.

The Asian dressing ingredients were no problem (lemon juice, soy sauce, agave nectar, fresh ginger and a tiny, tiny jot of sesame oil). I cooked up a bit of bacon and shallots. They were set aside to drain while I sautéed the fish. Then I tossed together the salad (Romaine, arugula, radishes, green onions, cherry tomatoes) – but no dressing on it, you see. The salad was placed on a plate, the fillet placed on top of that, the dressing drizzled over the top of the fish, and the bacon-shallot mixture sprinkled on top. Done. Took less than 30 minutes beginning to end. It was a complete meal. A low-calorie meal at that. Even with the bacon, it has just 9 grams of fat. If you’d like a more “dressed” salad, make double the amount of dressing and toss half of it on the salad, the other half on the fish.

The dish was really good. The dressing was very light, but it did drip down onto the salad eventually once we started eating the fish, so it was sufficient, really. All-in-all, it was good, and yes, I’d make it again. Maybe even with salmon filets next time.

One year ago: Chocolate Cake (a mayonnaise cake)
Two years ago: About Citrus Rosemary Gray Salt
Three years ago: Garlic VIP Dressing

A couple of nights ago when I made this, I’d been working on our income taxes all day long. I mean all – day – long. We needed to eat dinner in a big fat hurry because it was Ash Wednesday and we were singing in the choir at services that night, with a 6:20 call time. Whew. At 5:10 I entered the kitchen.  Five minutes were used up finding a recipe. I started prep at 5:15 and I had dinner ON the table by 5:35 and we were out the door at 5:55. So, does that tell you that this recipe is FAST and EASY?

The second part is that the taste was sensational. I mean, absolutely fabulous. I think I’m going to create a new category here on my blog for EASY. Not that I have all that many recipes that would qualify, since normally I don’t mind spending time chopping, dicing, mixing, etc. The marinade came from a Steven Raichlen  recipe. He’s the barbecue king, multi-cookbook author and has his own TV series, Primal Grill which will show again sometime this year. This recipe, though, came from Food and Wine, in June of ‘07. Other than the marinade, I altered all the rest of the recipe. I had no time to make a vegetable, or a carb, but I did have the makings of a salad. His recipe called for grilling the steaks. I didn’t have time to heat the barbecue. His recipe called for marinating the salmon. Oops, no time for that either except for the 5 minutes or so I took gathering and chopping all the salad ingredients. But I thought, what the heck, at least the marinade will provide some flavor. And indeed it did!

So if you’d like to grill the dish Raichlen’s way, just click over to the Food and Wine version. In the headnotes to the recipe Steven said each year he works on “one embarrassingly simple recipe, but incredibly versatile.” This was the one from ‘07. It will become a regular on my menu. AND, it would be a great company meal. Really! I had some beautiful Norwegian wild salmon (from that same home delivery meat company). And oh yes, indeed, the salmon was so flavorful. Meaty. And the sauce, although it’s a marinade, I added in at the end of cooking and it became a drizzle on the salad too. Serve the salmon with a non-tannic Pinot Noir, if you’re serving wine. If you work at it, you might be able to beat my time of start-to-finish dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes. That even beats Rachel Ray’s timing!

A year ago:  Chocolate Sponge Roll (decadent chocolate and whipped cream)
Two years ago: Almond Bar Cookies

My DH requested some fish for dinner the other night. We had some in our freezer, some we’d purchased recently from a home-delivery meat company. I’m usually skeptical about frozen fish, always preferring to buy fresh, but this fish looked so good and everything else we’ve had from this company has been exceptionally good (premium price, too, of course). We were not disappointed.

I needed to prepare the sole in some special way, so I looked through oodles of recipes before deciding to try a Julia Child French method. From her book From Julia Child’s Kitchen. What I will tell you first off is that this requires more than a moderate amount of food prep – more than usual – and I don’t usually shirk from kitchen detail. It also dirties a whole bunch of dishes. And I decided to get everything in place first (that’s called mis en place) since I could tell by reading the recipe that everything kind of comes together at the end and I needed to be ready, not off at the chopping board mincing something. So here’s what I did:

On the left is the ALMOND FLAVORING/SAUCE: clockwise from the left at 8:00, minced shallots, butter, almond meal, flake salt, ground white pepper and fresh lemon. On the right the FINISHING SAUCE from 8:00, minced shallot, all-purpose flour, heavy cream, fish stock, white wine, butter, toasted sliced almonds, and minced parsley.

So, you get my drift – there’s a bit of food prep here. I should have added more lemon juice over on the right combination, too. I suggest you get out the dish you want to use, have the waxed paper buttered and sized to fit the pan, have the oven preheated (and your second oven – if you have one – heated at 200 to keep the fish and serving plates warm later on), and get all of the above ready. AND, I’ll also suggest you have all the rest of your dinner ready to go too, as you’ll have no time to do that once the fish comes out of the oven. I asked Dave to help me at the end because our vegetable needed reheating in the microwave (cauliflower prepared like mashed potatoes that I had made half an hour before), and I had an avocado ready to slice for our salad. He did those things while I whisked, stirred, poured, thinned and garnished.

So, how was it? Fabulous. Dave mmmm-d all through dinner. A good sign. I savored every bite, but then with all the butter in it, how could it not be good? (Actually, I have reduced the amount of butter in this recipe because the sauce could not hold the amount called for.) The only thing I’d change is to pulse the almonds myself next time, rather than use almond meal. I think the almond meal is too finely ground for this. Once I made the finishing sauce it was too thick. I really didn’t want to add more cream (it already had enough fat in the sauce already – so I added  bit more lemon juice). But in the big picture, it didn’t matter – it was good even if it was too thick! Will I make it again? I might. Perhaps not for guests only because it’s such concentrated cooking at the end. I think it’s hard to make this kind of dish for guests when you need to be on top of everything at the last minute.

A year ago: About Penzey’s, the herb store (also online)
Two years ago: Crunchy Shrimp on Couscous with Sauce (a real winner, a favorite)

Can you see those luscious pink-edged, big shrimp curled in the middle of this dish? I should have done a bit more primping and fussing with the food, moving rice kernels over, positioning the cashews and the cilantro, moving the long strand of caramelized onion to be more visible for the photos. But I didn’t. It was hot and ready to be whisked to the table before the food got cold.

The credit for this recipe goes to my friend, Kunda S., a native of India. Among other accomplishments, she’s also a PhD microbiologist that I met in one of my art classes some years ago. We’ve become friends, sharing lunches occasionally. Kunda and her husband Sunat (he’s a PhD physicist) came over for dinner recently, to share some travel information with friends of ours who are venturing to India and Bhutan in January and welcomed any helpful hints about travel in northern India. We had a wonderful evening with them.

It was earlier this year I was at Kunda’s house and she gave me a little container of this rice dish she’d made. Knowing how much I enjoy cooking (and that we enjoy Indian food) she thought I should taste this dish. Oh yes! She also gave me a little bit of her garam masala, from her mother’s prized recipe. Kunda’s sister (who lives in India) makes it from their local spices, and each time Kunda visits home, she brings a new stash of garam masala.

So how was it? It was scrumptious. Kunda gave me the recipe, but she was hesitant for me to post it without trying it myself. So I finally got around to it the other night. I made enough to feed an army, so we had a couple of nights of leftovers too. Every bit as good as the first time around.

As Kunda explained to me, in the Indian culture, they take their rice very seriously. If you’ve ever been to a market with plenty of Indian products, you’ll notice lots of different rice types and brands. Most of them basmati, but from different areas. Some more expensive than others. And this dish, combined with an onion-coconut paste that you make, a marinade for the shrimp, soaked basmati rice and coconut milk. Oh my. Absolutely wonderful. My DH said “this is stupendous.” His words. It contains garam masala and turmeric, similar ingredients to the Bal’s No-Butter Chicken I made a couple of weeks ago. But this dish is altogether different.

This recipe does have several steps to its preparation. I managed to make it all in one pot, by removing the different sections as I made them, like the onion-coconut mixture. Same with the shrimp and onions later, also removed to another bowl to set aside. Finally I made the rice and at the end you combine everything so the flavors of the individual parts are still there without becoming a homogenous blend. The rice is rinsed 3 times, then left to soak in warm water for awhile (I did that while I made the other two parts of the recipe). So when you finally begin cooking the rice, it doesn’t take all that long – less time than usual if you were to start out with dry, unrinsed rice.

The dish also requires raw cashews. I’m sure I could find them, but didn’t have them on hand, so I used roasted cashews, and rinsed off the salt. I also didn’t have a fresh coconut, but I did have unsweetened grated dry coconut in the freezer, so used that instead. The coconut is browned, so it should have been very similar. Don’t, however, use sweetened flaked coconut in this – it would make it way too sweet. If you’re absolutely desperate, though, wash the sweetened coconut type. This is not a sweet dish, except for the natural sweetness from the coconut milk.

Similar to an Indian curry, you can serve this with condiments. I didn’t have the ingredients to make them (a coconut raita, chopped peanuts, minced cucumbers and more jalapeno), for one, didn’t want to make a trip to the market, so we made do without. But, I was perfectly content with the dish as is with just cashews and fresh cilantro on top. So, thanks Kunda, for this great recipe. I’ll be making it again. Maybe even for guests. It’s not all that hot, just mildly so. Kunda makes hers much hotter than the recipe below – she adds more cayenne. And if you want to make your own garam masala, click here for the recipe I posted recently.

A year ago: Unstuffed Sweet & Sour Cabbage (stay tuned, I made this again, and will be posting it)
Two years ago: Ina Garten’s Lemon Cake

This sort of looks like a sirloin steak, doesn’t it? Nope. It’s a huge, thick, tender, fresh halibut steak that was just falling apart. Good kind of falling apart. Full of flavor. I forgot to put some more green onions on top for garnish. They’re in the sauce, but hardly visible in the photo.

This recipe came via our daughter-in-law Karen’s mother, Barbara. She got it from a cookbook:  Elena’s Favorite Foods: California Style by Elena Zelayeta. Barbara served this one night when we were all together for a dinner. So, I asked her for the recipe! And when I tell you this is EASY, please believe me. It’s truly easy and comes together in less than 10 minutes. I served it with pan-sautéed zucchini and a veggie-laden green salad.

So what’s in the amber sauce? Nothing but soy sauce, sherry, lemon juice (I used lime) and green onions. How cinchy is that? The halibut is dipped in seasoned flour (seasoned only with pepper since the soy sauce provides plenty of sodium) and pan fried in a little oil. After browning both sides the sauce is added and you steam it until it’s just done. I removed the center bone afterwards, which is why it began to fall apart. Our steak was large enough for two people, so I probably should have cut it in half before cooking. Once cooked the bone didn’t cut apart with any ease. So, whack that steak in half first. Our neighborhood Costco had these fresh Alaskan halibut steaks for $6.99/lb.

A year ago: Thai Pumpkin Shrimp Soup (oh, that was so delish – I need to make that one again)

You can count on one hand the number of recipes on this blog using canned tuna. And I don’t know about you, but mostly I use canned tuna for sandwiches, or salad, but not much else. The other day I ran across a recipe from w-a-a-ay long ago. Back to the 1950’s when my best friend Linda C. and I used to spend hours and hours every day together. We were young teens then, too young for boyfriends. So we played Parcheesi, and Monopoly, and watched Linda’s older sister get ready for dates. Linda’s mother would fix lunch for us sometimes, and occasionally I’d spend the night at her house too, and usually I was invited for dinner, or Sunday breakfast. Or both.

The Sunday breakfast was almost always waffles and homemade sausage gravy that was served on top of the waffles. Linda’s dad was the Sunday breakfast cook, and he was really proud of his waffle spread. Brings back lots of nostalgic memories thinking about that. Linda’s mother, Van, was a good cook. I have one other recipe of hers – a Lamb Curry, with about 21 condiments. It’s been years since I made that. Linda’s parents used to entertain with some regularity and the 21 curry was a favorite. Sometimes Linda and I would help in the kitchen mincing and chopping.

But one of their family favorites was this tuna dish. And I used to fix it every so often, although I’d lost track of the recipe until I found it in MY mother’s recipe box a few weeks ago. As you can imagine, it’s an inexpensive meal, what with just a can of tuna and some English muffins. The other things usually were readily available too. This does contain the ubiquitous cream of mushroom soup, which I keep in my pantry – you just never know when you’re going to need it. Like I did the other night when we returned home from a weekend away. We weren’t overly hungry, so as I stood in the pantry I spotted the tuna. Aha moment.

This recipe is WAY EASY. Probably takes about 10 minutes to make if you’re slow. Toast the English muffins (I used some seeded baguette thick slices that I toasted in the oven) and the tuna comes together in about 7-8 minutes, I’d say. Van’s original recipe didn’t call for peas, but somewhere along the line I added them, and have continued to use them. Her recipe also called for a huge amount of sliced black olives. They aren’t my favorite thing, so I reduce the quantity a lot and add Kalamata instead, but you can use whatever you want to. The fresh lemon juice is key – it gives the sauce a nice tang, although it really isn’t noticeable. So this recipe is a salute to my friend Linda, and her Mom, Van.

A year ago: Soup Season

Surely over the years I’d read about shrimp and grits, but for whatever reason, it never appealed to me much. Or let’s say it didn’t appeal enough to make it; nor had I ever ordered it on the rare occasions when it might have been on a menu. But looking at what I had in the refrigerator to serve alongside some shrimp for dinner the other night, I decided I’d adapt an internet recipe from Bobby Flay. Not only was it easy, but it was downright delicious. Fabulous, actually. We both sat in contented silence relishing each bite. Until the two bowls were slicked clean.

So what exactly was it that made it so good? Well, there’s no question the butter, milk and grated sharp Cheddar cheese helped the grits (aka polenta) along the path to outstanding flavor. That served as the bed for the quickly-made shrimp with bacon, lemon juice, garlic, Italian parsley and green onions. There’s really not much else to it. I made creamy grits/polenta (using half milk, half water), and I added more lemon juice and parsley than Flay’s recipe. Actually I used fat-free half and half for the milk, but 2% milk is just fine.

I also made some sautéed Swiss chard too, thanks to Karen, our daughter-in-law who shared bounty from her garden and her sister’s veggie patch. To serve, I scooped the grits into the bottom of a wide deep bowl (a pasta bowl), then placed the shrimp on one side and the Swiss chard on the other. You can’t quite see the chard in the background of the picture, but that dark unfocused blob is it.

It helps to get all the ingredients ready before you begin – or at least while the polenta is simmering, gather up everything else since once you start cooking the shrimp it’s quick. I needed to add some water to keep the polenta creamy during the last 8 or so minutes of the 20 minutes of cooking time. The Swiss chard takes but a few minutes – we like it with some texture still remaining, so cooking it for only 4-5 minutes is max. I’ve included that recipe below – it’s ever so simple.

A year ago: Baked Eggs with chorizo & cannellini beans
Two years ago: Chicken with Lemon and Garlic Crust