Steelhead fillet

Steelheads are a type of sea-run rainbow trout native to the Pacific Northwest. The flesh is very similar to salmon; pinkish-orange, with the same sort of flake, though not as meaty as salmon.

I got a half-pound fillet, skin on, and baked it. Once I got it home, I patted it dry with paper towels, and laid it in a casserole dish with a little olive oil on the bottom. I sprinkled a little salt and pepper over the top, and baked it at 350 for about 20 minutes, until it was glistening. I squeezed a little Meyer lemon over the top and that was it.

If you wanted to get really decadent, you could melt just a little butter over the top immediately before serving.

Pecan-crusted fish

2 lbs fish fillets (grouper, swordfish, catfish or tilapia all work well)
Blackening seasoning (BBQ dry rub also works well)
2 cups flour
1/3 cup ground pecans
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
Canola oil

Pat the fish dry. Stir together flour and nuts in a shallow dish. Season the fish with salt, pepper, and seasoning mix to taste. In a separate dish, whisk together the eggs and milk. Dredge the fish in the egg mixture, then the flour mixture. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat; when hot, add the canola oil. Fry the fish in batches until golden-brown on both sides. Don't overcrowd the pan. Drain on paper towels and serve.

Seafood pasta

I discovered another perk to working in the restaurant on Sundays (in addition to the free leftover food, which I'll write about in a minute).

I usually work doubles on Sundays, brunch plus dinner. For brunch, they bring in a selection of newspapers for people to peruse, including the New York Times and the Boston Globe. They throw away the inserts, so I helped myself to the coupons and the sales flyers.

Between the coupons and some judicious shopping at CVS, making full use of the ExtraBucks program, I scored $120 worth of stuff for $45. So you can bet I'll be snagging the coupons from now on.

(Disclaimer: I don't usually shop with coupons, because generally coupons are for over-processed name-brand crap food; the kind of stuff I don't buy. But, if you can combine a coupon with a store sale, and/or some other sort of store promotion, like Double Coupon Day or CVS' ExtraBucks, you can walk away with some amazing deals. So I'll start using coupons and watching sales for things I'll buy anyway, like shampoo and toothpaste. Don't worry, I still won't buy frozen pizza or Lucky Charms, even if I can get it for free.)

The other good part of working Sundays, as I've mentioned, is that they throw away all the unused food on Sunday nights, and I'm welcome to help myself to any of it. This week was an especially good haul. I got three large pieces of Tasmanian sea trout, a container full of cooked mussels and whelks, a container of squid ink anchoiade, some scallions, some lemon juice, and some ramp puree.

So I whipped together a seafood pasta, using all of those things.

I cooked some penne and caramelized an onion. To the onion I added a little of the squid ink anchoiade and some of the pasta cooking water. To that I threw in the mussels and whelks, then the pasta. When everything was mixed together, I added the Tasmanian sea trout, cut into large pieces. Then I turned the heat off, added chopped parsley and scallions, and waited until the sea trout was just warmed through.

Then I ate it. It was awesome. Free food never tasted so good.

Tasmanian sea trout

As the restaurant was emptying the kitchen on Sunday night after work, I managed to score three very nice pieces of Tasmanian sea trout. (I love free leftovers!)

Tasmanian sea trout is similar to salmon--it has that same orangey-pink color, and the same sort of texture and flake. However, the flavor is much creamier and more intense than salmon.

I did nothing more than gently sear one side in a little butter and olive oil; just enough to warm the entire thing up a bit. Slice, bit of salt, done. A wonderful mid-afternoon treat. If you find some, I highly recommend buying it; it's much tastier than salmon.

Dill risotto, with smoked salmon

My salmon toasts kick from last week is almost done--I'm just about out of salmon. This leaves me with most of a bunch of fresh dill, just a little smoked salmon, and most of a container of sour cream. The sour cream I'll use in a sour cream coffee cake--the dill was more problematic, as it's such a pungent herb, and doesn't have universal applications like parsley.

So I made dill risotto, and topped it with smoked salmon.

Follow the standard risotto recipe (without the butternut squash and chard, of course); at the end, add a bunch of chopped dill and a big scoop of sour cream. (Adding parmesan cheese at this point is strictly optional.) Salt and pepper to taste.

Smoked salmon toasts

When I go grocery shopping, I tend to do it big. I used to do it once every three months; now that budgeting isn't quite as tight, I do it about once a month (sometimes once every six weeks). Because I have a long list, I'm not tempted to buy frivolous impulse things. That said, I like to treat myself to one special thing each time. Sometimes it's a fancy cheese; sometimes it's exotic fruit; sometimes a pork roast or lamb chops.

This time I got smoked salmon.

I've been having smoked salmon cravings lately (I don't know why). So I made sure I also had the appropriate smoked salmon fixin's: sour cream, fresh dill, crusty bread, and capers.

If you have smoked salmon, or really any kind of smoked fish, that's the best way to eat it. A piece of crusty baguette, a slice of smoked salmon, a smear of sour cream, a piece of fresh dill, and a couple of capers. In that order. 10 or 12 of those makes a fine lunch.

Kampachi

Kampachi is the greatest fish you've never heard of.

It's not easy to find, and most of what's in the market is sold directly to restaurants. So if you can't find it in the stores, look for it on menus. It's rich, succulent, almost buttery, and makes the tastiest sashimi ever. It's grown ("grown") by Kona Blue Water Farms in Hawaii; it's a Hawaiian yellowtail that's sustainably raised in open ocean water. Not only is that good for the environment, it means the fish are high in omega-3s with no detectable mercury.

I got a small piece on Sunday night, courtesy of my restaurant. They use it for sashimi, but as the piece sat in my car for an hour on the way home, I figured I shouldn't risk it. I cooked it instead.

By "cooked," I mean I got it warm on both sides. I got some olive oil and butter hot in a skillet, and dropped the piece of kampachi in just long enough to sear it.

It tasted rich, dense, and sweet. Definitely one of the tastiest fish I've ever eaten.

If you can find some, snap it up.

Monkfish

Monkfish is also known as "poor man's lobster." Thick, meaty, not nearly as flaky as other white fish, and sweet. And I came into possession of two choice fillets--how, you ask? Why, because I couldn't stand to see them thrown away.

In the restaurant world, a lot of perfectly good food gets thrown out at the end of the night, and it hurts my soul to see it happen. A lot of that is because of health codes, but a lot of it (in my opinion) is perfectly preventable. Then again, I don't work in the sort of restaurant that's likely to serve bread pudding from stale bread and fish soup from scraps. Nevertheless, it still hurts my soul.

On Sunday night, a whole container of monkfish and kampachi fillets was saved from its trash fate, and last night, I cooked everything up.

Monkfish should be cooked all the way through, but just. I got a cast-iron skillet good and hot, melted some butter and olive oil, added some minced parsley, and seared the monkfish until it was cooked all the way through. That's it. Took three minutes, tops.

I served them with some peas and buttered rolls.

The kampachi was even better--more on that tomorrow.

Whole baked tilapia with potatoes, fennel, and sausage

The centerpiece of Saturday's dinner party was whole baked tilapia with potatoes, fennel, and two kinds of sausage. One whole fish per person, plus wine. Not including the wine, here's what I spent:

One package of 8 frozen whole tilapia at Sam's Club: $12.78
One bulb of fennel: $2.34
Several potatoes, from a 10-lb bag (cost of 10 lbs: $3 at Aldi): 50 cents?
One package of alligator sausage, the last from our New Orleans trip: $4.99
One package of andouille sausage: $3.99
One 2-lb block of feta at Sam's Club, for the appetizer: $8.79, and I used half, so let's say 4.79
Part of a jar of roasted red peppers: maybe 50 cents
One duck breast, for duck proscuitto, for appetizer: $4.79
Ingredients for dried apricot and pistachio ice cream, for dessert: less than $5, including cream

For a grand total of $39.68. Less than $40, to feed 8 people. Awesome.

Now, on to the fish recipe:

I used this recipe from Saveur as a starting point. I substituted tilapia for the red snapper, and used the same amount of stuff (potatoes, fennel, sausage), only for 8 fish instead of one. I lined two roasting pans with foil, laid four tilapia in each one, and scattered potatoes, fennel, uncooked sausage, and a few lemon slices for good measure around each pan. I threw in a couple of cans of canned clams, with juice, instead of the whole clams. Generous sprinkling of salt, and a drizzle of dry vermouth (since I didn't have any white wine). I roasted for 45 minutes (since there were 8 fish instead of 1).


1 large bulb fennel

Kosher salt, to taste
1 lb.  potatoes, in chunks
7 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb. fresh linguiça or kielbasa, cut into 1⁄4"-thick slices (I added another 1 lb of alligator sausage)8 cleaned whole tilapia2 lemons, sliced 1⁄2 cup white wine or dry vermouth
2 cans of clams, with juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until half-cooked and drain.  Heat oven to 475˚.  Line a baking sheet  (or two) with an 18" x 24" sheet of heavy-duty foil. Transfer fish to foil. Stuff cavities of fish with fennel fronds. Roughly slice fennel bulb, and arrange fennel, potatoes, sausages, and clams around fish; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with wine. Put an 18" x 24" piece of foil over top. Crimp edges together to form a packet. 

Roast for 35–40 minutes. Cut into foil; carefully pull back edges.  Serve.

Thai whole baked tilapia

When confronted with the choice to buy either fillets or whole fish, I usually go for the whole fish. A) it's cheaper, B) you can use the scraps to make stock, and C) any meat cooked on the bone will be more flavorful, fish included. Fillets by comparison are far more expensive by pound, and dry out so much faster.

So I picked up some whole tilapia the other day, and decided to do something Thai-ish.

First I thawed two fish, and sliced three vents into the side of each. Then I made a marinade:

1 tablespoon Sriracha
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice

Line a baking sheet with a big piece of aluminum foil, and lay the fish on that, cut side up. I poured half the marinade over the fish, and pulled the foil up to make a sealed tent over the fish. (Don't let the foil touch the top if possible.)

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until the flesh inside the vents is opaque. Remove from the oven, open the foil, and pour the rest of the marinade over the fish.

Broil for another 5 - 8 minutes, or until the top part is blackened. Serve with fresh cilantro and lemon or lime wedges.

To eat, remove the top layer of skin, and grab the head and pull. The head, spine and tail will all come off in one piece. Eat or remove the top layer of fish, down to the layer of bones in the middle. Remove the bones, and eat or remove the bottom layer of fish from the skin. Use the skin and bones to make a fish stock to use in seafood soups.

Seared tuna steak

Seafood at home, of any sort, is a rare treat for me. I don't usually purchase a lot, because in order to get fresh, good seafood, you have to pay for it, and the freshest, best stuff is the most expensive. Tuna especially--also because tuna is rapidly on its way to becoming endangered, and I feel a little guilty about eating it. So take comfort; I got this tuna only because there was a really excellent sale, and it had been months (possibly years) since the last time I'd consumed fresh tuna.

So, with that in mind, I seared the tuna steaks on my indoor grill. No trick to it--fresh tuna, hot grill, seared only long enough to brown both sides. The inside stayed wonderfully raw. I then sliced it, drizzled some good salt over it, and ate it.

That's the beauty of fresh seafood--if it's high-quality enough to eat raw, then save yourself the cooking and just eat it raw! If it's not high-quality enough to eat raw, then why are you eating it in the first place?

Baked whole flounder with tomatoes and capers

I apologize profusely for not getting a picture of this. During last weekend's dinner party, between all the people, all the wine, and all the prep work, I completely forgot to get out my camera.

But this, the second course, was delicious. The flounder were whole, with the heads, tails and gills removed, so that all you had to do was peel back the skin and separate the cooked flounder from the bone. Served with the tomato-caper dressing, below, and a nice chenin blanc-viognier. The dressing was perfect--just enough to dress up the taste of the fish, but not overwhelm it.

From New York Magazine:

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons

1 cup Italian parsley leaves, washed and dried
½ cup onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed and chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, finely minced
½ pint grape tomatoes, sliced
2–3 pound whole flounder, skin on, cleaned and gutted with head removed
Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing: In a small saucepan, combine the olive oil, parsley, onion, lemon juice, capers, garlic, and tomatoes and place over low heat until warm, about 2–3 minutes. Allow the mixture to steep for a few minutes before serving.

Fish: Preheat oven to 425. Rinse the gutted fish and pat dry. Brush both sides with two tablespoons of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover a roasting pan with baker’s parchment paper to prevent sticking, and place the fish light skin side down in the pan. Place in oven and roast until the flesh turns white and pulls away from the bones, about 18–20 minutes. Serve with dressing.

Baked redfish with Meyer lemon slices

These are the redfish I got from my fish CSA, which I gutted and decapitated myself. To bake, I simply rinsed them off, and laid them on a bed of roughly chopped onions and celery. (One onion, about four stalks of celery, in an 8 x 14 Pyrex casserole dish.) I sprinkled a little Old Bay seasoning on the fish, and covered each with Meyer lemon slices. Bake at 400 around 35-40 minutes.

I served them with spoon bread and a green salad. A great healthy winter meal!

Salt-baked whole fish with Meyer lemons

This is a great way to cook fish, and looks really pretty for a dinner party or something. Caveat: make it for people who don't care about the final presentation, as it's tricky to pull off clean fillets. For me, anyway. When the fish was done, I ended up with a plate full of fish pieces. Which, fine, they taste just as good, but clearly I'm going to need some practice in table-side fish dissection.

The fish doesn't taste salty at all--the salt forms a crust on the outside of the fish, locking in moisture. The fish turns out really tasty and juicy, and the salt crust cracks right off when it's done.

Take a whole fish, any kind, head, tail and skin still on. Rinse and pat dry.

Line a big roasting pan with kosher salt (you'll need a couple of pounds of kosher salt, total) and a couple bay leaves, like so:

Then lay the fish in there.

(This is a haddock, btw.)

Quarter a Meyer lemon, and stuff the inside cavity with the quarters.

Isn't that cute?

Then pour more salt over the fish, like so:

Bake at 400 for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the fish. This one was pretty big, probably at least 2.5 or 3 pounds.

When it's done, it'll look like this:

...which is pretty much exactly the same. Crack off the salt, peel back the top layer of fish, and remove to a plate. Grab the tail and pull toward the head--the tail, skeleton and head will all come off at once. Drop that into the trash can. This is what it looks like after that:

Then remove the bottom layer of fish to a plate.

There. Done. Juicy, fresh, whole fish with a minimum of effort. Squeeze more lemon juice over, and enjoy.

How to clean and gut whole fish

(Note: this is not about how to fillet fish. I still haven't figured that out yet.)

But it is a basic tutorial in how to clean and gut whole fish, for the purposes of cooking them whole. Which I prefer anyway, because when you cook whole fish, you can remove almost the entire skeletal system in one fell swoop. Bones separate from cooked flesh much easier than raw flesh.

Anyway, so when you get a bunch of big beautiful redfish in your fish CSA like I did (above), here's what to do with them:

1. Wash the fish.

2. It's up to you whether you want to scale it (remove the scales)--I haven't been.

3. Using your super-awesome heavy-duty Shun kitchen scissors, snip off all the fins.

4. Cut the fish open along the belly, from the tail to just under the head.

5. Scoop out all the guts. You may want to wear gloves for this part. Sometimes things are more firmly attached than you would like, and you may have to snip out bits with your scissors.

6. Make sure to also get the parts that attach to the mouth (the esophagus, or whatever that's called in fish).

7. Throw all that stuff away. Rinse out the inside of the fish.

8. Now the fish is ready for baking or roasting or whatever. But if you want to remove the head, you can do so now with the heavy-duty kitchen scissors--just start cutting it off right below the fins, all the way around.

If you do that, you'll end up with something that looks like this:

If you cut the tail off and skinned them (above), you could manage eight fillets out of that.

9. But I froze the bottom half of the fish like they were, and popped the heads in a stockpot full of water (and other frozen fish detritus, bones, heads, etc., leftover from the last fish CSA) and made fish stock from it all.

I'll be making some variety of seafood stew soon with all that stock.

Fish CSA: Haddock

The second offering from my fish CSA was two big whole haddock. Fortunately they were already gutted.

One is still in my freezer. The other I stuffed with a lemon and roasted whole. Here's what you do:

Snip off the fins with a good pair of scissors, and place the fish on a bed of foil in a dish big enough to hold it. Preheat the oven to 400.

Squeeze a lemon over the fish, and then stuff the halves inside the belly cavity. If you like, add a good 1/2 cup or so of white wine over all.

Sprinkle with good salt.

Fold the foil over the fish, making a tent, and bake for 45 minutes or so.

Remove the foil bed to a platter, and with a good knife, flip the top half of the body of the fish over, revealing the spine. Grab the tail and pull the whole skeleton toward the head. The whole thing should come off all at once, leaving you with the fish's head, spine and tail (which you can drop right into a stockpot, to make stock with) and two big fillets of fish meat. There may still be some small bones in the fillets, but that's the beauty of cooking fish whole--the deboning/filleting process takes approximately two seconds after it's been cooked.

I served with green beans and sweet potato fries.

Whole broiled trout wrapped in bacon

It's been a while since we've had fish, so while shopping I picked up two small whole trout. They were already gutted and scaled, so fixing them couldn't have been easier. I wrapped each one in four slices of wild boar bacon and placed under the broiler for about four minutes on each side. You could probably get away with three minutes on each side.

That's it. I took them out, squeezed a lemon wedge over them, and served them with wild rice and sauteed broccoli rabe.