Asian Fish Marinade

Last weekend Alex created the best tasting fish marinade I think I've ever had.  I'm totally not exaggerating.  It was really just a spur of the moment thing and since we were just making a quick fish meal, I didn't even take a picture! I wasn't expecting to blog about this simple dinner but it turned out to be so fantastic I just have to share it.

This marinade is soy sauce based and would work great on most white fishes.  We were having rockfish the other night because it happened to be on sale at Whole Foods.  As I've mentioned before, we love buying our meat and fish at Whole Foods- but you can't always spring for the $25 per/lb sea bass, you know?  I think tilapia or mahi mahi (two other inexpensive fishes) would also work out great as would cod, or that amazing sea bass.

The fish cooked up super quick in a hot pan with a little of the marinade and we just removed the fish and sauteed up a little bok choy in that same pan.  Bok choy cooks in just minutes so it was ready to go way before the fish got cold.   A 20 minute dinner, if that.  But SO delicious.  And healthy even!

Asian Fish Marinade- by Mr. Pears
(for approx 1 lb of fish)
4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Mix the (3!) ingredients together in a small glass bowl or in a small saucepan.  You can either microwave the bowl for about a minute, or bring it to a boil in the pan.  Allow it to cool before pouring it into a zip-lock type bag with your fish.  Let it marinate in the refrigerator for about an hour before cooking.

Cook fish in a hot pan with a little of the marinade.  (Cook time will vary- but for a one inch thick piece, cook for about 4 to 5 minutes on one side then 2 to 3 minutes longer after you flip.)

And sorry again about the lack of picture.  I just wasn't expecting to blog about my quickie rockfish/bok choy dinner! Maybe I should have taken a picture of my practically licked clean plate.  :P

Fish and Chips

Despite the fact that I have in the past said there was no way I was ever buying a deep fryer; we bought a deep fryer last week. (This one to be exact) I didn't want a deep fryer because I know how we are.  With a new toy we are likely to fry anything we can get our hands on for the next month.  I know I saw Alex eyeing the brownies last night. But alas, a sale flyer for Kohl's came along with a coupon and off to the store we went.  And somehow we found room in the cabinets.  And somehow we have NOT fried any brownies...yet.

Instead we made fish and chips and they were delicious!!  Beer-battered flaky cod and crispy french fries.  It was great.  We used a beer-batter recipe from The Neely's and adapted some of Gina's spicy tartar sauce too.  The fries we made mostly using the instructions on the machine.  I won't say it was the quickest dinner ever, but it was fun hanging out around the fryer in the kitchen drinking a beer or two with the hubby and watching some of our back logged Hell's Kitchen episodes.  (It's a pretty exciting life we lead, no?)  The machine made frying less dangerous (have I ever mentioned the time Alex splashed hot oil in my eye?) and the clean-up was just about non-existent. So without further ado, fish and chips.  Hope you enjoy them.

Beer-Battered Fish and Chips, adapted from The Neely's
Canola Oil for frying
3 large russet potatoes, cut into 1 inch wedges
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/3 c. cornstarch
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne powder
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. baking powder
freshly ground black pepper
8 oz beer
4 (4 oz) cod fillets
For the Tartar Sauce
1/2 c. mayonnaise
3 Tbsp. chopped spicy pickles
2 tsp hot sauce
salt and pepper

Ok.  Kind of a lot of moving parts here.  First up, make your tartar sauce.  Combine all your ingredients in a small bowl and put in the refrigerator. Next, cut the potatoes and put them in a pot of cold water to keep them from turning brown while you are getting everything else ready.  We actually cut ours up earlier in the day (nap time!) to cut down on the prep time later.  Now turn on your fryer or heat your oil in a heavy pan on the stove to 325 F. While it is heating up, get your beer-battering station ready.  Put 1 cup of flour in a pie plate and then whisk the other cup of flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, and baking powder with the beer in a medium bowl.  Drain your potatoes and dump them on a baking tray, use some paper towels to blot away any excess water. Start frying your potatoes in batches (just two in our fryer!) for about 6 minutes or until cooked through.  Once done set them aside on your baking tray and turn up the heat to get your oil to 375 F.  When the oil is ready coat your fish fillets first in the flour, then dip them into the beer-batter to coat them.  Put two fillets into your fryer and cook for just 2-3 minutes.  Repeat with the remaining two fillets.  Now back to the fries!  To get them nice and crispy and golden brown put them back into the fryer (with the oil still at 375 F) for about 2-3 minutes more. Season with salt.

This was seriously good stuff, and not at all greasy.  Alex and I were super impressed with how great it all came out. I'm glad we got the darn machine after all.  Truth be told, I was tired of that little clip-on thermometer falling into the pot all the time. :)

Herb Crusted Snapper

So who loves Gordon Ramsay?  Alex does. I think he has a man crush.  But seriously Gordon Ramsay gets much love from this house. I think Gordon Ramsay has become almost more famous to the general population for dropping as many F bombs in a sentence as humanly possible on Hell's Kitchen or for his (slightly) kinder, more gentler side on MasterChef (love that show!) than for his food.  And that's too bad because his food is amazing!  Rumor has it he is opening a restaurant here in Vegas soon and we can't wait.  But for now, we'll just stick to his cookbooks and one pretty awesome app for the trusty iPad.

We own two Ramsay cookbooks: Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy and Gordon Ramsay's Maze.  The first is easy to cook from.  The second is like following a maze.  Imagine that.  His app, though, called Cook With Me is super cool.  Every recipe has a short video showing him cooking the recipe from start to finish, along with a flip through presentation with step by step pictures and instructions.  He even includes little tips like how to chop an onion super fast.  These recipes are mostly pretty easy to do, especially with the included instructions, and we've yet to find one we didn't like.

Herb Crusted Snapper is adapted from Ramsay's recipe for Herb Crusted Fillets of Brill with Tomato Salsa, found on the Cook With Me app.

2 large fillets of Red Snapper

olive oil

1/4 packaged bread crumbs (or about 2-3 slices of stale bread made into crumbs)

3 oz Parmesan cheese, grated

1 small bunch of parsley

6 oz cherry tomatoes, halved

2 shallots, sliced thin

1 small bunch of basil

salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 F.  Season the fish with salt and pepper and then place it in a hot oiled pan and saute for about 1 minute on each side.  The fish should be golden brown.  Place it on a baking sheet and set aside. Add about 1 Tbsp of olive oil to the empty pan.  Heat the oil and then add your tomatoes and shallots. Season with salt and pepper.  Chiffonade the basil.  (Fancy word for chop, follow the link for instructions!) Add that to your tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Now add your bread or crumbs, parmesan and parsley to your food processor and pulse to finely grind them together.  Add a bit of salt and pepper.  Now spoon some of the tomato mixture over your fish portions and then sprinkle them liberally with the breadcrumbs.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  When they come out, plate the fish and drizzle them with a little bit of olive oil.  

This is a great mild fish to try with kids. The twins' favorite fish so far I think.  It was so easy to flake this into finger friendly pieces and so nice to sit down and enjoy dinner without making a second "kid" meal.  Hope you like it!

Fish for the Whole Family

Yesterday the twins had fish for the first time!  It's actually kind of strange that it took us this long to feed them fish because we tend to eat a lot of it around the Four Pears household.  I think these salmon cakes, though, were a great way to introduce such a healthy and yummy new food.  They are very mild flavored, mixed with a lot of potatoes and fresh dill.  Alex and I had our cakes with a spicy vinegar coleslaw to kind of turn up the flavor but the kids really dug into theirs a long with some fresh cantaloupe.  A great meal for all!  (Even the cats, who finally got some love.)

Salmon-and-Potato Cakes  adapted from this recipe at Food & Wine.

2 Tbsp Canola Oil
1 1/2 lbs. baking potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp. salt
1 onion, diced
1 lb. skinless salmon fillets
1 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 c. water
1/4 c. heavy cream
2 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped

Heat 1 Tbsp. of oil on medium in a large and deep frying pan.  Put in the potatoes and season with the salt.  Add onions to pan.  Lay salmon fillets over the vegetables and then pour in the water around the fillets.  Bring to boil, then lower to simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes or until the salmon and potatoes are cooked.  Remove the salmon to a small bowl and use a fork to flake the fish.  Drain the potatoes in a colander and them put in a large bowl.  Add the cream and mash lightly leaving the potatoes still rather chunky.  Stir in dill and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add the salmon to the potatoes and mix to combine.  Form 8 patties.  Heat remaining Tbsp of oil in your frying pan and heat the cakes through again, about 3 minutes per side

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This is another great finger food and I was happy to have four patties left over to freeze for another day.  One large patty was a good size for the two of them to split...although they finished every bit of it!