Tag: fish

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sushi

We’ve talked about how I have Jordan to thank for my love all foods fishy. Well, my gateway fish dish was sushi. It started innocently enough with a shrimp tempura roll, maybe some seared BBQ tuna, but soon morphed into hook me up with that chirashi, and stat. I love sushi, especially simple sushi. Vinegar rice + raw fish = perfection.

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Which brings me to my next point, it is really hard to hide bad rice (or bad fish, but we’re not going there) when your dish has just two ingredients. Sushi rice is a special thing and insanely hard to make if you don’t have a decent rice cooker. The texture is paramount and we’ve struggled for years to get it right. First we gave it a go in a pot on the stove, and then in a subpar rice cooker. There were tears.

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And then for my birthday we went to Japantown. We looked at all the cute things (!!!), took some purikura photos and spent an hour and half in the Japanese supermarket. The very best part of the day (a tough call for me because I love just about everything Japantown has to offer) was that Jordan bought me my very own Zojirushi NeuroFuzzy rice cooker. It has a little computer inside. It sings to us when it starts and finishes the rice. You can customize the hardness or softness of your rice. You can keep rice warm in the cooker for days and it still tastes pretty darn good. NeuroFuzzy is amazing and will make you perfect sushi rice. It is also a very romantic gift.

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Armed with a decent rice cooker and access to sushi-grade fish (YAY, JAPANTOWN!), we’ve been reveling in perfect chirashi. So simple and fresh and good. I am so happy. Sushi-happy, which I’m sure must be a phrase in Japanese, if only I spoke it.

Chirashi Sushi
For the sushi-su
1/4 rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups sushi rice
your favorite raw fish, sliced thinly

Make the rice according to your rice cooker’s instructions. Rice cookers know all. In a small pan over low heat, heat the rice vinegar, sugar and salt and mix until combined. Remove from the heat and let cool. Once the rice is finished cooking, transfer it to a large shallow bowl. Drizzle the sushi-su over the rice and stir the rice gently to incorporate the sushi-su and cool the rice.

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Thinly slice your fish using the sharpest knife you’ve got. Mound a small pile of rice on a plate and top with slices of fish. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.

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And lastly, if I wasn’t already obsessed with Japan (so much cute!) and Japanese cuisine, we watched this fantastic documentary that transformed the way I look at sushi. I also recently read this wonderfully funny book that made me want to travel to Tokyo and eat everything, immediately.

-Emily

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trout with creamed corn

Shall we talk some more about fish?

Butterflied trout really are a perfect fish. Tender, mild meat, no pesky bones or guts to get in your way because the fishmonger took care of that for you, affordable and sustainably harvested. Plus, for something that cooks in about 10 minutes, they still manage to look quite impressive. I’m of the mind that whole fish are always impressive. You?

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And, now that July is here and summer is in full swing, it is time for everyone to get on this creamed corn. Originally from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home, we’ve made a few tweaks so it pairs a bit better with the fish and eliminates some of TK’s meticulous technique. This creamed corn is good, really good. If you’ve only ever had creamed corn from a can, this is an entirely different world. One you want to live in. Forever.

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Now go get yourself some summer corn, a few fish and make this gorgeous dinner in 30 minutes. I’ve already done it twice. The recipe below serves four, so cut it in half if you’re cooking for two. While the corn makes good leftovers, the same can’t really be said about the trout.

Creamed Corn
4 ears fresh corn, cut off the cob
2 tablespoons butter
1 lemon, zested and juiced
3/4 cup cream
1 tiny pinch of cayenne
2 tablespoons chives, minced
salt, pepper

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Cut the corn off the cob. Scrape the cob with the back of a knife to get the rest of the corn flesh. In a heavy saute pan over medium-low heat, combine the fresh corn, butter and lemon juice. Cook the corn for 5 – 7 minutes. Season with salt.

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Add the lemon zest and cayenne. Add the cream and cook for another 10 – 12 minutes, until the cream sauce has thickened. While the corn is cooking with the cream, cook the fish. Check for seasoning,  add a little pepper and the chives. Serve fish with a bed of creamed corn underneath it.

Butterflied Trout with Lemon Butter Sauce
2 – ~1lb butterflied trout (I think half a trout per person is good, but it depends on their size)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 – 4 cloves garlic confit (if you don’t have any on hand, just skip it)
1 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper

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Season the inside and outside of the trout with salt. In a large saute pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic confit and smoosh the cloves a bit.

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When the butter and oil mixture is hot, add the trout. Put it in the pan skin side down, spread flat. Cook for 7 – 10 minutes, basting the top occasionally with the butter. Because the fish is thin, you don’t need to flip it.  This way the skin gets super crispy, but the fish doesn’t dry out. Just before serving, squeeze a lemon over the fish and add some freshly ground pepper. Serve on top of a bed of creamed corn with a salad or alternatively with roasted summer squash and potatoes anna.

trout-creamed-corn-8-Emily

 

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sole turbot with leeks, potatoes and thyme

Make this if you have dinner guests you want to impress, but you don’t want to be stressed. It turns out so pretty with surprisingly little effort and tastes delicious. Like with all of Judy Rodger’s recipes, the quality of the ingredients is really important because there are so few of them. Find the freshest fish and the richest butter you can and you won’t be disappointed.

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Sole Turbot with Leek and Potato Stew, adapted from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook
2 – 6 oz pieces of white fish 1-1/2 inches thick (we used turbot, but sea bass or black bass are also good options)
1 lb yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 1/2 cup leeks or spring onions (we used half and half)
a few sprigs of thyme
1 cup chicken stock
a splash of dry white vermouth
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
a trickle of white wine vinegar

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Season the fish lightly with salt; set aside. Preheat your broiler and place a rack about 6 inches from it.

Place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, until the potatoes are soft on the outside. Drain the potatoes well and place them in a large ovenproof saute pan. Add the leeks, thyme, chicken stock and vermouth. Set over medium heat and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add four tablespoons of butter and swirl the pan to melt the butter.

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Reduce the heat to low and add the fish fillets. Baste them with the buttery broth.

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Place the fish under the broiler and cook until the surface is lightly gratineed, about 6 minutes. The liquid should be boiling. Cook a minute or two more and remove from the oven.

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Set the fish aside in a warm place. Place the saute pan on a burner over medium heat to thicken the potato stew, about 3 minutes.  Add the butter and a little white wine vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.  Place several ladles of the hot potato and leek stew on a plate. Top with the fish fillet and serve.

sole-potatoes-leeks-5-Emily

 

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seared salmon over creamed corn

Creamed corn is a good idea, especially when summer corn is at its best and you follow a Thomas Keller recipe. That guy, he knows what’s up.  As a relevant aside, we have all three of Thomas Keller’s cookbooks, but Ad Hoc at Home is the only one we really cook from. The recipes from Bouchon and The French Laundry Cookbook are daunting, to say the least.  Ad Hoc at Home is much more accessible and every recipe we’ve made has been wonderful—homestyle cooking with serious finesse. It is becoming one of our favorite cookbooks.

Seared Salmon with Creamed Corn, adapted from Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller
2 ears of corn
1 T butter
1/4 cup cream
1 lime, zested and juiced
salt
pinch of cayenne
1 small salmon fillet
olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut the corn off the cob and scape the cob with the back of the knife to get all the juice. Zest the lime. In a medium saute pan, melt the butter. Add the corn and juice of one half of the lime. Cook the corn over low heat until the liquid evaporates, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt.  Add the cream, cayenne and lime zest. Cook another 5 – 8 minutes, until the cream thickens. Season again with salt and turn of the heat.

Season the salmon with salt and pepper. In a nonstick pan, heat some olive oil over low heat. Add the salmon, skin side down. Cook for four minutes. Flip and cook an additional two minutes. We like our salmon pretty rare so just seared for a few minutes on each side is perfect. Spoon a bed of creamed corn on the plate and top with the seared salmon fillet. A nice side salad never hurts—this one was orzo with arrugula and cherry tomatoes.

-Emily

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leek and tomato chowder with dover fillets

Remember these georgeous leeks from our CSA box?

We got around to using them this past Sunday in a delicious soup. I wanted something with leeks and tomatoes, Jordan wanted fish. This soup was our delicious compromise. It is also a really quick dish to throw together and only uses one pot, a bonus for a Sunday night.

Leek and Tomato Chower with Dover Fillets

According to Jordan, something becomes a chower when you add potatoes to it. I decided to not verify the accuracy of this statement because I like it’s simplicity. Isn’t he cute?

2-3 large leeks, sliced and rinsed of their grit
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 medium potatoes, diced 1 carrot, diced
1 quart vegetable broth
1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes
A bay leaf, chili flake, salt, peper
2 – 3 dover fillets, or other mild, flakey white fish
Lemon, for serving

Sautee the leeks in a little butter and olive oil until they are soft. Add garlic and carrots and sautee for a few more moments.

Add tomatoes, chili flake and a little salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. Add broth, bay leaf and potatoes. Cook for another 15 – 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Salt and pepper the fish fillets. Lay them on top of the simmering soup. Let them sit their quietly poaching for about 6 minutes, or until the fish is opaque. Serve with a squeeze of lemon and some fresh bread.

This soup was delicious, fresh and seasonal. I also have to say that I am pretty impressed with Jordan’s ingenuity on the fish-cooking method. It was perfectly moist, the delicate texture was preserved, it looks awesome and was super easy. Can you ask for more?

-Emily

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oven roasted fish with citrus

Tonight’s dish was inspired by a recipe in The Chronicle for a quick week-night dinner.  I prepared it as directed in the recipe last week and with my own twist this week.

Oven roasted fish with fennel and grapefruit, or with lemongrass and ginger
1 – 2 fillets of a mild, white fish (I used rockfish)
2 T fronds from a nice, fresh fennel bulb OR 1 stock lemongrass, cut into slivers
1/2 grapefruit, juiced OR 1 t fresh ginger, minced and 2 T lemon juice
2 T butter, cut into small pieces
Salt and pepper
Lemon, for serving

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Place fillets on a large piece of tin foil. Liberally salt and pepper both sides of the fillets. Lay the fennel fronds on top of the fish. Crinkle the sides of the tinfoil up a little and squeeze the grapefruit juice onto the fish. Top with the butter and close the foil package. Cook for 15 – 20 minutes, until the fish is just flaky. Be careful when opening the foil packet, the steam inside is really hot!

Serve fish with a fennel salad OR cabbage salad and a grain. We had wild rice the first night and jasmine rice the second time.

Conclusions: Tasty, seasonal, super easy and pretty healthy (although not the most photogenic). This recipe is also incredibly adaptable to different seasonings and flavors …  it may just become a weeknight favorite.

-Emily

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we don’t just eat pork and desserts

Jordan loves pork and desserts. I love desserts and pork. Still, most nights we eat reasonably healthy (those just aren’t always the most fun to blog about). Last night, we ate great! (And local! And balanced! And pretty darn healthy!) It was awesome.

The menu:

Pan-seared sturgeon – salt and pepper, sear briefly on each side, rest, add a squirt of lemon

Red rice – 2 parts rice to 3 parts water, cook covered for 25 minutes, rest for 5 minutes

Sauteed green cabbage – toast some pistachios, sauté the cabbage for 3 – 4 minutes, add a little shallot, add chicken stock, cook until evaporated 4 – 5 minutes more , stir in nuts

Green salad with pesto and cara cara oranges – wash greens (and well when you get them from your CSA box and they are full of grit), supreme oranges, top with pesto (carrot tops, pistachios, orange zest, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil all mushed together in a mortar and pestle or blender)

I would recommend all the items this menu. It was delightful and satisfying. I especially loved the pesto!

-Emily

P.S. It couldn’t be all healthy, so there’s a little lemon, brown butter sauce on the fish.  I simply browned about a tablespoon of butter, added some lemon zest and salt and spooned a little over the fish.

-Jordan

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sushi

There’s something really special about good sushi that Emily and I both enjoy.  When you’ve got perfect rice and super fresh fish, you get something so amazing that you almost forget there’s no bacon involved.  Unfortunately, maintaining an addiction to sushi can easily get out of control, and before you know it you’re deciding between paying rent and going for that extra plate of chirashi.  What does one do in such a dilemma?  Well, I’ve been making it myself about once a week since our hiatus began, and I think the results have been pretty tasty and relatively cheap.

rice:

Making perfect sushi rice is a craft that is mastered over many, many years.  Seeing as I’ve made it about half a dozen times, I’m not going to pretend that I’m doing everything right, nor am I going to pretend that I can teach those reading everything there is to know about sushi.  I will give some basics that have helped me make rice that is at least as good as a decent sushi bar.  First, you need rice specifically for sushi; this means short grain.  Short grain rice has a lot of starch, so it needs to be rinsed so it’s not too sticky.  I like to put two cups of sushi rice in a bowl, add about four cups of cold water, and run my fingers through the rice to separate all the grains so each is rinsed.  Then you run it through a sieve and repeat.  You’ll see a lot of cloudy water come off at first, but after about 4-6 times, the water becomes much clearer.  I know this seems excessive, but this is crucial to have the proper texture.  Next you let the rice drain in the sieve for about 20-30 minutes, then you throw it in a heavy sauce pan and add enough cold water to cover the rice by about 0.5 in.  Let the rice soak for 30 minutes, then heat until it boils, lower to a bare simmer and cover for 20 minutes.  Then it’s done right?  No way!  Don’t open that lid during the 20 minutes, or for 15 minutes after because the steam continues to cook the rice.  Once the rice is done cooking you cool the rice quickly by putting it into a large, non-reactive container and stir it gently with a wooden spoon.  Having a friend fan the rice helps cool it faster.  As you cool the rice, add  the sushi-zu to taste.

sushi-zu:

Sushi-zu is the seasoned rice vinegar used to give sushi rice that delicious balance of sour, sweet, and salty.  I’m sure there is some perfect balance of the ingredients, but I mix them according to my preferences.  In a small saucepan, slowly heat 0.25 cup of unseasoned rice wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 2 teaspoons of salt.  As soon as the salt and sugar dissolve it’s done and you can let it cool before adding it to the rice.

fish:

Now that you’ve got your rice under control, it’s time to get some good fish.  As long as you get fresh, quality seafood from a reputable fish monger you should be safe.  I tend to trust Whole Foods, Sun Fat Seafood, and Nijiya Market.  Nijiya Market is a pretty awesome store in Japantown; they carry really obscure ingredients as well as high quality seafood.  So far I’ve only bought salmon, ahi, and octopus and all were excellent.  I’ve also been tempted by their uni (sea urchin roe) and toro (fatty tuna), but that’s when the habit starts getting pricy.  This place is really cool and worth checking out even if you don’t buy anything.

sushi:

Fish and rice.  That’s all you really need.  If you want to get funky and make some rolls, that’s cool too; that’s just not what I like about sushi.  My favorite thing to make is chirashi (sashimi scattered over rice) as it’s really easy to make and eat.  Overall, making sushi is really fun as well as a bargain; it’s also easy to tweak what you’re doing to keep improving.  If anyone out there is even remotely interested in making their own sushi, I highly recommend it.

-Jordan

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seared sesame-crusted tuna over rice noodles

It’s been strangely hot here in San Francisco. I’m talking mid-70s, but still, it is November after all. Because it’s been warm and because both Jordan and I have vigorous commutes, we’ve been in the mood for fresh, light dinners. Last night I made seared tuna over rice noodles with a side of broccolini and mushrooms.

Seared Sesame-Crusted Tuna over Rice Noodles
1 lb rice noodles, cooked, drained and cooled.

For the noodle sauce: Whisk sliced green onion, soy sauce, siracha sauce, sweet chili sauce, rice wine vinegar, and canola oil together. This was seriously approximated – I just threw a bit of everything asian we had in the kitchen together in a bowl.

1 lb fresh tuna
3 T sesame seeds
A pinch of salt

Sprinkle tuna with salt. Coat with sesame seeds, pressing seeds into fillet.

Heat 1 T of canola oil in a sauté pan over high heat until it is just about smoking. Place fish in the pan, sear for 30 – 45 seconds. Flip, sear for another 30 seconds. Remove from pan and slice.

Look how even that sear is! I'm pretty proud.

Toss rice noodles with the sauce. Lay sliced tuna over the rice noodles. Enjoy!

Conclusions: Super easy, tasty, and fresh. The only catch: Be mindful not to murder the tuna – it really does only take 30 – 45 seconds per side. Another upside: super gourmet leftovers to take to work/school for lunch.

-Emily