Seafood | I Can Cook That

Kara-Age Popcorn Shrimp

One of the best parts of starting this blog is that I get to make food outside my comfort zone. I try to make new and different recipes to expand cooking repertoire. As a member of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a box of Kikkoman Kara-Age Soy-Ginger Seasoned Coating Mix. Kara-Age (pronounced KAH-rah AH-geh) is a method used in Japan in which meat is coated in a soy sauce, garlic and ginger, dipped in flour, and fried. Although Kara-Age is typically used for chicken, I decided to try to make a “Kara-Age Popcorn Shrimp”.

Ingredients:
1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp (medium or small)
1 package Kikkoman Kara-Age Mix
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon chopped mint
Juice from 1/2 a lemon

Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Depending on the size of your saute pan, you may need more or less oil- you want about 1/4 inch of vegetable oil in the pan. Heat the oil to 350 degrees.

Pour the package of Kikkoman Kara-Age Mix into a plastic bag. Add the shrimp to the bag, seal the bag, and shake well to coat each piece of shrimp evenly.

Remove shrimp from the bag and discard the remaining mix.

Pan-fry 6-8 shrimp at a time in the hot oil for about 2 minutes per side, or until shrimp is cooked.

Remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel.

Repeat with remaining shrimp. Squeeze lemon juice over the cooked shrimp and sprinkle with chopped cilantro and mint. Serve hot.

I tend to think all fried things taste the same. Well, Kikkoman just proved me wrong. The soy-ginger flavor still shines through the crispy fried coating and delivers awesome flavor. The cilantro-mint-lemon topping adds even more flavor to the dish without competing with the seasoning.

This can be served as an appetizer, or as a meal. I love how quick this was, probably 10 minutes in total to prepare and make. Very little effort for a whole lot of flavor!

To make this recipe healthier, instead of frying the shrimp, broil them on a sheet coated in olive oil. Spray the shrimp with cooking spray before broiling.

Oven-Roasted Halibut with Quinoa and Warm Tomato Vinaigrette

I’m still working through my tomatoes (no complaints here), and I am trying to experiment with different ways to use the tomatoes. I found this recipe for Oven-Roasted Sea Bass with Couscous and Warm Tomato Vinaigrette and used it as a base. I substituted halibut for the sea bass (Chilean sea bass is severely overfished, often illegally, and also has a high content of mercury. Try to buy Pacific halibut because Atlantic halibut is also overfished). I also used quinoa, which was already in my pantry, instead of couscous.

Ingredients:
1 scallion (green onion)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
2 (6-ounce) halibut fillets
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
4 (1/4-inch-thick) slices lemon, halved

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cut scallion into 3-inch pieces, and those pieces into thin strips (see photo below).

Prepare your garlic, tomatoes, and lemons.

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until garlic begins to brown.

Add the tomato and scallions and reduce heat to medium, cooking for 1 minute.

Remove from heat; stir in 2 tablespoons lemon juice, vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Keep warm.

Combine 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and chicken broth in a medium saute pan and bring to a boil. Gradually stir in quinoa and chopped chives and cook for 15 minutes on low. heat Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes.

Fluff with a fork. Cover and keep warm.

Season fish with salt and pepper. Place fillets on a baking dish coated with cooking spray. Place 4 halved lemon slices on each fillet.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve over quinoa, and top with vinaigrette. Garnish with more chives, if desired.

These ingredients worked SO well together. The tomatoes added a slight sweetness to the vinaigrette, which brightened up the entire dish. The quinoa added a nice earthy flavor.

Be sure to top the halibut with a lot of the tomato vinaigrette. I actually went back for more for my serving.

Lobster Corn Creme Brulee

One of my favorite shows on the Food Network is 5 Ingredient Fix. I love that all the recipes include 5 ingredients or fewer (plus salt and pepper, they are considered “freebies”) and I find the tips that host Claire Robinson shares to be so so useful.

I was watching an episode of 5 Ingredient Fix a few weekends ago, where she was making a Lobster Corn Creme Brulee. It looked so delicious (and easy!) that I promised myself I’d try it out the next time my CSA share came with corn. I didn’t have to wait long!

Ingredients:

3 cobs fresh corn
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
1/2 pound lobster meat, diced (tail and/or claw)
2 ounces finely grated Parmesan

Broiled Salmon with Roasted Tomato Sauce

How I love August. Not for the heat or the never ending rain (not-so-fun fact: August is already the wettest August ever recorded in Philadelphia, what joy) but because it is tomato season! Fresh tomatoes are one of my favorite ingredients and I wait all year to enjoy about 6 weeks of perfectly ripe tomatoes. I realized I hadn’t posted a recipe using salmon recently so I went in search of a recipe that would combine both salmon and tomatoes (I honestly wasn’t even sure if that was a possibility). Naturally, Cooking Light once again saved the day with their recipe for Broiled Salmon with Roasted Tomato Sauce.

Ingredients (serves 2):
4 plum tomatoes, quartered
1 small onion, peeled and quartered
2 garlic cloves, peeled
Cooking spray
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, skinned
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Preheat your broiler. Prepare your tomatoes, onion and garlic and spread on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray.

Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Broil for 8 minutes.

Stir gently and broil for another 5 minutes, or until vegetables begin to blacken.

Remove from the broiler, but keep the broiler on. Add tomatoes, onions, garlic, and tomato paste in a blender and process until smooth.

Place the mixture in a saute pan over medium heat. Stir in the broth. The original recipe had vegetable broth, but I only had chicken broth on hand. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. While the mixture is simmering, combine 2 tablespoons water and 1 teaspoon corn starch in a small bowl. Stir cornstarch mixture into the tomato mixture after it has simmered for 10 minutes. Bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and strain to remove any solids.

Place salmon on a cookie sheet lightly coated with cooking spray. Season with salt and pepper and broil for 5 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

To serve, add 1/2 of the tomato mixture to each plate and top with a salmon fillet. Top with 1 tablespoon basil each.

I am happy to say that salmon and tomato do work well together. However, I think the recipe was missing something… maybe a bit of red pepper flakes to add some heat? Even without the unknown missing ingredient, I really liked this recipe. Definitely worth a try!

Crab Corn and Tomato Salad with Lemon-Basil Dressing

With a fridge full of beautiful ears of bi-sweet corn, I am on a bit of a corn kick. I am always in search of meals that I think can be made the night ahead and eaten for lunch the next day, and this one fit the bill. I modified the original recipe for this Crab Corn and Tomato Salad (from Cooking Light of course) to work as a lunch meal.

Ingredients:

Grated lemon rind from 2 lemons

Lemon juice from 2 lemons

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon honey

1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 cup fresh corn kernels (about 1 ears)

2 tablespoons thinly sliced basil leaves

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion

1/2 pound lump crab meat, shell pieces removed

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

To make the dressing, combine the zest, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, and Dijon mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Stir well with a whisk until the olive oil is incorporated. To make the Crab Corn and Tomato Salad, add the corn, basil, bell pepper, red onion, crab meat, and tomatoes to the dressing. Toss gently to coat.

I love citrus with any kind of seafood. Lemon brightens the dish overall and works so well with the crab and tomatoes. Because I let it sit overnight, the citrus flavor really had time to soak in. This is really a great make-ahead meal!

Mango Shrimp Kebabs

Earlier this week, I wrote a post reviewing Cooking Light’s new App. I have been playing around with the app for about a week and kept coming back to this Mango Shrimp Kebab recipe. The colors are amazing, and it sounded so delicious! I cut the recipe in half (makes 2 servings) but kept the original recipe mostly intact.

Ingredients:

3/4 pounds large peeled and deveined shrimp

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 mango, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 small red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces

Juice and zest of 1 lime, cut into wedges

Cooking spray

Preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Prepare your mango, pepper, and onion.

Thread shrimp, bell pepper, mango, and onion alternately onto 4 skewers. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and lime zest. Note: the original recipe did not include zest. But I thought it might be an easy addition to the flavors, you’re using a lime anyways!

Coat the grill with cooking spray. Place the skewers on the grill rack and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until shrimp are cooked (Mine took closer to 3-4 minutes per side, I blame my little indoor grill. If using a normal grill, 2 minutes on each side should be plenty.)

Serve with lime wedges. Squeeze the wedges over kebabs before eating.

Before I go on, I want to give special thanks to my “Sous Chef” and friend Ericka for helping me out. I am pretty darn scared of knives and cutting slippery fruit stresses me out quite a bit, so I am forever grateful to Ericka for her amazing mango-chopping skills.

We made this along with the Corn with Lime and Chipotle, also suggested by the app. And I couldn’t be happier with the results. The pairing was perfect! We actually ended up using some of the leftover chipotle butter mix on some of the shrimp, just to try it out.

shrimp with chipotle butter

Ericka thought maybe marinating the shrimp in a jerk marinade before adding to the skewers would really bump this recipe up a notch and I agree. However, the original recipe is delicious on its own, and quite simple and fast to make. Look out for my post on the Corn, these two really should be eaten together!

The ingredients were wonderful together, sweet, tangy and fresh. Ericka kept referring to getting a piece of each ingredient in one bite “the perfect bite” and I have to agree with her.

Do not forget to squeeze the lime over the skewers before enjoying. The citrus adds a whole new dimension to this already delicious dish.

Capellini with Shrimp and Creamy Tomato Sauce

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This weekend, I realized I was running low on tomato sauce in my freezer, so I whipped up a new batch to hopefully last me a couple months. I was left with an extra can of diced tomatoes and I also had some leftover capellini pasta from my Capellini with Clams and Saffron dish. Gourmet had a really delicious sounding recipe that incorporated both of these ingredients. The recipe is so quick, it is perfect for a week night dinner.

Ingredients:

1tablespoon olive oil

8 already cooked shrimp, deveined with the tails still attached, thawed

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 cup sweet (red) vermouth

1 (14- to 15-oz) can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup heavy cream

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

1/2 a box of capellini

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 teaspoon fresh chopped parsley, optional

The original recipe is linked above. I had already-cooked shrimp in my freezer (I meant to buy raw shrimp and misread the label, sigh) so I had to alter the recipe to make up for the precooked shrimp. My shrimp still had the tails attached because I think those are more attractive. Feel free to use whatever form of shrimp you’d like.

Start by thawing your shrimp. I just ran them under cold water for 3 minutes and allowed to dry in a colander.

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the minced garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and vermouth. and stir to combine. I left in the tomato juice from the diced tomatoes. You can drain the tomatoes before adding for a more chunky sauce. Heat until simmering.

Add cream and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for about 1 minute. Add in lemon juice.

Top the pasta with 2 shrimp per serving and spoon the broth over the pasta. Add the chopped parsley on top.

The sauce had a nice sweetness to it, but I think it could be further enhanced with a pinch of crushed red pepper to add a bit of heat. I regret not having fresh shrimp for this dish because the shrimp were relatively forgettable in my version. I like that my sauce was a little thinner than the original. I think this would be great (without the shrimp) as a reheated lunch after the pasta has had time to sit in the sauce.

Capellini with Clams and Saffron

I am a huge Top Chef fan. So much that my parents bought me the Top Chef cookbook a few years back. However, when I moved, I stored it away and completely forgot about it. I recently found the cookbook again and came across Ilan’s dish: Fideos with Clams and Saffron. My CSA share this week came with broccoli, cauliflower and onion so I thought this would be a perfect way to use these ingredients. Note: I switched up the way this recipe was cooked, used less cream, and added onions and Parmesan. Otherwise, the recipe is pretty close to the original printed version.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound capellini pasta
1 cup heavy cream
1 large pinch of saffron threads
1/2 a medium sized onion, chopped
1/2 cup cauliflower florets
1/2 cup broccoli florets
Olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
6 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
2/3 cup white wine
2 dozen clams
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

Continue reading Capellini with Clams and Saffron

Seared Salmon with Basil Oil

Yes. Another salmon recipe. I can’t help it, I love the stuff. And when you are able to purchase a salmon fillet that looks as gorgeous as this one did, you have no choice but to keep it simple and let the natural delicious salmon flavor shine through. This recipe takes less than 20 minutes, and can be made even more quickly if you make the basil oil the day before.

Ingredients (serves 4):
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound salmon fillet, skin still on
Salt and pepper, to taste
Basil oil
1/2 cup fresh basil, firmly packed
1/4 cup olive oil

Continue reading Seared Salmon with Basil Oil

Shrimp Tomato Basil Linguine with Warm Goat Cheese Rounds

I had some left over goat cheese from my Orecchiette with Swiss Chard, Red Peppers and Goat Cheese dish. When I was looking for recipes, I came across this one for Shrimp Tomato Basil Linguine with Warm Goat Cheese Rounds from Cooking Light. I had no clue how seafood and goat cheese would be together, but was willing to find out!

Ingredients:

1 (16 oz) box linguine
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 (4-ounce) package log-shaped goat cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium (~1 cup) onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 plum tomatoes (~2 1/2 cups), roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Continue reading Shrimp Tomato Basil Linguine with Warm Goat Cheese Rounds

Paella

I wanted to challenge myself this weekend, so I decided to try to make paella. I don’t own a paella pan, and I honestly have no idea how to cook paella, so this should be quite the experience. I used a mixture of a recipe from Tyler Florence and one from Cooking Light, keeping my personal taste in mind.

Ingredients:

2 Spanish chorizo sausages, thickly sliced

1 Spanish onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons parsley (fresh if you have it)

1 (15-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped

1/2 teaspoon paprika

2 cups rice, whatever you have (long, short, doesn’t matter)

2 quarts plus 2 cups water

1/3 cup flour

1 cup dry white wine

2 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon saffron threads

1 (8-ounce) bottles clam juice

1 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed

2 pounds mussels, debearded and scrubbed

Olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 cup sweet peas, frozen and thawed (optional)

Lemon wedges, for serving (optional)

Begin by cleaning and de-bearding the mussels. I couldn’t handle doing this, so thankfully my boyfriend was willing to help.

That wiry-looking thing on the right side of the mussel, that’s the beard. To remove, pull towards the hinge part of the mussel and tug.

yuck

The beards won’t hurt you if you eat them, but they don’t look particularly appetizing. Scrub the mussels to remove any gook that might be left on them. Discard any mussels that are open or cracked. Do the same with the clams. Put the clams and mussels in a mixture of 2 quarts water and 1/3 cup flour for 20 minutes. This helps to remove any sand that may still be in the mussels and clams.

Add the chicken broth, 2 cups water, 1 cup white wine, clam juice and saffron to a pot over medium heat. Simmer, without boiling, then reduce to low to keep warm.

Heat a tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Place the cut chorizo in the pan and cook until browned. Remove and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the chopped onions, garlic and parsley. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and paprika and cook for 5-10 minutes until fragrant.

Add the rice, stirring to coat the rice.

Pour in the saffron broth, simmering for 10 minutes.

Add chorizo, clams and mussels, tucking the clams and mussels into the rice.

Cook for 15 minutes without stirring, until the rice is fluffy and you can smell the rice at the bottom beginning to toast. (This is known as socarrat… paella is supposed to have a toasted bottom.)

Remove from heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes (it will be really, really hot). Serve with lemon wedges and peas if desired. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

I have to give myself a little pat on the back for this one (as well as my boyfriend for his wonderful de-bearding skills). Although I was craving a bit more saffron taste, this dish really turned out well overall. It is quite a bit of work, but it produces a whole lot of food, at least 8 servings. As always, don’t eat any clams or mussels that don’t open. A bunch of my clams didn’t open, kind of a bummer. I also think the next time I make this, I would reserve the liquid from the tomatoes and add that in as well for a little extra flavor.

All Gone.

Maple Soy Glazed Salmon

Are you ready for the easiest salmon recipe, perhaps ever? The name says it all: maple-soy glazed salmon. You just use equal parts maple syrup and reduced sodium soy sauce.

Ingredients:

2 pieces of 5 oz salmon fillets, skin on

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos to make gluten free)

salt and pepper, to taste

Combine the maple syrup and soy sauce.

Top the salmon fillets with salt and pepper.

Drizzle the maple-soy mixture equally over the salmon.

I bought my salmon from a supermarket in Wilmington that inexplicably only had salmon without the skin. What the heck? Normally, I would just grill the salmon, skin side up for 2-3 minutes and then flip the salmon, skin side down and cook until done. Because we had to take into account the whole no-skin issue, we wrapped the salmon in tin foil and popped it on the grill for a good 10 to 15 minutes. (Special thanks to Kevin and Tim for doing the actual grilling part!)

It still turned out great! The sauce caramelizes a bit, adding some sweetness to the salmon. I really wish it could have been straight on the grill to add some charring but it was not to be. Sigh. If anyone gets the chance to actually try it this way, please let me know how it turns out!

Sauteed Salmon with Berry Butter Sauce and Roasted Potatoes

There was a restaurant near my college that served Sauteed Salmon with a Blackberry Butter Sauce and Red Bliss Potatoes. I loved this dish so much, I’m pretty sure I went once a week to eat it while they offered this dinner.

I had a bunch of raspberries and blackberries left over from the Berry Sangria and Berries with Lemon Mint Syrup, so I thought I’d attempt to recreate the recipe, adapting it into this Sauteed Salmon with Berry Butter Sauce and Roasted Potatoes.

Ingredients for Salmon

2 eight ounce salmon fillets, with the skin still on
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Ingredients for Blackberry-Raspberry Butter Sauce

1/4 cup raspberries
1/4 cup blackberries
Juice from 1 lemon
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup white wine
1 garlic clove, minced
1 shallot, minced
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into chunks

Ingredients for Roasted Red Bliss Potatoes

2 cups Red Bliss potatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Cooking Spray

Continue reading Sauteed Salmon with Berry Butter Sauce and Roasted Potatoes

Cornmeal-Crusted Scallops with Mint Chimichurri

I’m still working through my mint and came across this recipe on My Recipes. Chimichurri is normally made with parsley and oregano and is used as a marinade on meat. However, this recipe incorporates mint, making the chimichurri seafood-friendly.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup sliced green onions (scallions)
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon minced seeded serrano chili
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon green (spring) garlic
3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
4 dry scallops
1 tablespoon olive oil

Continue reading Cornmeal-Crusted Scallops with Mint Chimichurri

Salmon with Lemon-Mint Dressing

I was so excited to receive mint in my CSA this week. That emotion was quickly replaced by panic, what the heck can I make to actually use up all of this mint? I do have a dessert or two in the mix, but I wanted to include it in some dinners that were a little more rare than lamb with a mint sauce. Naturally, my love of salmon made choosing this recipe a no brainer.

Ingredients:

Lemon zest from one lemon
Fresh lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/4 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/8 teaspoon plus 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon finely minced shallot (about one shallot)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
2 (6-ounce) salmon fillets

Continue reading Salmon with Lemon-Mint Dressing