Seafood | I Can Cook That

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

Salmon Skewers with Lemon-Parsley Pesto

I have quite a bit of parsley from my CSA share. I mistakenly bought a bunch of parsley two days before also, oops. I don’t want to waste it, so I looked for a recipe that included pesto (an easy way to use a lot of parsley). Cooking Light had a great-sounding recipe for salmon skewers with lemon-parsley pesto over orzo.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/8 cup fresh basil leaves
1/8 cup capers, drained
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 smaller garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 pound skinless, boneless salmon fillets, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
2 cups hot cooked orzo

Preheat your grill. Boil water for the orzo and cook as directed on the package. Drain, mix with 1/4 teaspoon salt, and set aside. Combine the first 7 ingredients (up to garlic) in a food processor (I used a magic bullet).

Add 1 tablespoon oil to the mixture and process until smooth.

Not all that smooth..

Set the pesto aside. Cut the salmon into 1 inch pieces.

Thread fish evenly on two skewers. Brush fish with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Coat the grill with cooking spray. Place skewers on grill and cook for 1 minute on each side, or until desired degree of doneness.

Remove from grill and wrap loosely in foil to keep warm. Add orzo to a bowl. Place skewers on orzo and top with the pesto.

Whew. I used way too big of a piece of garlic. Definitely make sure to use one of the smaller ones; you aren’t cooking the garlic so it really retains its flavor. Past my new ability to ward of vampires, the other flavors were really nice. If you have a food processor, I’d suggest using that over a magic bullet. I wish the pesto was a bit more chopped up. I ended up mixing the pesto into the orzo, flaking the salmon, and adding a bit more lemon. Really delicious!

Seared Scallops with Garlic-Parsley Butter

I found a recipe on My Recipes for Seared Scallops with Garlic-Parsley Butter. It even includes my other favorite ingredient: mushrooms. And, even better, the recipe is served over a mashed potato puree! I think they might have written this recipe just for me.

Ingredients:
6 oz of larger sized scallops
Salt and Pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons minced spring garlic
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 package shiitake mushrooms, rinsed, stemmed, and thinly sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons canned crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Ingredients for Yukon Gold potato puree:
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons whipping cream
Salt and Pepper

Bring 2 to 3 quarts water to a boil. Peel the potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces.

Add potatoes to the pot and cook until tender when pierced, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and put in a bowl.

Mash the potatoes with 1/4 cup chicken broth, 2 tablespoons whipping cream, salt and pepper to taste. I just used a fork, but a potato masher would have really sped up the process. Set aside.

Rinse the scallops and pat dry.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Prepare your mushrooms. Remove the stems and discard. Thinly slice the caps.

Mince the shallot and green garlic. Green garlic is also known as spring garlic. It happened to be part of my CSA share, so if you just have normal garlic, that will work just fine.

Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add scallops to the pan and cook, flipping the scallops once until browned on both sides and opaque, about 4 minutes total.

Transfer the scallops to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Add 1/2 tablespoon butter, garlic, and shallot to the saute pan.

When the butter is melted, add the mushrooms.

Stir often until mushrooms are browned, about 5 minutes.

Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter, chicken broth, parsley, tomatoes, white wine, and lemon juice.

Bring to a boil and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the potato puree to a bowl. Top with the scallops and spoon mushrooms and sauce over the scallops.

Oh this was so so good. I don’t know how this recipe managed to get so many of my favorite ingredients into one dish and still make it taste good, but I don’t think I’ve ever been happier on a Monday night. Yum.

Flounder Meunière

I was hoping to make Sole Meunière, but the supermarket decided otherwise. (Not only did they not have sole, they had no idea what it was). I substituted flounder, but if you can find sole, go for that instead. I found this classic recipe from Bon Appetit and I’m pretty sure I’ve made this recipe on many occasions and had no idea it had such a spiffy name. “Meunière” just means “miller’s wife.” So to cook something “a la meunière” means to cook it after first dredging it in flour. The sauce is really easy (and again, I’m pretty sure I’ve made it a million times before) and is made of brown butter, chopped parsley and lemon. Despite how easy the recipe is, this makes one tasty dish.

Ingredients for fish:
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 flounder fillets (get Pacific sole if you can)
Salt
Pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter

Ingredients for sauce:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Lemon wedges

Pour flour into a shallow bowl. Rinse fish and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper to taste.

Dredge fish on both sides with flour shaking off excess flour.

Heat olive oil in a saute pan big enough to fit all the fish. Add butter and swirl to coat. It should bubble up a bit. When it stops bubbling, add fish and cook until golden on bottom, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Turn fish over (carefully, it’s a pretty delicate fish), and cook until golden on bottom, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Place fish in tin foil and wrap loosely to keep warm.

Pour out excess drippings from the saute pan and wipe down with paper towels. Chop the parsley (as finely as you like).

I did a pretty rough chop

Heat the saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the butter for the sauce and cook until it begins to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in parsley and lemon juice. It may splatter a bit, so be prepared for that. Spoon over the fish and serve with lemon wedges.

Who doesn’t enjoy a recipe that takes 10 to 15 minutes, and only requires 8 ingredients (including salt, pepper, and olive oil)? On top of that, it really is tasty. The fish crisps up nicely in the butter which adds a nice texture. This would be good with a light salad or a side of rice.

Lemon-Dill Salmon

This recipe is a result of me buying a bunch of ingredient for other recipes and then forgetting to look up anything for a salmon recipe. I rummaged through my fridge and came up with a few ingredients I figured would taste good together.

Ingredients:
1 lb salmon
1 lemon, zested and squeezed
1 tablespoon freshly chopped dill
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and Pepper, to taste

There are two lemons, but I only used one

Zest the lemons into a bowl. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice of the lemon into the bowl. Add the melted butter and mix.

Add the tablespoon of dill and mix.

Heat one tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the salmon with salt and pepper.

Pour the lemon-butter-dill mixture over the salmon.

Add the salmon to the pan skin-side up. Cook for 2 minutes or until the salmon has a nice brown sear. Flip and cook until the salmon is cooked though and flakes easily.

So this recipe isn’t a breakthrough way to cook salmon. But it is tasty, a bit different than your normal salmon dish, and happily quick. I am a big fan of lemon zest, it really lets the lemony flavor shine through the butter and dill.

Smoked Salmon Panini

I really don’t like a cold lunch, especially sandwiches. There is something about a plain sandwich that makes me so unexcited to eat it. But a panini makes me happy: toasted bread, melty cheese… yum! So I was glad to try out this Smoked Salmon Panini.

Note: I have a panini press, but if you don’t, just use a saute pan and spatula to flip half way through the cooking.

The original recipe is linked above. I made a few substitutions, which are listed below.

Ingredients: (this makes one sandwich, multiply as needed)
2 slices ciabatta
Dijon mustard, for spreading
thin slices of Gruyère cheese
2 oz thinly sliced smoked salmon
Finely grated zest of 1/4 of a lemon
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Preheat the panini press or saute pan.

Spread 1 slice of ciabatta bread with some Dijon mustard, as little or as much as you’d like. Top with some Gruyere cheese.

Top with smoked salmon and lemon zest.

Season lightly with salt and pepper and cover with more Gruyere cheese. Top with other piece of bread.

Grill for 2 to 3 minutes until toasted and the cheese is melted.

I was a little wary about the Dijon mustard; I thought it would overwhelm the sandwich. But it added a nice punch of flavor. The lemon zest really enhanced the dish and brightened up the smoked salmon. This could easily be made ahead and popped in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it back up. I’m so glad to have a new alternative to the boring and cold meat and cheese sandwiches usually eaten at lunch!

Orzo Risotto with Buttery Shrimp

I am always in search of seafood dishes that aren’t just salmon. Don’t get me wrong, I love salmon, but I think it’s time for me to finally expand my culinary repertoire. I found this recipe on Food & Wine and was intrigued. Traditional risotto is near and dear to my heart. When I first realized that learning to feed myself may be useful, risotto was one of the first dishes I learned how to make. (Fun fact: I even won a little Top Chef contest in college making my lovely risotto, that’s right). So the idea of an “orzo risotto” made me very happy.

How can you say no to this?

Ingredients: (I cut this recipe in half, the original is linked above)

8 thin asparagus

1 cup orzo

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 pound shelled and deveined medium shrimp

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

Ingredients

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Make sure to have plenty of water in there, you’ll need to reserve some of this later. Add the asparagus and cook over high heat until tender, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the asparagus to a plate with a slotted spoon. Add the orzo to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

While the orzo is cooking, cut the asparagus into 1-inch lengths.

In another skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Once melted, reduce heat to medium and cook until the butter begins to brown

“beurrer noisette” = brown butter by the way

Add the shrimp, season with salt and pepper. I suggest having the salt and pepper right next to the stove, the shrimp start cooking and turning pink almost immediately.

about 10 second after adding the shrimp to the butter

Cook over medium heat until pink and curled, about 1 minute per side.

With a slotted spoon, add the shrimp to the asparagus. Reserve the butter in the skillet but remove from heat.

reserved shrimp and asparagus

Drain the cooked risotto over a bowl, reserving 1/8 cup of the cooking water. Return the orzo to the saucepan and stir in brown butter. Cook over high heat and add the chicken stock and cooking water, scraping up any brown bits that may be stuck to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.

watching orzo cook is comparable to watching paint dry

Cook over moderate heat, stirring until creamy, 2-3 minutes. Stir in asparagus and shrimp.

Remove from heat and stir in parsley and the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Transfer risotto to serving dishes and sprinkle with more Parmesan.

ta da

I love the colors in this dish (if you didn’t pick up on that from the 50 photos you just had to scroll through). Happily, it tastes just as good as it looks. If I make this in the future though, I think I’d prefer the shrimp to have a little bit of a kick (some paprika? maybe a bit of Old Bay? hmm) but this dish is beautiful and tasty just the way it is.

Almond Chive Salmon

Everyone knows how amazing salmon is for you: lots of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D… so whenever I can, I try to make some. Salmon with butter and lemon is delicious and quick, but all that butter seems to outweigh the health benefits of the fish (at least in my mind). I’ve tried to alternate that with this Almond Chive Salmon.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sliced almonds

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (or 1 teaspoon dried parsley)

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind

4 tablespoons panko (breadcrumbs)

1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

1 pound salmon fillet

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cooking spray

2 lemon wedges

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine the almonds, chives, parsley, and lemon plus 1/4 teaspoon salt in a food processor (I use my Magic Bullet). Pulse until finely chopped.

Add the panko to this mixture, stir to combine.

Sprinkle the salmon with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle the panko mixture over the salmon evenly, pressing to make it stick. Place salmon on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.

I put A LOT on mine; use as much/little as you’d like

Bake for 15 minutes or until is flakes easily. Serve with lemon wedges.

This is one of my go-to recipes: beautiful, quick, flavorful. It’s also a great introduction to fish:.The almonds and spices make it a bit less “fishy” to those who aren’t fans of seafood.

Salmon BLT

I’m not the biggest fan of sandwiches in general. PBJ, BLT, Turkey and Cheese… they just don’t cut it. I recently saw the last 3 minutes of a cooking show where they were making Salmon BLTs and couldn’t get the idea out of my head. It seemed easy enough (I didn’t catch their actual ingredients and preparation) so I tried it out for myself. Apparently these types of sandwiches usually come with mayo or some other condiment, but I left that out. There was still plenty of flavor!

Ingredients:

10 oz salmon fillet (or two 5 oz salmon fillets)

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 slices of bacon

3 slices of bread (I used rye)

1 beefsteak tomato, sliced

A handful of raw baby spinach leaves

Salt and pepper, to taste

Note: this is for 2 servings

Continue reading Salmon BLT

Scallops Grapefruit and Fennel? Hmm…

After watching a few episodes of Top Chef Masters recently, I had a hankering for some scallops (which I’m going to blame on seeing Jamie, who made like 14 scallop dishes during her season on Top Chef). Luckily, the December issue of Cooking Light had a recipe for scallops that looked really appealing: Seared scallops with fennel and grapefruit salad. I was interested to see how such strong flavors would work together.

Ingredients:

1 large grapefruit

1.5 cups sliced fennel bulb (1 small-ish bulb)

½ cup flat-leaf parsley

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

½ – 1 lb sea scallops (about 12 for two people)

Salt and Pepper, to taste

To start, peel and section the grapefruit, reserving about ¾ cup grapefruit sections in a bowl. With the remaining grapefruit, squeeze to extract the juice (about ¼ cup) and set aside (apart from the grapefruit sections.

To cut the fennel, trim off the stalks and discard. Remove any dirty or hard areas on the bulb (that white part at the bottom) by peeling off the first layer if needed. Cut the bulb in half and lay them on the cutting board flat side down. Slice across the bulb in thin slices.

Combine the grapefruit sections, fennel, and parsley in a bowl. Set aside.

grapefruit and fennel salad

I always thought cooking scallops would be a daunting task, but it is actually really easy, and quick too! However, be careful to not overcook them, scallops can get very rubbery if left on the heat too long. This recipe called for pan frying the scallops so I started by heating 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a sauté pan. While waiting for the pan to heat up, I sprinkled some salt and pepper on the scallops and then added them to the pan one by one (I used tongs to put them in so that the liquid didn’t splash all over the place). Let the scallops cook one that one side for about 4 minutes. Use the tongs to flip the scallops over and cook for another minute. Remove the scallops and keep warm.

seared scallops

Add the reserved grapefruit juice to the pan and cook for about two minutes. Remove from heat.

To assemble the dish: place half of the fennel mixture on each plate (I made two servings). Divide scallops evenly (each plate should have 4-6 scallops) then top with half of the rendered juice.

This ended up being a really pretty dish, if I do say so myself. Taste-wise, it was something nice and different, but I don’t think I enjoy fennel ( = mild licorice) enough to add this to my list of rotating dinners. However, I’m pretty jazzed to add scallops to my list of foods I can handle cooking!