Fish and Seafood – More Time at the Table

Category: Fish and Seafood

Poached Salmon with Tarragon-Chive Aioli and Lemon Asparagus (French Tarragon Class, Part 1)

Posted on May 7, 2021May 12, 2021 by More Time at the Table

_{Bring seasoned water to a boil; add salmon; remove from heat and rest, covered, until done.} _{Yes, that’s all.}

While it always sounds like a joke, it definitely isn’t. There really are entire series of cooking classes devoted to BOILING WATER. As in, “He can’t boil water.” Well, kinda-sorta, but yes:

Andrew Zimmern’s Kitchen Adventures — Boiling Water 101 was a class I taught for 10 years at a local school in Minnesota. This recipe was one I designed to teach a basic skill but also deliver complex flavors and serve as a touchstone for family meals or entertaining. You really need to practice braising/poaching/blanching as often as you can because wet-heat cooking is much more subtle than dry-heat cooking but so much easier. Recipes like this will change your outlook on cooking for sure. Get wet! —
Andrew Zimmern

Oven-Fried Fish Tacos for Cinco de Mayo

Posted on April 26, 2021April 27, 2021 by More Time at the Table

When we had kids at home and both worked full-time, tacos were on the regular weeknight dinner rotation, often on Tuesday because — Taco Tuesday. There were no special steak or roast pork or shrimp versions on tiny charred handmade corn tortillas topped with an amazing variety of fresh, crunchy vegetables and choice of piquant sauces. Instead our kitchen turned out pans and pans of ground meat specials served up on oven-heated stacks of flour tortillas and topped them off with shredded lettuce, fresh tomatoes, and grated cheese — whatever kind was on sale. We always had jarred salsa, too, of course, probably the kind made in New York City even though we lived in San Antonio for 4 years. Like them or not; that was dinner. Mostly they liked them. If there was meat leftover (and this was a big if), there might be a taco salad the next night. You could guess: lettuce, ground beef taco meat, tomatoes, cheese, crushed tortilla chips, and bottled creamy Caesar dressing were the ingredients. Olives if we were lucky. As time changed and incomes increased, there was the occasional fajita meal featuring both grilled chicken and steak along with a big bowl of sautéed or grilled onions and peppers and a dish of Abuelita’s Rice. While fajitas still fall into our summer cooking routine these days —or even in the winter if I do the sheet pan version — the tomato-y, chili powder laden ground beef tacos have gone the way of boxed macaroni and cheese and canned tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches for Saturday lunch. Only a tiny sigh here.

FRIDAY FISH: Caprese Salmon Burgers

Posted on March 29, 2021March 30, 2021 by More Time at the Table

Looking for Easter recipes? Try: Italian-Style Braised Leg of Lamb or Bake a Ham… or Asparagus for Lunch, Asparagus for Dinner or Carrot Cake Cupcakes or How To Make a Quiche out of Anything or Czech Easter Bread.

Come summer and time to cook outside, I stock our freezer with easily and quickly grilled proteins like chicken thighs and legs, bone-in pork chops, and sirloin steak for kebobs. Then all I have to do is talk my husband into firing up the grill, make a salad, and we’re soon ready eat. And while I’m happiest with all kinds of freshly made burgers if it’s a burger night, it’s also nice to have some pre-made frozen ones for those times when desperation is the mother of invention. A resealable bag of salmon burgers is usually at the top of my warm weather grocery list. I even keep whole-wheat skinny buns frozen, too, as they last a few weeks if well-wrapped and thaw in no time at all. What’s cool is you are SUPPOSED to cook these particular salmon burgers frozen–no thawing needed, no thawing allowed. Yes!

FRIDAY FISH: Southwestern Fish Salad

Posted on March 22, 2021March 23, 2021 by More Time at the Table

***Caesar Salad travels to Colorado and goes fishing!***

Once, in a cooking class, I mentioned I loved “fish salads.” Crickets. Blank faces. “You mean tuna fish?” Well, sure…but not exactly or not totally. Back up. Let’s talk how we’re always hoping to eat healthy. Ok? There’s little healthier than vegetables–right? And second on the list, if you’re not a vegetarian or vegan, might be fish? Sure. When we put those two top-tier food groups together, what do we get? We get over-the-top wholesome, fit, hearty fare. I’ve always adored cooking fish IN vegetables because number 1: it’s so easy to overcook fish (and in a pan of vegetables, it’s harder); number 2: we’re back to the two top-tier food groups; and, number 3: fish is just so tasty cooked in, say, a light tomato-garlic-fennel-sweet pepper sauté.

FRIDAY FISH: Guacamole Fried Fish Sandwich (Air Fryer or Oven)

Posted on March 15, 2021March 17, 2021 by More Time at the Table

Looking for St. Patrick’s Day Ideas? Just click on “St. Patrick’s Day” in the categories section at right to find my favorites including Salmon on Caraway Cabbage, Irish Soda Bread with Potato Soup, Salmon on Colcannon, Colcannon Soup, Traditional Kerry Apple Cake, and more.

Growing up in the midwest, I knew from local community fried fish and chicken dinners — which were some of the most fun occasions of the year when kids mostly stayed home if they weren’t in school. No video games, but lots of tag and Monkey in the Middle until the sun went down. Local churches and fire stations seemed to have been built from the ground up complete with huge vats perfect for filling with hot oil and satisfying the neighborhood’s penchant for golden-crispy protein. (My own childhood church, First Presbyterian of Homewood, was more likely to ask the men’s group to serve up spaghetti dinners, so we had to go elsewhere for our fried fixes. When it’s not Covid-Tide, they’re lately feeding folks every Monday night so maybe they even sneak in some fish these days; who knows? Stop by and see.) During Lent, the corner bars and local restaurants jumped on the fishy bandwagon and often offered “all you can eat” fish and fries — sometimes until the food ran out. The custom goes on today in the midwest and elsewhere, including Colorado. In fact, even non-believers look forward to spring when there is a fish sandwich if not an “all you can eat” nearly any place you stop for a beer.

In Colorado Springs, get your fried fish at Tony’s Downtown Bar on Tejon or check with Culver’s on North Academy, where we recently scored big hot fried walleye sandwiches. (No beer, though and more’s the pity.)

FRIDAY FISH: Tuna Stew on Cheddar-Dill Biscuits

Posted on March 9, 2021March 9, 2021 by More Time at the Table

I haven’t made a tuna casserole in so many years that I can’t count. I like the stuff, but my husband says he had his fill during our early married life when I often made my sister’s Helen’s version — she always baked the good kind with potato chips, of course.

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FRIDAY FISH: Air Fryer Shrimp Louis Tacos

Posted on March 2, 2021March 30, 2021 by More Time at the Table

For a really special lunch occasion in Colorado, locals head to one of the Broadmoor Hotel restaurants. Not only do we wine and dine, sometimes we even dress up to do it — yes, even in Colorado.

FRIDAY FISH: Salmon and Fresh Tomato Salsa on Garlicky Cauliflower Mash…and a Little Plating Fun

Posted on February 22, 2021March 30, 2021 by More Time at the Table

With as much fish as we’re supposed to eat for health and six weeks of Friday Fish for Lent every year on this blog (this is now our second Covid Lent), salmon comes up pretty often on our menu. Our friend Chris likes to say, “Puh-leeze give me something else to do with salmon!” Over the years, I’ve come to enjoy serving salmon with at least two vegetables — so you’ve seen a few variations on this theme — hoping to eat less carbs or save them for some bread. I also simply want to increase our vegetable intake. Serving a smaller portion of fatty fish or red meat on a bed of vegetables or just to the side is not only a healthier way to eat (more vegetables), it makes the protein appear larger, more attractive, and puts it front and center for its closeup — an old tried and true restaurant ploy. So if it’s not really something new to do with salmon, it might just look and taste better!

Salmon Puttanesca

Posted on December 1, 2020December 2, 2020 by More Time at the Table

Bright, briny, and brilliantly bolstered with happy heat, Pasta Puttanesca is a favorite amongst cooks short on time and big on hunger. Garlicky tomatoes, onions, salty anchovies, olives and capers, along with herbs and a little wine for good measure, all come together quickly in a hot pot and are typically ladled on top of a bowl of steaming pasta topped with grated cheese and fresh parsley or basil. If you’ve made the sauce and had a little leftover in the fridge, you know it’s also good next morning on grilled bread or scrambled eggs or even just cold in your spoon.

Salmon on Two-Cheese Tabasco Grits

Posted on October 19, 2020October 21, 2020 by More Time at the Table

_{Sometimes dinner just looks like a party!}

You either love grits or you hate them. They’re one of those kinds of things. If you grew up eating them, as did I, they’re comfort food par excellence — we so need comfort food now — whether buttered and tucked under a big plate of eggs over easy with spicy patty sausage or baked up all cheesy in a casserole dish for the Thanksgiving or any other buffet. They do not, as some folks will insist, taste like paste. (I always liked paste myself.) The trouble has come with the advent of instant grits, which while technically kinda-sorta grits, are nothing compared to the pot of goodness made with stone-ground grits that take longer to cook and definitely need more attention than mashed potatoes. I’d just as soon skip grits if they’re instant, but I’m sure they have their place for folks camping with a bunch of kids demanding a hot breakfast 10 minutes ago.