Sauce for Fish

FRIDAY FISH: Tilapia Caesar Salad

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It is fairly, if not universally true: Wherever you go in the world, there is a Caesar Salad on the menu. You could be in a dive bar, a drive-in, a fast food place, a diner, a London hotel (as was I recently) or an honest-to-God halfway decent restaurant with your lunch girlfriends and there. it. is. A no longer cheap basic Caesar Salad is listed and then, at the bottom of the salad section– at least here in the U.S.– you’re told you can add the ubiquitous grilled chicken (or salmon, shrimp, or steak). Because I adore a well-made, simple no-chicken Caesar, I ordered it at a sweet place in Napa the last time– a few years ago now– our wine group visited. I was the happiest clam because this was not only one of the best Caesars I’d ever had (barely out-of-the-garden lettuce and the perfect Chardonnay in Napa, sigh) but it was bewitchingly showered with young, green-green, perfectly minced chives. Was anything ever better? Not that day! (Menu down below.)

At home, I make a few differently styled Caesars but don’t typically layer on protein except for copious amounts of salty Parmiagiano-Reggiano. My wannabe Caesars may contain a few different vegetables for health, happiness, and texture. But this last week, as I wondered how to use some of the three pounds of tilapia I’d scored for under $20 total at Costco, I realized I was going to throw together a Tilapia Caesar. Why not? If restaurants can put all that (ahem) grilled boneless chicken on their Caesar salad, why couldn’t I slip on a little fillet of nicely seasoned, tender white fish?! The tilapia, which my best sous and husband Dave had divided into 3 (1 lb.) packages, would, I know thaw quickly in a pot of cold water and cook in mere minutes. It would be not only good for us but cheap and fast. Nice.

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Grilled Halibut with Basil Salsa on Corn and Poblano Risotto

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…shown here with cauliflower soup garnished with chopped sautéed mushrooms and garlic

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Menus: always in pencil!

When students or friends are talking cooking, the comment that comes up quite often is, “I just don’t know what to make for dinner.” Even I feel that way once a while and maybe you do, too. To avoid jumping in the car and going to a restaurant and spending money or cooking scrambled eggs and toast (though I love scrambled eggs and toast), I try and make a menu each week. That helps a lot. If the penciled menu and I are not on the same page on a given day –let’s say we ate some leftovers for lunch instead saving them for dinner– my fast meal answer is always fish. I keep 3 or 4 kinds of fish in the freezer and sometimes more. If I bag the fillets tightly in a ziplock bag (after removing the original plastic packaging for safety) and stick them in a bowl of cold water for thawing, I can be grilling or sautéing or roasting our meal in a half hour. A salad gets tossed while the fish cooks–or maybe only tomatoes sliced if it’s summer and the tomatoes are perfect. Soon, dinner is on the table. Other nights, I’ve planned ahead on a gorgeous fish dinner complete with scrumptious sides and that’s what today’s Grilled Halibut with Basil Salsa on Corn and Poblano Risotto is all about.

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FRIDAY FISH: Pepper Jack Fish Burgers with Sriracha-Dijon Tartar Sauce

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When approaching Lent — otherwise known here as FRIDAY FISH time — late in each winter, I have for the last few years worked on a loose scheme for planning my fish recipes. I look and see which sorts of meals were the most popular on FRIDAY FISH in the previous year, check on current prices, consider my own cooking bucket list, think about availability, and then give myself time to dream. What’s cooking without dreaming? This year, my six categories that still could change were: 1. frozen fish fillets (inexpensive, easy to keep, and available everywhere); 2. salmon (healthy and nearly everyone loves it); 3. crab (I love it); 4. shrimp (a year-round favorite); 5. fresh tuna (let’s splurge once, kids); and 6. canned fish (because it’s good and has been trending for a year even though I usually include it anyway.) See below. 

Next time you go to the grocery store, you may have a hard time finding tinned fish like tuna, anchovies, or sardines in the aisle. That’s thanks to the viral “tinned fish” niche on TikTok and the growing group of online creators making video content on “conservas”—tasty and sometimes elaborate dishes made from canned fish and seafood.

 courtesy: How TikTok's Tinned Fish Craze is Driving Shortages/TIME
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Tuna Tapenade

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…

If you happened to be in my house and heard me slurring together a long stream of loud and nasty words from the attached garage, you could correctly guess the freezer door had been left ajar and certain preciously-stored food stuffs had begun to defrost. (Or that a mouse had chewed a hole in something like my best bag of coffee.) Now I’m not dumb and my memory is intact; I always lock the freezer door after grabbing a pack of burgers or a quart of soup. I learned the hard way during Covid’s scarcity months that’s the only foolproof method to insure everything remains at 0 degrees F, which is where you need long-stored food. Somehow in the previous day or two, I had turned the key but perhaps didn’t push the door closed tightly. Luckily (phew and phew again) most things were still hard as a rock, but there were a couple of packages of –sigh– thawing meat and fish out toward the front of the middle shelf. 3 boneless heritage pork chops were tossed into the fridge for another night, but 2 good-sized tuna steaks needed nearly immediate cooking. Had I planned on fish? Did I have anything to go with it? Well, I’d better because there was going to be tuna for dinner.

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

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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

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Oven-Fried Fish Tacos for Cinco de Mayo

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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.

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FRIDAY FISH: Caprese Salmon Burgers

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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!

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

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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.)

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

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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!

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