Fish Tacos with Chipotle Cream

Last night we had some delicious fish tacos at our house. I purchased some tilapia from the local market for a few dollars, which was awesome. The flavor was light and fresh and perfect for a summer night. I threw the tortillas on the grill like the directions suggested and WOW! Turns out that grilling your tortilla shells takes them to a whole new level of smoky flavor goodness. I happen to have a top rack on my grill, so I just put them on there when the fish was about done, flipped them once, and voila, perfection. If you don't have a grill, try them in the broiler and I imagine it will enhance the flavor as well. The crisp corn, fresh cilantro, chipotle flavored sauce, and of course fresh lime juice truly made these tacos perfect. I would suggest putting  them on this weekends menu.

Cedar Plank Salmon

I don't know how I caught on so late, but apparently the cool way to cook your fish these days is on a cedar plank. What's cool about it is that the strong smoky scent of the cedar infuses itself into your fish while it bakes or grills. And aside from the taste, think how chic your dinner will look when you pull it out of the oven on a wooden plank. It just screams rustic. And did I mention cool?

Roasted Salmon with Garlic, Lemon, and Coriander

This is a light and easy main course, typical of the Middle Eastern style of serving fish. It has a warm, spicy (but not in the hot sense) flavor that highlights rather than overwhelms the flavor of the salmon. And if you like a bit of pizazz to your fish, add some hot red pepper flakes. Serve with a Middle Eastern side like tabbouleh.

You may notice that occasionally we have links to various books or kitchen utensils we like to use on a regular basis. The links are all through amazon, and if you like what you see well enough to buy it, we would implore you to make your purchase through our link. You see, we get a very small percentage (6%? 10%? it hasn't happened yet, so we're not exactly sure of the precise amount) of any purchases made on amazon through our blog. You can help sustain our "test kitchen" by buying yourself some of the best kitchen wares around.

Tilapia with Citrus Bagna Cauda

What I’ve learned is that bagna cauda is an Italian sauce generally made with garlic, anchovies, olive oil, and butter. This original recipe did include anchovies, however I omitted them, because I didn’t want them on my fish (and yes, I know that anchovies are fish). The citrus in the sauce is excellent paired with the mild flavor of the tilapia. I served it with rice and broccoli, and it made for a light and healthy meal. I will definitely make this one again.

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

Generally if we have fish in our house, we have salmon. I am familiar with salmon, I know how to cook it, what it tastes great with, etc. But I decided to branch out the other night and cook some tilapia. If you are not a huge fish fan, tilapia is a good fish to try; it is a mild, white fish. Meaning, it isn't very fishy and generally the fillets are cut thin (at least they have been in my experience).

This recipe was quick and easy to make. Start to finish, including broil time, this recipe took me about 15 minutes. Yeah, that is a quick and easy dinner, and likely you have all the ingredients in your refrigerator right now, well except perhaps the fish. I paired this with some asparagus and rice cooked in part chicken broth. It turned out to be a simple, and relatively healthy dinner. (I would just say healthy, but there is a good dollop of butter and mayo in the sauce, but each serving has such a small portion, that it hardly counts, right?)

Halibut with Sour Cream, Onion, and Dill

This recipe comes courtesy of my good friend M. She sent it to me ages ago, and to be honest, I was slightly afraid of it. If you look below to the list of ingredients, you will see that mayonnaise is featured prominently. I thought it looked good in theory...but confronting that much mayonnaise head-on sent shivers up my spine. Instead of making it right away, I let it sit in my inbox for a while, stewing about how to get around my fear of mayo.

M originally got the recipe from her in-laws, who are from Seattle. Fish. Seattle. They go together. So this couldn't be bad, right? Just imagine M's parents sitting at a fantastic restaurant, probably with some great view of something awesome in Seattle, when they had their first bite of this fish. It was amazing. They loved it. They had to have the recipe! And they were bold enough to ask the chef for the recipe...and the chef gave it to them! I finally decided that something good enough to request a recipe of deserves to be made, regardless of my apprehensions.

So last week I buckled down and bought some mayo. And I made the sauce and slathered it on the fish, just like the directions said. And I baked it. And it looked pretty when it came out of the oven. And I took my first bite...and I waited. And I took another bite. And I was wrong, oh so very wrong! Mayonnaise isn't bad, it's delicious! It makes fish taste like something light and heavenly. It adds depth and tang to an otherwise boring piece of white meat. I loved it.

And it was good enough that maybe, just maybe, I would have also had the courage to ask the chef for the recipe. Luckily, you won't have to.

Halibut with Sour Cream, Onion and Dill
Recipe from M
Pictures by Caroline

4 7-8 oz. Halibut fillets (or other white fish)*
Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup sourdough bread crumbs**
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
2 tsp. Fresh dill, chopped
4 sprigs Fresh dill

1. Marinate fillets in lemon juice mixed with kosher salt for 15 minutes. Drain and coat each fillet with bread crumbs.
   
2. In a separate bowl, mix mayonnaise, sour cream, red onion and fresh chopped dill together. Spread on top of fillets like frosting. Place fillets on baking dish moistened with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 tablespoon water.
   
3. Bake at 350 for approximately 10-12 minutes, or until no longer translucent in the center. Garnish with dill sprigs.

*Halibut is expensive and tastes amazing. But I can't exactly afford to feed 5 hungry people large fillets of halibut very often. So we used tilapia instead. I'm sure the halibut would have been better, but when the wallet speaks, you listen.

**To make sourdough bread crumbs: Place chunks of day-old sourdough bread in food processor and process with steel blade. Because our bread was fresh, we lightly toasted the bread before blending it.

Maple Salmon

I promise our next post will be something without balsamic vinegar or fish (we just noticed that our taste buds have been a little one sided as of late). Hopefully you've enjoyed our cravings. If not, you have our apologies and a tantalizing preview of what is to come in a few days: chocolate zucchini bread.

But I couldn't turn down this simple fish recipe. The maple adds the distinct fall flavor that this season demands, yet it's still a light and healthy meal. Try serving with the Asian Pear Salad or Spinach Tortellini Salad.

We're also wondering how all you readers are feeling about our blog. Do you like what we've been making? Do you want more dinner? Less fish? More vegetarian? More meat? More dessert? Better labels? Or maybe you're indifferent? We'd love to know what you think (and if you don't feel like leaving a comment, try clicking the reactions). Is there anyone out there? Let us know someone is reading our blog!


Maple Salmon
Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com
Pictures by Caroline
Serves 4

1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound salmon

1. In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper.
2. Place salmon in a shallow glass baking dish, and coat with the maple syrup mixture. Cover the dish, and marinate salmon in the refrigerator about 20 minutes, turning once.*
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
   
4. Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, and bake salmon uncovered 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork.

*If you're in a hurry, you can get away with about 1o minutes or marinating.

White Fish with Orange Balsamic Glaze

All I ever want to eat these days is fish. Or rather, the only meat-like substance that I've really really been craving is fish. And I'm not even pregnant- I can only imagine what kinds of cravings I'll have when I have a real excuse. I do, however, grow sick of eating salmon all the time. You can only eat salted-lemon-grilled-salmon so often before it starts to get boring (shocking I know). So let's mix it up a little with some orange rather than lemon, and a white fish, rather than pink.

This fish can be grilled or broiled. Being partial to the broiler (and the lack of mess it leaves behind), we chose to broil. But you may want to get in some grilling while the weather still allows!

White Fish with Orange Balsamic Glaze
Recipe adapted from SELF July 2007
Picture by Caroline

1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons orange zest
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 white fish fillets (such as red snapper, orange roughy or tilapia) about 6 oz each

1. Place first 9 ingredients in a large sealable plastic bag. Shake well.
   
2. Add fish and refrigerate 30 minutes to 1 hour. If grilling, remove steaks from marinade and pat dry with a paper towel. If broiling, simply remove, but don't pat dry.
   
3. If grilling, coat grill with cooking spray and heat on high. Grill steaks, turning once halfway through, until no longer translucent in the center, about 4 minutes per side. If broiling, place fish on foil-lined and greased baking dish (if you don't line the dish with foil, you will ruin your pan, I promise). Heat broiler to Hi and broil about 4 minutes per side.

One last thing- you may have noticed the "reactions" option you can click at the end of each post- a much easier way to comment on our recipes (though we do still love and appreciate comments). Please let us know what you think!

Moroccan Salmon

Here's a delicious yet elegant dish that incorporates zesty lemon and middle eastern spices. And it's a great way to serve fish to those who may not be fish enthusiasts. Serve with rice or, for a more authentic Moroccan feel, with couscous.

Moroccan Salmon
adapted from Cooking Light October 2006
Pictures by Kelly

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 small salmon fillets (or 1 1 lb. filet, cut into 4 pieces)
1 lemon
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced red bell pepper
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced green bell pepper
1 large plum tomato, cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 tablespoons water

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray.
   
2. Combine first 10 ingredients in a large bowl and stir. Add salmon, turning to coat. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.
   
3. Remove salmon from the bowl, reserving marinade. Place the salmon, skin side down, in the greased pan.
   
4. Cut lemon in half and then slice 1 half into 1/8 inch-thick slices. Add the lemon slices, peppers, tomato and water to marinade; stir gently to coat.
   
5. Arrange pepper mixture/marinade over salmon; cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.
   
6. Serve over rice or couscous.

Salmon in Phyllo

If you like salmon, or you only like it so-so, this is the recipe for you. Why? Because you get the healthiness of the fish (although this recipe includes a lot of butter), but it's wrapped in dough, and you get to dip it in a creamy, mustard sauce...hard to go wrong there. Here are a few hints, when you make the mustard sauce stir it constantly after you put the cream in so that it doesn't burn. Cook it until it's thick enough that when you pull a spatula through it leaves a trail for a moment (as seen in the above, left picture). Next, use fresh phyllo dough, which I didn't and it made things, shall we say, difficult. I've made this recipe before and it was much easier with fresh phyllo dough. I had some in my freezer that had already been open, and it was dried out and made wrapping difficult. If you use fresh dough, it is much easier, I promise.

I served this recipe with some white rice and steamed veggies, so I figured it would be okay to have some Peanut-Butter Finger Bars or Milk Chocolate Chunk-Peanut Butter Cookies (guess I in a peanut-butter chocolate mood; nothing unusual about that).

Salmon in Phyllo
Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens
Pictures by Caroline

Salmon:
1 pound fresh or frozen skinless salmon fillets, about ½ inch thick
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted (I ended up using almost twice this amount because my dough was so dried out; again, use fresh phyllo)
2 tablespoons snipped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
Dash salt
Dash black pepper
8 sheets frozen phyllo dough (18x14-inch rectangles), thawed
1 recipe Mustard Cream Sauce

1. Thaw salmon, if frozen. Rinse salmon; pat dry with paper towels. Cut salmon into 4 serving-size pieces, in necessary (I like to cut mine into about 2 inch pieces). Brush some of the melted butter over each salmon potion. Sprinkle with dill, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
2. Unfold phyllo dough; cover with plastic wrap. Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough flat; brush with some of the melted butter. Top with another sheet of phyllo dough. Brush with more butter. Add 6 more sheets of dough (a total of 8 sheets), brushing each sheet with butter. Cut into four 9x7-inch rectangles (or as big as you need for your salmon pieces). Place a salmon fillet, buttered dies down, in the middle of a dough rectangle. Fold a long side of the dough over salmon; repeat with the other long side, brushing dough with butter and pressing lightly. Fold up ends. Repeat with remaining rectangles, butter, and salmon. Arrange bundles, seam sides down, on a baking sheet. Brush with butter.
3. Bake in 375° oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until phyllo dough is golden and fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with Mustard Cream Sauce.

Mustard Cream Sauce:
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots (about 1 small shallot)
1 cup half-and-half (I used milk and it worked fine)
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon white or black pepper
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard

Combine 1/3 cup dry white wine and 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots in a small saucepan. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until the liquid is reduced to about 3 tablespoons, stirring occasionally. Stir 1 cup half-and-half or light cream into 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour. Stir into sine mixture with 1/8 teaspoon white or black pepper. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly (sauce may look curdled). Stir in 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard. Cook and stir for 1 minute more.

Fish Tacos

This recipe is a great place to start if you've never had fish tacos before. And if you're not usually a big fan of seafood, we recommend making this with Tilapia, which has a very very mild fish flavor. The fish marinates in orange and lime juice and a bit of spice, making it delightfully flavorful and citrusy. Add a little bit of lime sour cream, toppings and green salsa, and you're ready to eat!


Fish Tacos
adapted from Bon Appetit May 2008
Pictures by Caroline

2 cups chopped white onion, divided
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided
1/4 cup olive oil
5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
1 pound tilapia
Coarse kosher salt
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon milk
Corn tortillas
2 avocados, peeled, pitted, sliced
1/2 small head of cabbage, cored, thinly sliced
Green Salsa

1. Stir 1 cup onion, 1/4 cup cilantro, oil, 3 tablespoons lime juice, orange juice, garlic, and oregano in medium bowl. Sprinkle fish with coarse salt and pepper. Spread half of onion mixture over bottom of 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Arrange fish atop onion mixture. Spoon remaining onion mixture over fish. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Turn fish; cover and chill 30 minutes longer.
   
2. Whisk sour cream, milk, and remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice in small bowl.
3. Heat oven to High Broil. Broil fish with some marinade still clinging to them until just opaque in center, 3 to 5 minutes per side.
   
4. Meanwhile, heat tortillas until warm, about 10 seconds per side.
5. Coarsely chop fish; place on platter. Serve with lime sour cream, tortillas, remaining 1 cup chopped onion, remaining 1/2 cup cilantro, avocados, cabbage, Green Salsa, and lime wedges.

Pesto pasta with salmon and vegetables

Whenever I make fish, I often end up with just a little too much left over to eat for lunch the next day, but not quite enough for dinner. This recipe is easy, fast, and flavorful with the inclusion of some pre-made pesto (either from the store or homemade). Plus, it makes use of some of those extra vegetables you have sitting around in the fridge.


It's also extremely flexible. You can add or subtract vegetables as you like: red pepper, asparagus tips, peas, etc.


Pesto Pasta with Salmon and Vegetables
Recipe by Kelly
Pictures by Caroline

Makes 4 servings

1/4 pound cooked salmon (grilled, seared, baked, or broiled)
1 green bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup mushrooms, quartered
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 tablespoons pesto
10 oz. whole wheat rotini pasta

1. Heat the olive oil in a small skillet. Add the chopped vegetables and sauté until tender.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the pasta and cook until tender. Drain.
   
3. Meanwhile, reheat the salmon.
   
4. Add the pesto to the pasta. Add the vegetables to the pesto pasta and stir.
   
5. Serve topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.