Salmon with couscous-carrot-raisin pilaf

 

If a recipe gives you pause, do you give that pause back — as in give it a pass? Sometimes I do, although if the pause is caused by wondering do those flavors really go together, I'm more likely to give it a whirl in hopes of a pleasant aha moment than if I question methodology. In this case, I was wondering if baking couscous in a pan it doesn't specify being greased would actually work. It works just fine for baked rice, so I decided to go ahead with it simply because it looked so easy, and because salmon happened to be on a great sale at Lunds that week.

Salmon with couscous pilaf

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Everyday Food, March 2005. Serves 2.

Ingredients

½ pound carrots (about 3 medium), peeled, sliced in half lengthwise, and cut into diagonal ⅛-inch pieces
½ cup couscous
¼ cup slivered almonds
¼ cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
½ tablespoon olive oil
⅝ cup water
2 salmon fillets, 6 to 8 ounces each
Lemon for serving, optional

Method

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small, shallow baking dish (I used an 8-by-10-ish), combine couscous, almonds, raisins, cilantro, olive oil, ⅝ cup water, ¾ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon pepper.

Place salmon fillets on top of couscous mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until salmon is opaque. Plate salmon, fluff couscous mixture and serve along side salmon with lemon wedges.

Rating: This recipe is super fast to make, particularly if you've prepped the carrots ahead, and it tastes just fine. Would I make it again? If you asked me right as I was trying to plate it, I would have given you an emphatic no, because underneath some reasonably fluffable couscous, there's a layer of crunch you can only chip off the pan, which immediately triggers demerits. It diminished my ability to enjoy the dish, knowing that some serious pan clean-up awaited. I always factor clean-up time when considering if a recipe is a fast fix.

But I have to say, that pan wasn't so horrible afterward after a good soak. I used my Dansk enamel Kobenstyle pan that my mother gave me years ago, and much like the Le Creuset pans I sprung for decades ago when I could least afford them, I am always astounded what a soak and some baking soda will do in fairly short order. Still not convinced about the methodology of this recipe given the layer of crunch, but it was a fast prep meal.

Many years after I bought those enamel pans, I learned my mother was very upset with me because I had splurged on cookware instead of buying a proper dining room table for our dining-room-less one-bedroom apartment. We entertained small groups just fine; young, poorly paid journalists are not fussy about tablecloth-covered card tables surrounded by mismatched chairs so long as they're getting treated to decent home-cooked food and free booze. I don't think the dining table we eventually bought qualified as proper in my mother's mind either, since I later realized she really coveted a dark cherry French Provincial style dining set for herself (and by extension coveted it for me, despite that not being my style). Poor honey. She was a good sport all those years with the round oak table my dad bought for $5 at a farm auction while Mother was standing beside him and didn't even realize he was bidding. It was perfectly serviceable with three leaves, just not the bit of formal loveliness she always had in her mind's eye.

I stand by my pans and priorities. But I wish she could have had a table that met her vision.

Is there any moral to all that rambling? Maybe you do you. But if you don't have decent pans, be prepared to order takeout to serve on your beautiful table when you can't get food out of the pan.

3 more takes on fish tacos

If fish tacos are on the menu of any restaurant, it's hard for me to not order them, even if something else on the menu looks fantastic. I just have to check out all possible versions.

Similarly, if I see a recipe for fish tacos, I have to try it. Much like blueberry muffin recipes, as you might have noticed. It's the food equivalent of having to watch/read/attend any movie, book or play adaptation that purports to be Jane Austen-adjacent. But at least unlike the endless string of disappointments in the Austen-wannabe department, with fish tacos you get food out of the attempt.

Sizzling turmeric-dill fish tacos
From Bon Appetit, August 2022. This one gets a nuoc cham salsa on top of turmeric-dill marinated fish.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 Fresno or serrano chile, seeds removed and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped, divided
¼ cup chopped cilantro, plus more leaves for serving
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
5 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1½ pounds firm fish, like cod or halibut
1 bunch scallions, dark green parts only, cut into 2-inch pieces
½ bunch of dill, coarse stems removed
10-12 tortillas, warmed
Topping options:
Thinly sliced red cabbage
Sliced chiles
Cilantro leaves
Chopped salted roasted peanuts
Lime wedges for serving

Method
Combine, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk until sugar is dissolved. Add tomatoes, red onion, diced chile, 2 chopped garlic cloves and ¼ chopped cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and chill if making ahead a few hours.

For marinade, combine remaining chopped garlic clove, ginger, turmeric, kosher salt and 3 tablespoons of oil in a medium bowl. Cut fish into 2-inch pieces and toss to coat with turmeric mixture. Let sit 5-10 minutes. (Or you can cover and chill the fish for up to 2 hours ahead.)

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large skillet. Cook fish about 4 minutes a side over medium high heat until golden brown and just cooked through. Toss in scallions and dill and cook until scallions are just wilted. Remove from heat.

Serve fish inside tacos topped with the salsa mixture, cabbage, cilantro leaves and other toppings as desired.

Rating: Definitely worth trying. Decent flavor. Fairly mild heat. You don't taste the dill at all amid everything else going on, but maybe you would miss its absence. We were happy to eat them, but I'm not sure they pass the effort-to-reward ratio test.

 

Fish tacos with mango avocado salsa
Adapted from “Fit Food: Eating Well for Life” by Ellen Haas

Ingredients
1 ripe avocado
¼ cup fresh lime juice
1 cup diced mango
¼ cup chopped red pepper
¼ cup chopped scallions
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
2 firm fish fillets, 8 ounces each
2 teaspoons canola oil
4 flour tortillas or up to 8 corn tortillas
1 cup shredded cabbage
2 plum tomatoes, diced
Lime wedges for serving

Method
Peel, pit and chop avocado. Combine with lime juice, mango, red pepper and scallions.

Brush fish with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill about 5 minutes a side on a medium-high grill setting or pan fry in a bit more canola oil. Flake into pieces a couple of inches thick.

Heat tortillas in foil either on the grill or in a 300-degree oven for 5 to 8 minutes.

To serve, divide fish among tortillas (you may find you need to use two corn tortillas per taco if using or it won’t have enough structural integrity). Top with cabbage, tomatoes and salsa. Serve with lime wedges on the side.  Makes 4 tacos.

Rating: Fine. Fairly fast to assemble. I actually preferred this mango salsa, however.

 

If I run across a recipe that purports to be wickedly good and it involves fish tacos, well, clearly I have to give it a try. I paired this with some fish fillets dipped in cornstarch, then beaten eggs and then a mixture of cornmeal, salt and chili powder. I baked them for 10 minutes or so until done in a 400-degree oven, and paired it with some usual suspect toppings.

Wickedly good fish taco sauce
From SoupAddict.com

Ingredients
½ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
½ cup mayonnaise
Juice of 1 to 2 limes
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon dill weed
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon ground chipotle chili powder
½ teaspoon capers, minced
1 hot pepper, seeded and minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Method
Whisk sour cream, mayonnaise and enough lime juice to make a pourable consistency. (I found I needed the juice of two large limes and it really still wasn't pourable, but maybe that makes for less messy tacos anyway.) Mix in spices, capers, pepper and cilantro and whisk thoroughly. Chill until ready to use, preferably at least an hour since the flavors deepen with more time.

Rating: Is it wickedly good? I wouldn't go that far. It's a tasty enough white sauce for Baja style fish tacos, certainly, but it would be better paired with pico de gallo as well rather than trying to have it stand on its own. As a potential white sauce for fish tacos, I give the edge to the cilantro aioli I tried as part of the elote pizza experiment.

It did work reasonably well as the special sauce on some Impossible Burgers. Better than the burgers, certainly, which were disappointing in flavor, texture and the fact that they made Dave sick. But they do look like burgers.

Don't know that I'll try to replicate the sashimi tuna tacos from New Scenic, but they were a change of pace at the fair this year. And of course we had to try them.

Fish with crunchy Ritz-panko crumbs

 

As a kid, I really liked fish sticks. All that breading, no doubt, plus an excuse to slather on tarter sauce. This recipe needs none, but it has some of that same crust crunch factor on top. A white wine/lemon pan sauce elevates it from just kid fare.

Baked cod with garlic and herb Ritz crumbs

Adapted from “Modern Comfort Food” by Ina Garten, as published in the Star Tribune Sunday Taste section

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1½ to 2 pounds cod fillets
½ cup Ritz cracker crumbs (grind 15 crackers in a food processor)
⅓ cup panko
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
2 teaspoons chopped fresh garlic
Zest of half a lemon
3 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Select a baking dish that’s just large enough for your fish. Pour in the olive oil and tilt it to coat the pan. Place fish in pan, turning to coat fillets. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes.

While fish bakes, in a small bowl combine cracker crumbs, panko, parsley, garlic and lemon zest. Mix in melted butter to moisten. Set aside.

Remove fish from oven. Pour wine and lemon juice directly over the fish. Press crumb mixture onto fish. Return to oven and bake an additional 12 minutes until fish flakes easily. Serve with pan juices.

 Rating: Super fast, super tasty, absolutely repeatable. I made it for Sunday supper, but it's a perfect weeknight quick-prep. I'd say you can serve it to guests without chagrin.

Roasted fish with wine and tomatoes, two ways

 

Lots and lots of cherry tomatoes made the final trip inside just before the plants got zapped. Here are three ways I used up tiny tomatoes and a package of frozen fish.

Roasted fish and tomatoes with basil and white wine sauce

From "Fit Food" by Ellen Haas

Ingredients

2 cups cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves

4 thick fish fillets such as cod (a little over a pound total)

½ cup white wine

Method

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place tomatoes in a baking dish large enough to hold the fish in a single layer. Drizzle tomatoes with ½ tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle with salt. Roast 15 to 20 minutes until soft.

Remove tomatoes from the oven and reduce oven heat to 350. Transfer tomatoes to a bowl. Toss with garlic and basil.

Place fish in baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with remaining ½ tablespoon olive oil. Pour the wine on top of fish. Spoon the tomatoes over the top. Cook until fish is cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Rating: Dave liked it. I thought it a touch bland.

 

Cod with tomato-orange relish

From “Fit Food” by Ellen Haas

Ingredients

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

Zest of 1 orange

¼ cup fresh orange juice

1 small shallot, finely chopped

2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves

2 fish fillets such as cod

¼ cup white wine

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Method

Combine tomatoes, orange zest and juice, shallot, basil and salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate relish if not using that day.

Preheat oven to 350. Place fish I a shallow baking dish. Pour wine over the top. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for about 12 minutes until cooked through. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Serve topped with relish.

Rating: I was really rooting for this dish, but it comes up short. Maybe more garlic? Hot red pepper flakes? There's a fine line between not overwhelming the delicate nature of fish and being underwhelming, but this didn't tread anywhere near it. 

 

 Deviled fish with tomatoes bacon and leeks

And then there's one of our usual suspects, which no doubt does not qualify as fit food, but was by far the tastiest. I've blogged about deviled fish with tomatoes and bacon here.

Deviled fish with tomatoes and leeks bears repeating.

Creamy pasta with asparagus and smoked trout

We headed to Duluth for a few days of day drinking recently (aka sampling the town's plethora of breweries). That means we came home with lots of brewvenirs (Earth Rider's medal-winning coffee pale ale!), and tasty smoked things from Northern Waters Smokehaus. A fillet of smoked trout worked nicely in this fast, easy supper.

Creamy pasta with asparagus and smoked fish

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens July 2019

Incredients

12 ounces bucatini or other sturdy pasta

8 ounces asparagus, tough ends snapped off and broken into 2-inch pieces

1 cup heavy cream

6- to 8-ounce fillet smoked fish

2 lemons, zested and juiced

Parmesan cheese, grated

Method

Heat pasta water to a boil in a large stock pot. Salt liberally. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. With about 5 minutes to go on the cooking time, add asparagus to pot.

Meanwhile, heat cream in a large saute pan. Add smoked fish, lemon zest and juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

When pasta is al dente, drain pasta and asparagus and add it to the cream mixture along with pasta cooking water as needed to make a sauce. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Rating: Super fast and tasty. But really, how can you go wrong with good smoked fish and memories of a really fun beer run?