Tag Archives: seafood

Hamachi collars for dinner

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Matthew will be very pleased to see  marinating in the fridge when he comes Hamachi collars in marinadehome.  We love them, and now that they are readily available at Joyco Foods (3288 Pierce Street, Richmond), we are able to have them often.  I have also purchased them at Tokyo Fish Market (1220 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley), one of my main sources of sashimi grade fish and such things.  Joyco is in Pacific East Mall, and they sell lots of good frozen things – but know your prices before you buy.  When I was there the other day there was a guy unloading a large box of fresh hamachi collars, so that’s what I got, paying about $15 for two, huge, full collars, each yielding two servings.  The collar is that part of the fish between the head and body, and you get bones and all.  A whole collar equals 360 degrees around the fish.  I threw them in a bowl with some Soy Vey teriyaki sauce (else just mix soy sauce, chopped garlic, sugar and a dash of pepper to make your own) and allowed them to marinate in the fridge until I was ready to convect-blast them, which you need to do right before service.    You can also just salt and pepper them and serve with lemon wedges — it’s up to you.  When you are ready, spread out on a rack over a sheet pan lined with foil.  Use the foil if you use the teriyaki sauce because this will drip down and the sugar will caramelize into hard candy that you’ll need to blast out with sand.  You have been warned.  Preheat the oven to 375 F. convection (400 F. if you lack convection) and roast for 10 minutes.  Turn down 50 degrees and cook until done, depending upon the size, but don’t overcook.  For my humongous collars I added an additional 15 minutes.

Salmon mousse rolls

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Salmon mousse and scallop spring rolls

Salmon mousse and scallop spring rolls

I had them in a frenzy over salmon mousse and scallop spring rolls.  I took a recipe from chef Ming Tsai and modified it over time.  He does a salmon mousse (Tea Spiced Smoked Salmon Mousse) that contains crushed lapsong souchong tea leaves and chipotle powder.  Frankly, I think the recipe is better without both, because they overpower the delicacy of the mousse.  I leave out the five spice power, as well, but that’s just me.  Here is a simplified version of the recipe:  Process in your food processor with the large blade until barely chunky:  1 pound of smoked salmon (lox), 1 minced shallot, the juice of one lemon, 1 cup heavy cream and a couple of crank’s worth of black pepper.  Add 1 cup of heavy cream (this makes a total of 2 cups of heavy cream) and process until very smooth.  Transfer mass to some kind of covered container and pop in the fridge for a couple of hours.  Eat as-is with toast points, or use as a filling, with scallops, for spring rolls.  To make the spring rolls, you need: 1 and 1/4 pounds of fresh sea scallops, 12 rice paper wrappers and one batch of salmon mousse as above, give or take.  The dried rice paper wrappers look like round parchment circles and are available in Asian markets.  Soften them in warm water for a couple of minutes and then layer them in damp-to-wet paper towels.  Slice the scallops into thirds so you have numerous thick, circular scallop pieces .  Do not cut them so you end up with non-circles!  Lay out a wrapper on a cutting board, being careful not to tear it.  Smear about 1/24 of the mousse in the middle in a line about 3″ long, keeping well away from the edges.  Line scallop slices on top so you have enough for the other 11 wrappers.  Top scallop slices with another 1/24th of the mousse.  Roll up like a tight burrito, folding both sides in first and then rolling toward yourself.  They’ll wind up flat no matter how good you are at this, but you want them as tight as you can get them.  Place on a flat surface, folded side down.  Make the other 11 spring rolls.  In a large, non-stick pan of some kind, heat about 1/4 cup or so of Canola oil.  When the oil is hot, but not burning hot, lay in as many of the spring rolls as you can – folded side down – without crowding.  Reduce the flame to low and let them brown.  Turn over gently with a spatula and allow to brown on side two.  Do not overcook!  Do not overcook! Move to a paper towel base to drain.  Repeat until they are all done.  I serve these spring rolls by slicing in half at an angle with a sharp knife, and garnish with some chopped chives or green onion.  They are good; the mousse becomes fluffy when cooked.

salmon mousse and scaollop spring rolls in saute pan

Rainbow trout

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The troops have been hankering for rainbow trout, so we had them today.  I picked up four fish (cleaned) at Costco and served them whole.  This is an easy dish to make and delicious but it can be a mess if you don’t have a large griddle or sauté pan since the head and tail will hang over the edges and flour will get all over.  Wash and dry the fish well on the outside but only slightly on the outside, salt the inside and then dredge in salt and peppered flour.  I use a half sheet pan for this and leave them on there until they go into the pan.  Get out your largest stick-free sauté pan and heat up some olive oil.  When it’s nice and hot but not an inferno, put in a knob of butter.  Gently lay in a fish and brown it — watching the heat so it does not burn.  Turn it over with long tongs after about 5 minutes and brown the other side.  Slide a large spatula (a commercial one is good for this kind of thing) under the fish and move to an oiled sheet pan, leaving room for any others you want to put on there.  Do not use the tongs to take the fish out of the sauté pan because it will break.  Before you fry another fish make sure the oil in the sauté pan is not burned.  If it is, pour it out and wipe with a paper towel when cool enough and start with fresh oil and butter.  When you have all your fish on the sheet pan place in a 375 F. convection oven and bake for 15 minutes – if you have fish that are about a pound or so each.  If you have small fish you’ll need very little bake time.  Apply good judgment here.  If you have a sauté pan that is able to house a couple of fish with no overhang, there is no reason to finish them in the oven.  After you turn the fish over and brown side #2, simply turn down the heat, tent some foil over the pan, and cook for 10 minutes or so and serve.  I  find this recipe the best since this is a mild fish and you want to bring out its goodness without a lot of overpowering ingredients.  We eat them with a squeeze of lemon.  The bones are not too bad on a rainbow trout, but try to eat any whole fish by sliding the meat down from the backbone on the side facing you.  When done with that side, pull off the entire backbone and eat the side left on your plate.  There is a little meat you can get from the tail, and be sure to eat the cheek meat and whatever else you can find in the head before you discard it.  The skin is the best part of a fried trout – enjoy it!  Debone meat for your smaller kids, but know that if you get them used to this kind of preparation they won’t know from a fish stick and this is what they’ll want when they get older.  While there is no one, but no one, who is as good with fish bones as my mother, my son, Matthew, now 21, can hold his own because he has been eating whole fish all his life.

Smoked whitefish makes its way to Richmond Costco!

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HUGE smoked whitefish news today.  I again have a reason to live:  Costco in Richmond, CA, is carrying 2-pound tubs of Acme Fish Corporation’s smoked whitefish salad.  It was all about serendipity this afternoon as I sampled some kind of nonsense close to where they stock the smoked trout and Copper River salmon.  I eyed white square containers of something out of the corner of my eye, making out only the words “Blue Hill Bay.”  Oh my God! — in a flash I connected those words to the Costco in Long Island City, where my parents lived — where we bought tubs of whitefish salad from Acme sold under that name, enough to see Steve, Matt and myself through the next six months in San Francisco, a place far from the natural habitat of decent smoked fish products.  I made my way to the white containers in slow motion, with arms outstretched as if greeting a lover, thinking, “Oh, please let this be what I think it is.  I’ve waited since 1995 for this day, checking the fish area regularly, always to be disappointed.  This would redeem even the bitter disappointment of that salty, lame-ass, whole smoked whitefish that showed up for two weeks in 2007.”  I quickly grabbed one and did a scan akin to a doctor looking for ten fingers and ten toes, seeking out the words “smoked” “whitefish” “salad” and “Acme.”  Then I could breathe again.  I was on the horn to Steve in seconds flat, almost yelling into my mouthpiece that this costs $7.95.   Seven friggin’ ninety five for two pounds!  When you are even able find it in these parts it costs upwards of $12 per pound.  I took two home.  This is especially pleasing because my bagel monger, Berkeley Bagels (1281 Gilman Street), used to sell this for $8 a pound, but they got greedy and it now costs way more than that.  This is notice to everyone that you no longer have to be held hostage by Berkeley Bagels and Manhattan Bagels (1789 4th Street, Berkeley) in order to get a little smoked whitefish salad for your bagels.  Note that this salad is not chunky, rather very smooth, with no preservative aftertaste that almost all other commercially prepared smoked fish salads have.

Salmon in parchment

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Salmon fillets in parchment packs ready for the oven

Salmon fillets in parchment packs ready for the oven

Salmon fishing on the West Coast will be drastically reduced soon, so I made some tonight as sort of a “last hurrah,” since I won’t be buying it much if it goes significantly up in price.  As a nod to lighter fare I cut a side into smaller fillets and then baked them en papillote — in parchment paper.  You can, too.  Cut folded parchment sheets into hearts which, when opened, exceed the area of the salmon – which should be placed flat on one side of the heart – by about two inches.  Be sure to salt and pepper the fish first, and then add to the top some fresh herbs or a slice of orange.  Whatever you like.  Then fold the salmon-less side of your parchment heart over the top of the salmon and start sealing the packet, tucking the two layers of parchment under, beginning at the top.  When you reach the point at the bottom of the heart you need to do a “tuck under” with your last “fold ‘n crimp.”  Bake them on a sheet pan at a preheated 350 F. for no more than 15 minutes or so for 5-ounce fillets.  It depends on your oven, but if you dry them out you’ll be really sorry.  Make an x-shaped cut in the parchment with a sharp paring knife without getting a steam burn and serve in the paper with sides.

tomato feta salad

The really fabulous thing about this meal was my famous tomato-feta salad – always a hit here.  This is so easy to make, but relies on one expensive ingredient:  hazelnut, almond or walnut oil.  In my opinion you should have one of these on hand at all times to add a little special zip now and again.  A few rich ingredients like this allow you to pull off some classy last-minute meals.  Costco sometimes sells these oils in trio packs for about $17, and you can keep them for about two years.  I don’t care what anyone says, when I store mine in the back of the fridge I have seen no rancidity for 24 months; my fridge is at a steady 37 F.  What you need to have on hand is:  good tomatoes cut into eights.  Feta cheese – the real thing – in small cubes.  Use about 1/3 of the volume of your tomatoes.  Orange juice.  Lemon juice.  Onion powder.  Sliced red onion – as much as you like, but not too much.  Whole Calamata olives, which you can buy without pits in a jar, if you don’t want to deal with pits.  Use the same volume of olives as you do cheese.  If you buy a huge jar at Costco (where else?) it’ll keep for ages.  One of the oils I mention above.  Salt and pepper.  Make a vinaigrette out of the oil and orange juice by simply whisking them together, using proportions you like but heavier on the oil, something like 1/2 cup oil for every 1/4 cup OJ.  Add a splash of lemon juice and a shake of onion powder.  Whisk again.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Whisk.  Correct seasoning and oil/acid ratio.  Whisk – whisk – whisk.  Set aside.  Mix the rest of the stuff gently in a large bowl.  Add as much dressing as you like, reserving the rest for future use.  Toss gently and allow to sit at room temperature for a half hour before serving, but pop in the fridge if it’ll be longer.  You will not believe how good this salad tastes.

I also roasted some French string beans (yes, this is a no-no and you should only roast big, bad string beans, but I was dealing with leftovers and had to do something different).

roasted green beans