Fish

Ingredients
For the polenta
4 cups milk (I used skim lactose free, you can use whichever type you like.)
1 cup instant polenta
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₃ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

For the tilapia
1 ¹⁄₂ tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (Regular paprika will work in a pinch.)
¹⁄₂ teaspoon garlic powder
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₄ teaspoon black pepper
4 (6 ounces each) tilapia fillets
Cooking spray

Instructions
1. To prepare polenta, bring milk to a boil in a medium saucepan; gradually add polenta, stirring constantly with a whisk. Reduce heat, and cook 5 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently; stir in ¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese; cover and keep warm.

2. To prepare fish, heat a large nonstick grill pan over medium-high heat. Combine oil and next 4 ingredients in a bowl, stirring well. Rub fish evenly with oil mixture. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add fish to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.  

Comments
This recipe is from the 2009 Cooking Light Annual.  

Normally when I try out a new recipe I’m pretty careful to follow it to the letter, at least the first time.  There are a few substitutions I’ll make often, like half and half for heavy cream if the cream doesn’t need to be whipped, but I try to stay true.  For this recipe, the grocery store just conspired against me.  

1) The only frozen tilapia I could find was marinated.  Since I’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to fish I opted to get the least offensive of the marinated tilapia and hope that it would be fine.  I came home with Toasted Black Pepper Tilapia.  I thawed the fish, which comes in individually wrapped portions, under running water.  Then I opened each pouch and rinsed each fillet.  Thankfully the finished product was excellent and I couldn’t taste anything that I could identify as “toasted black pepper” with all of the other flavors going on.  

2) Then there was the issue of instant polenta.  Apparently this is something I can only find at the grocery store that is at the opposite end of town from the one I was shopping at.  I try not to go that far out of my way for a single ingredient and I knew I had some instant polenta at home from my last foray into polenta cooking.  I thought to myself, “Self, grits are very similar to polenta, so how about just getting some instant grits to top off the polenta you have at home?”  And that’s what I did.  I used about ²⁄₃ cup of instant polenta and ¹⁄₃ cup quick grits.  This seemed to work out quite well and I was pretty happy with the finished product.  

And then there was the issue of my “nonstick grill pan” not being very nonstick anymore… but despite all of these setbacks Lance and I were both thrilled with the results!  

The moral of this story is “don’t be afraid to tweak things!”  

Shown here with Oven Roasted Broccoli.

Cooking Light 2009

Ingredients
¹⁄₄ cup balsamic vinegar
¹⁄₄ cup orange juice
2 tablespoons honey
¹⁄₈ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 (6 ounces each) salmon fillets, skin on
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions
1. Whisk the vinegar, juice, honey, and pepper flakes together in a small bowl or measuring cup. Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and cook, skin-side up, without moving, until well browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip the fish skin-side down and cook until all but the very center of the fish is opaque, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a platter and tent with foil. (If using frozen, ready to cook, pieces of fish, you will need to approximately double all of the cooking times.)

2. Wipe out the pan with paper towels and lower the heat to medium. Carefully pour the balsamic mixture into the pan (it will splatter). Simmer until thick and syrupy, about 2-5 minutes. Whisk in the butter, season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste, and pour over the salmon. Serve.  

Comments
I love fish but it’s something I was never able to cook until Art started traveling for work.  Sure, I could have made two different meals, but that would have been a giant hassle and I’ve always been content to sate my fish craving at restaurants.  However, now that Art does travel for work, and Lance is also a lover of fish, I try to get in at least one fish night a week.  

I’ve never been too pleased with the “fresh” fish offerings at my grocery store, so I opt for individually flash frozen pieces instead.  They’re pretty much perfect and already in the correct portions which makes them even better.  

This recipe comes from The Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2007 and I was super pleased with the results.  The skin got nice and crispy and the balsamic glaze worked perfectly with the flavor of the fish.  

Shown here with Creamy Broccoli Pasta.

America’s Test Kitchen 2007

Ingredients
For the Dijon shallot sauce
2 tablespoons shallots, minced
¹⁄₂ tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
¹⁄₂ cup half and half
¹⁄₂ bay leaf
3 tablespoons white wine, plus more if sauce is too thick
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

For the salmon
3 medium potatoes, grated (Shred using a box grater or food processor.)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 (4-6 ounces each) salmon fillets
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon pepper

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350*F.  

2. In a medium saucepan, sauté the shallots in butter over medium-low heat until translucent, about 1-2 minutes.  Add the flour and stir to form a roux.  Cook 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture turns a light brown.  Slowly pour in the half and half and whisk until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens.  

3. Add bay leaf and wine, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat and add the mustard and lemon juice.  Set aside.  

4. Lightly coat a large ovenproof skillet with oil and heat over medium-high heat.  Place the potatoes in a colander and rinse several times in cold water until the water runs clear.  Pat dry with paper towels.  Transfer to a large bowl and add lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  

5. Pack ¹⁄₂ cup of potatoes on each salmon fillet and sear, potato-side down, in skillet until golden brown.  Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 10-20 minutes until the salmon flakes easily.  

6. Serve with sauce.  If the sauce has thickened, stir in some extra wine before serving.  

Comments
I ran across this recipe on the blog Savory Simple and knew that I needed to make it the next time Art was out of town.  Lance and I were both very pleased with the dish, although I wish that I had used a nonstick skillet instead of a skillet that wasn’t quite so nonstick.  My potatoes stuck a tidge and things would have looked much prettier if that hadn’t been the case.  

Shown here with Sautéed Green Beans.

Internet - Savory Simple

Ingredients
2 bunches bok choy, chopped
2 5- to 6-ounce salmon fillets
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
¹⁄₂ teaspoon lemon zest
³⁄₄ teaspoon coriander seeds, ground
¹⁄₄ cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 425*F.  Place half of the bok choy in the center of each of two 12-inch square pieces of aluminum foil.  Place a salmon fillet over each pile.  

2. Mix lemon juice, green onion, hoisin, ginger, lemon zest, coriander, cilantro, salt and pepper in a small bowl.  Pour half of the sauce over each piece of fish.  (Alternatively, you can blend all of the sauce ingredients in a hand blender cup.)  

3. Fold up sides of foil and pinch tightly to seal above the fish and at both ends of the packets.  Place packets on baking sheet.  Bake until fish is just opaque in the center, 12-15 minutes.  

4. Remove packets from oven and open very carefully to allow steam to escape.  Serve with rice.  

Comments
Since Art is gone this week, I knew I had to make a fish dish since it’s been quite some time since I’ve gotten to indulge.  I found this recipe on epicurious.com and was especially excited since it also called for the bok choy that I’d gotten in my CSA box.  Woo!  The original recipe called for orange but I managed to completely forget to pick one up at the store.  I used lemon instead and was pleased with the flavor.  I would, however, like to try it out with orange at some point in the future. 

Lance and I both greatly enjoyed this dish and found it similar to the last salmon recipe that I made, probably the combination of the cilantro and citrus.

Internet - Epicurious

Ingredients
1 teaspoon lime zest
2 tablespoon lime Juice
2 cloves garlic
2 green onions, cut into 2-inch lengths
¹⁄₂ cup cilantro
¹⁄₂ cup jelly (The original recipe calls for jalapeno jelly which I couldn’t find.  I used some Peach Jalapeno Jelly that I got from a local farmer at the market and it was amazing)  
2 tablespoons butter
4 salmon fillets (6-8 ounces each, 1 ¹⁄₄ inches thick), skin removed if desired
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Place the lime zest, juice, garlic, green onions, cilantro, and jelly into a food processor, blender, or immersion blender container and process until smooth.  Heat the glaze in a small saucepan over medium heat until just bubbling, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer ¹⁄₄ cup of the glaze to a small bowl to cool slightly. Stir the butter into the glaze remaining in the saucepan, cover, and set aside.

2.  Fire up grill and heat until hot.  

3. Make a 6 to 7-inch strip of aluminum foil that will cover the length of the grill.  Spray it with cooking spray and place on the grill.  (This is what you will cook the salmon on.)  Season the salmon with salt and pepper, brush each side of fillet with ¹⁄₂ tablespoon of the reserved glaze (without butter), and place skin(ned) side up on the foil.

4. Place the salmon over the hot fire and grill until the glaze forms a golden brown crust, 6 to 8 minutes. (Move the trays to the cooler part of the grill if the fillets darken too quickly.) Using tongs, flip the salmon and cook 1 minute. Spoon half the buttered glaze over the salmon and cook until the center of each fillet is still just translucent, about 1 minute. Transfer the salmon to a platter and spoon the remaining buttered glaze over it. Serve.  

Comments
This is adapted from a recipe from The Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2008.  I admit, I had a lot of trepidation since I felt like I was doing everything wrong.  I forgot to spray the foil; I didn’t let the salmon cook long enough for all the steps, etc.  However, even with the mistakes, this was fantastic.  The peach jalapeno jelly worked great and added a neat sweetness to the fish.  I’m pretty thrilled about how this turned out, Lance and I both enjoyed our pieces.  (Art had chicken.)  Aside from remembering to spray the foil, I wouldn’t change a thing the next time I make this.  

Shown here with Spaghetti Squash with Lemon and Capers.

America’s Test Kitchen 2008

Ingredients
¹⁄₂ pound to 2 pounds of salmon (I used about 1 pound that was cut into 3 pieces)
2 lemons, sliced
12-18 ounces fresh spinach
¹⁄₂ teaspoon black pepper
³⁄₄ teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons dried dill, or 2 tablespoons fresh dill  
¹⁄₄ cup white wine

Instructions
1. Use a 5-6 quart slow cooker.  

2. Wash your spinach if necessary and cram it into the slow cooker. It should fill the slow cooker almost to the brim.  Don’t worry, it will cook down.  

3. Place fish onto the bed of spinach, and sprinkle it on each side with the salt, pepper, and dill.

4. Arrange the lemons on top of the fish and then add the wine.

5. Cook on low for 2 hours, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Comments
This is another recipe adapted from A Year of CrockPotting.  I planned this meal when Art thought that he would be gone for work during the week but circumstances changed and he ended up being home.  He was gracious enough to order pizza so that Lance and I could still have salmon.  

I had some trepidation about cooking something as delicate as fish in the crock.  Essentially, this is somewhere between steaming and poaching the fish and it turned out perfectly moist and cooked through.  I used fresh dill from my CSA box and the flavor was spot on.  This was a delicious and easy way to prepare fish, all while watching a movie.  

The salmon shown here had some lemon-pepper marinade on it since the store didn’t have plain salmon.

Internet - A Year of Slow Cooking