Tag: fish

Let’s have some fish! And fun! And French! (Friday food links for food lovers, September 2023)

Here’s a collection of food links centered on fish, French (food) and fun. I have either made or eaten many of the dishes associated with these recipe links. All are highly recommended.

Cooked Fish: let’s start off with a fan favorite of many, salmon. To get started, we have recipes for salmon rillette and Ina’s salmon tartare. Love both of those. For those who love their spices, consider firecracker salmon, cajun salmon burgers or roasted salmon with zaatar. If you want something fancier, Saveur’s easy sheet pan salmon with dilly roasted potatoes could be what you want, or this sauted salmon in a beurre rouge sauce, perhaps. If you have to cook for a salmon hater, then read how to cook salmon for haters.

As for other seafood, one of my favorite is shrimp and one of my go to recipes is shrimp in a tomato sauce with feta and orzo. Here are four different versions of it — one, two, three and four — and they are all good.

Putting aside the feta for a sec, I love a causal bowl of peel and eat shrimp . But I’ve made this fancier Venetian shrimp with polenta and it’s fantastic (see photo above). I haven’t made this, Louisiana BBQ shrimp dish, but I want to. You fans of stir fries, try this stir fried shrimp and asparagus. And you can’t go wrong when you have shrimp with cocktail sauce.

Raw fish: I mentioned salmon tartare above. Tuna Tartare is also great. For crudo fans, I recommend this sea bass crudo recipe. This is flavorful: fish escovitch salsa. As is this poke sashimi ceviche raw fish. And you can always just get oysters…you don’t even need to shuck them: How to Open Oysters without Shucking.

Favorite fish: Besides the shrimp and feta above, two of my favorites fish recipes are Nigella’s Linguine With Mussels and Smitten Kitchen’s Manhattan style clams with fregola. Just the best.

More fish! If squid is in your sights, make Pan fried Calamari or Extra-Crunchy Calamari. If scallops are more your thing, try seared scallops with jammy cherry tomatoes.

Sole is simple and delicious, and so is this version: sole piccata. If your preference is for seafood that way, consider these Easy Sauces for Fish or these 10 quick sauces fish. Maybe read this Newfoundland Labrador cod memoir while you do.

French: let’s start off with a Southern French squid salad recipe from Saveur. If you crave something Fast and French, these fast French dishes might fill your table. Also fast are these French bistro recipes of which a croque monsieur is one of my favorites. Speaking of favorites, here are Food & Wine’s Favorite Recipes for Classic French Food. Read this with your steak frites or onion soup: How I rediscovered the joys of French cuisine.

Fun: Finally, here are some fun links on food….

 

 

On the eel pie and mash houses of England


The English have been eating eel for a long time. Not only was it common to eat, in medieval times it was not unheard of to pay the rent in eels.  A preference for the snaky fish eventually led to the creation of a special type of restaurant in Victorian England: the eel pie and mash house.


I fell down a rabbit hole reading about these places and had the urge to get to one of them before they are all gone. Indeed, Sauveur has this piece on london eel pie shops and how they are on the decline. Here’s a story of one such place closing, L Manze in walthamstow.

For anyone who feels the same, here is a list of the top 10 places to eat eel in London (L Manze still exists in other parts). Plenty of places to dine yet. And I saw a food influencer posting about stopping in F. Cooke’s and how special it was. Perhaps there is hope for eel dining in England after all.

BBQ is over! :) It’s time for autumn cooking. (My cooking interests for early Fall, 2021 )


If you are thinking: Bernie, I could really use some good recipes to cook this fall, can you help me? Why yes, I think I can. (I even have some grilling recipes because hey, keep BBQing if it makes you happy.) Here’s my fall list of food links (mostly recipes) I’ve found interesting and that I think you will find interesting too!

Recipes

Fish: first up, here’s a feast of fish recipes. I love clams, and I want to make this: Clams with chili and limes. Speaking of fish with citrus, try this: Citrus Shrimp Rice Bowls. If you are still grilling: This Fish Is Sustainable Cheap and Delicious on the Grill. Or maybe you want to roast: Roast Fish with Cannellini Beans and Green Olives. Do you like cod? If so, here are two for you: Rice Bowls with Flaky Cod and Green Seasoning Baked Cod. Back to shellfish with Quick Calamari With Garlic Mayonnaise  and Spicy Garlic Lemon Butter Shrimp with Parmesan Corn Polenta. Finally, this sounds fun if you want something sushi-like: DIY Hand Rolls Are My Last-Minute Dinner Party Savior. And this is worth a look: The Best Fish Cakes.

Vegetables: when you want carbs and veg: Greens and Beans with Fried Bread. This sound delicious: Vietnamese Tomato Salad. How about some dishes with emulsions? Here’s Carrot and Beet Salad with Scallion Emulsion or Roasted Red Pepper Emulsion. Or how about soups? This sounds amazing: This Lentil Soup Is So Good One Nurse Has Eaten It for Lunch Every Workday for 17 Years  and this sounds classic: make Any Vegetable Soup. If you need dips: Make a Ton of Impressive Dips With This Simple Formula. Or chickpeas: Warm Chickpea Bowls with Lemony Yogurt. Feeling like beans? Here’s 12 Easy Ways to Cook a Can of Cannellini Beans. If you are still grilling: Grilled Mushrooms and Carrots with Sesame. Maybe you are using the oven again…then make Sheet-Pan Ratatouille.  Or bake a pie: Golden Root Vegetable Potpie close. Put your kimchi to work with Kimchi-Fried Grains. Or your last summer tomatoes: rice-stuffed tomatoes.

Chicken: sticking with the lighter items, let’s move to chicken. Here’s a fantastic and varied list of chicken dishes: Chicken Braised in Lime and Peanut Sauce,  Chicken Schnitzel with Crunchy Salad (read this too:  The BA Sandwich Primer: Saltie), Stir-Fried Noodles With Chicken, Coq au Riesling, Curry-Poached Chicken with Rice and Scallions and finally Peperoncini Chicken.

Pasta/Noodles/Grains: are an excellent trio. Let’s start with gnocchi…I highly recommend this: Five Delicious Reasons to Always Have Gnocchi in Your Pantry. I also keep wanting to make these noodles, so I want to try one of these: Dan Dan Noodles, or this (it’s different) Dan Dan Noodles. Pasta Aglio e Olio Gets a Plus One is good for fans of it. Here’s a simple pasta dish: Macaroni and Peas Is the Desperation Meal That Always Satisfies. As is this: Pasta with Sausage and Arugula. Maybe you want to make your own pasta: Make Pasta From Scratch with Two Ingredients. Kudos to you!

What else? If none of those catch your fancy, what about you try this: Make This Pork Roast on Sunday Eat Well All Week Long. Or make this and have them on standby: 4 Homemade Spice Blends That’ll Level-Up Your Meals. This sounds amazing: Burnt Orange and Coriander Roast Pork. Same with this:  Maple Chicken ‘N’ Ribs. Finally there’s Lamb Meatballs With Pecan Romesco and .the Absolute Best Way to Cook French Fries According to So Many Tests.

Lists: I always come across lists of food more and more each month. These are some good ones:

  1. 45 Healthy Dinner Recipes for Low-Stress Weeknights.
  2. 9 Martha Stewart Recipes We Can’t Stop Making from One-Pan Pasta to Slab Pie.
  3. 30 Refreshing Slaw Recipes for Summer.
  4. 29 Healthyish Chickpea Recipes Here for Your Weeknight Dinners.
  5. These 81 Easy Pasta Recipes Are Your Weeknight-Dinner Saviors.
  6. Our 11 Best Summer Sangrias Including One With Rose.
  7. 30 Juicy Pork Chop Recipes for Easy Weeknight Dinners.
  8. 18 Classic French Appetizers.
  9. 9 Ways To Use Up Overripe Fruit.
  10. Arugula Salad With Shaved Parmesan Three Ways

Not recipes, but interesting: 

For steak lovers, here’s:  Cuts Of Steak Ranked From Worst To Best. For fans of budget cooking like me:  The Healthyish Guide to Low-Waste Cooking. You might ask: Why Do American Grocery Stores Still Have an Ethnic Aisle? Why indeed. Is American BBQ ethnic. I dunno, but here are two good pieces on American barbeque:  The Evolution of American Barbecue and  The media has erased the long history of Black barbecue skewing our understanding. As you know, fermented food is hot:  How Fermented Foods May Alter Your Microbiome and Improve Your Health. Finally, this was excellent:  Chez Panisse reimagined the way we eat. After 50 years is that enough?.

Happy cooking!

A nice gift idea for the fish food lover in your life …


…could be this: Sustainably Harvested Canned Seafood, by Scout Canning; set of 3, 3 flavors – Lobster, Mussels, Trout on Food52

Pricer than the canned fish you are used to getting in stores, but it could be a wonderful gift for someone.  Great packaging too. Happy to see it is from Canada, too. There is different versions of this too; you could just get the lobster, for example.

Food52 has lots of wonderful products. Even if you don’t care for this one, I recommend checking them out.

En papillote: six simple seafood dishes (and a bonus dish, too)


Over at Kitchen Daily, they had a feature the use of en papillote (whether that is using parchment, foil, or some other material). Of the recipes there, these are the ones I look forward to trying soon, especially the first one.

  1. Sea Bass En Papillote with Tangerine and Grapefruit – The Culinary Chase.
  2. Simple Elegant Fish with Cauliflower Potato Mash – Savory Nothings
  3. Tilapia en Papillote |Billy Parisi.
  4. Soy and Ginger Shrimp Packets – The Culinary Chase.
  5. Sole in a Bag with Zucchini & Black Olives
  6. Recipe: Asian Salmon en Papillote for Two | Verily.

Bonus: this sweet potato recipe not only sounds good, but I love the source for it.

The Bacon Eating Jewish Vegetarian: Big Sweet Easy (Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Sumac).

The image is from the last recipe from Verily. If you are new to this way of cooking, go to that recipe: it outlines the simple technique using parchment.