Sockeye with Cherry Prep. and Menesha/Puttanesca Pasta…..a.k.a. practice practice practice

When I’m not at work I usually come home and practice what I made at work so I can get up to speed with everyone else on the line.  I’m the least experienced person there so I’m doing my best to make sure every dish I put out is worth the money someone is paying for it as well as puts Blueacre in a positive light (brown noser, yup!).

I love where I work and I want to keep doing cool things there so I practice.  Mindy’s parents are in town and they brought home a couple of nice pieces of fish from Pike Place Market.  When they got home I was just waking up and I saw they had fish and said, “you guys hungry? I can cook this now if you want”.   They let me!

This is a take on the cherry prep at work. It goes on the King Salmon but I had Sockeye…no worries!  I added some herbs from Mindy’s farm (green onions, and rosemary) and proceeded to dish it up.  I included a pasta from my 2AM meals which was about 8 hours before.  The base is from our minestrone, which I love, and then I finished it like a puttanesca pasta because Eric is crazy like that.   Practicing is awesome.

Bring Eric fish, he’ll cook it for you…it’s that easy.

Eric

Pan Seared Albacore with Bell Pepper and Eggplant Cous Cous

Fish was my first word in English. I’m obsessed with fish.  I really can’t get enough of it and everytime I eat it it always feels like a new experience.  Cooking fish is hard to do so I have been working my butt off to try and get it right. 

I have been reading a lot of Eric Ripert books (Return to Cooking, On the Line) lately to try and master cooking fish the right way along with the James Peterson book: Fish and Shellfish.  The delicate balance between done and overcooked is a very thin line.  Too much cooking and you can’t go back and fix it.  Undercooked and it looks fine on the outside but the middle is a disaster…..it’s not fun to re-cook fish……………

I nailed it this time and I have been nailing my fish cooking lately. I’m pretty proud of that and hopefully I can stay consistent.  When done correctly fish is better than steak, there I said it.  Anyone can age and cook steak but it takes skill to cook fish properly.   I’m slowly making my through the different types of fish and trying the different methods of cooking them…..it’s going to be a while before I can get through them all…..coolest challenge in the world :)

Israeli cous cous with 1:1 ratio of water to cous cous.  Slowly steam, then finish with a little salt and pepper.  In a separate pot saute diced yellow bell and orange bell peppers with eggplant.  I chose to saute them in clarified butter when it was close to being done I added some meyer lemon zest (not candied), salt, pepper, then folded in the cous cous and finished it with white truffle oil.

Murray river pink salt and crushed black pepper go on the fish for 20 minutes in the refrigerator then each side is seared at extremely high temperatures on a pan with a small amount of clarified butter.   The fish is then finished in the oven.  The fish is removed, placed on the cous cous then a thyme butter sauce is made in the pan with a little white wine to deglaze.  Tiny amount is poured over the fish then garnished with the thyme sprig.

Ta-da!

Eric

Poached Salmon Buerre Blanc

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Made this in class.

Equipment:

  • Parchment paper, rolled and cut into a teepee
  • Small saute pan
  • Small sauce pan

Ingredients:

  • Salmon
  • Butter
  • Parsley, minced
  • Tarragon, minced
  • White wine
  • Salt and Pepper, to taste
  • Court Bouillon (click for recipe)
  1. Heat up 4 ounces of Court Bouillon in a small saute pan
  2. Season salmon with salt and pepper
  3. Place salmon in saute pan and place teepee over it
  4. Remove teepee after 3 minutes and pour some of the court bouillon over the salmon then remove some of the court bouillon and place in sauce pan. Replace teepee on top of salmon and continue cooking for another 5-6 minutes……..Don’t overcook!
  5. Add parsley, tarragon, white wine, salt, and pepper to court bouillon in sauce pan then reduce by half
  6. Remove from heat and stir in whole soft butter to sauce consistency.
  7. Remove salmon and plate then pour 2 ounces of sauce on salmon.

Enjoy,

Eric

The Lost Halibut

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About two months ago I made some halibut with extremely large halibut steaks (click for recipe). These things weighed about 2 pounds each and were extremely fresh. I did two recipes, one with a three pepper rub served with a mango pineapple dressing and this one, the insanely spicy halibut with a mango pineapple dressing. I didn’t post it because I don’t know too many people that like extremely spicy food. Well, here it is…..go with caution my friend.

Ingredients:

1 large halibut steak

Fish Rub

Italian Sea Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Aji Mirasol Pepper, ground
Chipotle Pepper, ground
Urfa Biber

Mango pineapple dressing (click for recipe)

Rub the halibut steaks with the salt and pepper rub. Heat up some grape seed oil then cook the halibut about 4 minutes on each side. Serve with mango pineapple dressing over the top. Serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

Cod with a Coconut Curry Cous Cous

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This meal brought to you by the letter: C. I had a lot of fun making this.  It started off with some Rock Cod and it ended up giving me a great spice blend and an awesome picture. Mindy posed the picture, I should have her do that more often because she has a natural touch for the artsy stuff. You need try this recipe!

Ingredients:

Fish

1 Rock Cod Filet with pins removed. It’s a pain in the ass to remove the pins but if you don’t then someone is going to get hurt.
Merlot Grape Seed Oil
1 Lime
Chives

Spice Blend for fish:

Coriander
Grains of Paradise
Pink Peppercorn
Parsley
Tarragon
1/2 Aji Mirasol Pod

Grind all the spices together in a spice grinder.  I buy all my spices at World Spice (Click)

In a large skillet set heat to med-high then pour in a little Merlot Grape Seed Oil. Rub both sides of the fish with the spice blend then place in the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Serve!

Curry Cous Cous

2 cups uncooked cous cous
1 can chicken broth

Pour in the chicken broth then stir in the cous cous. The cous cous will suck up all the broth quickly. It’s pretty cool.

1 can coconut milk, shaken (not stirred)
2 tbsp. yellow thai curry paste
1 tbsp. brown sugar
2 Turkish Bay Leaves

Combine all ingredients together. Simmer uncovered. It is done when the mixture is halved.

Pour the curry over the cous cous. Serve

Enjoy,

Eric

Salmon White Cream Sauce Pasta

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Ingredients:

-1/2 lb. wild sockeye salmon
-1/2 cup heavy cream
-1 cup white wine
-1 tbsp. capers
-1 tbsp. fresh rosemary
-1 tbsp. pesto
-1 tsp. garlic salt
-sea salt
-crushed black pepper
-olive oil
-parmesan cheese
-2 cups cooked penne pasta

In a medium sauce pan on medium-high heat pour in the heavy cream,wine, and rosemary, simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in the capers, pesto, garlic salt, and a tiny amount of black pepper.  Reduce mixture by half by simmering on medium heat (takes about 5-7 minutes).  In a separate pan pour olive oil, a dash of sea salt, and pepper on high heat.  Immediately, place the salmon in the pan and pour olive oil on top of the salmon along with salt and pepper.  Cook for 2 minutes on each side then take off heat and shred with a fork and stir into pasta sauce.  Serve.

Enjoy,

Eric

Sichuan Pepper Sockeye Salmon

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This is my first creation with the spices from World Spice Merchants .

Ingredients:

-1 lb. wild sockeye salmon
-1 1/2 tbsp. ground Sichuan pepper
-1 tsp. sea salt or Utah Basin Salt
-1 tbsp. fresh grated ginger
-2 garlic cloves minced
-1/4 cup soy sauce

Mix the Sichuan, garlic, salt, ginger and soy sauce. Pour mixture over salmon, cover it and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.  Pre-heat oven to 375F. Cook salmon uncovered for 10-12 minutes. Serve it!!!

Enjoy,

Eric

Tostones with Seared Ahi Tuna

p1190002p1190004Ingredients:

-2  4 ounce Ahi Tuna fillets

-1/3 cup soy sauce

-1 tbsp fresh ginger, microplaned

-1 tsp. crushed red pepper

-1 plantain

Tuna-Combine the soy sauce, ginger, and red pepper. Marinade the tuna for 15 minutes with the previously combined ingredients. Cook on high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side.

Tostones- Cut a plantain in 2 inch slices.  Place slices into a deep fryer for 5 minutes. Take plantains out and flatten them then place back into the deep fryer for another 3 minutes.

Place tuna on top of tostone. Enjoy

Eric

Tilapia with a red sauce

tilapia-1

Ingredients:

-4 tilapia filets

-Tomato Sauce

2 cups tomato sauce
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

-Light Breading

2 cups flour
1 tbsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. ground red pepper
2 tbsp corn starch

Stir together the light breading in a mixing bowl. Dust both sides of the  tilapia fillets with the light breading mixture. Take the fillets and place them on a pan, cover, and place in the refrigerator for about half an hour.

In a medium sauce pan combine the tomato sauce concoction on medium heat for 15-25 minutes or longer. Make sure you don’t let it boil, just let it simmer so the dry ingredients can open up in the mixture.

On a large skillet pour 1/2 cup of olive oil and heat on med-high heat. Place the fillets on the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Once they are done place on a paper towel for 1 minute then pour the tomato mixture on top and serve immediately.