Filed under Seafood …

Mar 29 2009
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Salad, Seafood

Niçoise Salad

I recently returned from a spring break trip to Florida to build a Habitat for Huge Manatees, and I had a serious craving for healthy food. Two twenty-four hour drives led to a lot of not-so-healthy eating. We knew we had a problem when on day two we found ourselves in line for McDonald’s breakfast complaining that the McDonald’s we went to for breakfast the day before was so much faster. I don’t typically eat fast food unless it comes in the form of a Jimmy John’s sandwich or Chipotle salads, so it was pretty sad that in a one-week period I ate McDonald’s twice, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s. I also had my first Chik-fil-a experience. And then there were the conch fritters, fried calamari, and fried alligator. Those were all in one sitting. I’m kind of surprised my heart is still beating.

We planned our driving so we could spend the first night in Nashville and enjoy some barbeque. The people at our hotel recommended Jack’s in downtown Nashville, and I enthusiastically second that recommendation.  I got the pulled pork plate with mac n’ cheese and coleslaw.  I now want to move to Nashville.  I could definitely eat barbeque every day for the rest of my life (okay, I would also require frequent doses of Mexican food), listen to live country music, and buy a bedazzler.  From our two hours spent in downtown Nashville, we learned that a bedazzler is a must.  I should also probably invest in more denim and dig out all of my camo clothes from my Carhartt-loving phase of high school.  Yes, we saw bedazzled jean jackets and a bedazzled camo baseball hat.  I love Nashville.

Enough with the fried food and bedazzling (btw, blogger recognizes “bedazzling” as a word, but not “bedazzler”).  I promised you something healthy.  I realize this isn’t the most authentic recipe, but it is delicious and worth making.
Niçoise Salad
Makes 2 entree salads
  • 2 tuna steaks
  • 2 hard-boiled eggs
  • 1 cup green beans
  • 15-20 cherry or grape tomatoes
  • 8 small potatoes
  • 1/4 cup olives (Niçoise or a mix)
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • Mixed greens
  • 2-3 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 2-3 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 4-6 tbsp olive oil
Start by boiling the potatoes in salted water until you can pierce them with a fork with little resistance.  I boiled more than necessary so I could have some leftovers. 

Snap off the ends of the beans, and break them into about 1″ pieces.  Rinse the tomatoes.
Peel and slice the eggs.
Here are the capers hanging out with their big brothers, the olives.
 

Rinse the greens.
Rub the tuna steaks with a little olive oil, and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
Cook the tuna in a pan or on your trusty George Foreman for 5-8 minutes.
While the fish is cooking, make the dressing.  My mom gave me this handy dressing bottle, so I mixed it up in there.  It says champagne vinegar, but I used red wine instead.  Whatever kind of vinegar you have sitting around should be fine.  Give it a shake, and you’re good to go.
Here’s the tuna sitting on one of my new salad plates.  Lovely, aren’t they?
Pile up some greens, pour on a little dressing, and arrange the remaining ingredients on top.  If you have some leftovers you can pile them into a baguette, pour yourself a glass of wine, and pretend that you’re in France.  Bon apetit!
Feb 20 2009
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Seafood

Mussels with Garlic Butter

To start out our Valentine’s dinner, I decided to make mussels.  The last time I had them was almost a year ago at Hopleaf in Chicago, and Matt had never(!!) had them before.  I was pleasantly surprised by how inexpensive mussels were – about $6/lb.  I guess when I comes down to it there’s not that much edible matter in them, but I still thought that was a pretty good deal.  
I looked up a bunch of different recipes, and I settled on a simple one with a lot of positive reviews.  You can find the recipe here.  Since there were only two of us, I ended up cutting most of it by a third.  All of the amounts below will be the amounts I used.
Begin by chopping 1/4 cup shallots, mincing 2 cloves of garlic, and chopping about a tablespoon of parsley.  

Squeeze about 3/4 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, and get about 1/4 teaspoon lemon peel.  My lemon peel was more like lemon mush.  Oh well.  
Rinse and scrub the mussels.  I bought 1 pound, and it was plenty for the two of us.  

Place the mussels in a heavy pot, cover them, and cook them on high for about 5 minutes until they open.  Give the pot an occasional shake during that time.  

Here’s what they look like when they’ve opened up.  Lookin’ good.  

The actual recipe tells you to drain the mussels and reserve the liquid before transferring them to a bowl, but I only ended up with about a tablespoon of liquid.  Did I miss something?  Was I supposed to put some liquid in with them during the initial five minutes?  I’m still not sure about that one.  Oh, and be sure to throw out any that don’t open.  You don’t want to mess around with any bad seeds.

Cover the bowl loosely with foil so the mussels stay warm while you prepare the sauce.  

Melt about 3-1/2 tablespoons of butter in your pot over medium-high heat.  

Add the shallots and garlic to the butter and cook for a few minutes until tender.  

I decided to add a little white wine at this point because I realized how little liquid I had, and I really wanted more.  I probably added between 1/2 cup and 1 cup.  

Add the lemon juice, lemon peel, and reserved liquid.  Bring to a boil.  I decided to thrown in the mussels for a minute or so to warm them back up and cook them with the sauce.  I also added the parsley, but you can also save it to sprinkle on at the end.  Should you decide to follow the actual recipe, just pour the sauce over the mussels once it comes to a boil instead of throwing the mussels into the pot.  
Serve with crusty bread to soak up the sauce.  
I’m still not sure how I feel about this recipe.  The mussels were pretty good and very meaty, but I’ve definitely had better.  I was kind of hoping for a greater amount of liquid, so I might add more wine next time.  Making the sauce first and then cooking the mussels in it might help them soak up more flavor, too.  Maybe my lackluster review is due to the fact that I had the flu at the time, and shellfish is probably not the best cure.  I think I’ll do a little more research before I make another attempt.  They make for pretty pictures, though!
Feb 05 2009
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Main, Seafood

Tuna Casserole

For some reason I’ve really been craving tuna casserole lately. It’s a little odd considering the last time I ate it was probably 15 years ago when my grandma made it during lent. My mom claims that she made tuna casserole a lot when my brothers and I were little, but I have no recollection of eating it on any instances other than that one time.

After looking up a bunch of recipes, I made up one of my own. I got a little frustrated looking at all the recipes because so many of them would tell you the measurement for cooked noodles. How am I supposed to know how many dry noodles will yield 2 cups of cooked noodles? I was also frustrated by the fact that they all told you to use a casserole dish. I basically have two baking dishes – one 9″x13″ and one 9″ round – and I have no idea how either of those compare to a two-quart casserole dish. After a little googling I kind of figured out what I needed, so here is my tuna casserole recipe which can be made in a 9″ round pan and serves 4-6.

Measure about 2-1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles. Then cook them according to the package directions.

While the noodles are cooking, break up a few cans of tuna in a big bowl. I used two 5oz cans and one 3oz can. Depending on how tuna-y you want it, you could use anywhere from 10oz. to 15oz.

Add a generous cup of chopped broccoli. Peas would work well, too.

Add 1 can of cream of celery soup and about 2/3 cup milk.

Once the noodles are cooked and drained, add them to the tuna mixture.

Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer to a greased dish.

Top with breadcrumbs and cheese. I had some cheddar in the fridge, so I used that, but use whatever you have on hand – mozzarella, parmesan, Swiss, Gruyere, provolone…

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until the cheese has thoroughly melted.

We really liked this. It’s such a simple dish, and it’s perfect for a cold Minnesota night. I definitely won’t wait 15 more years to eat it again.

Jan 08 2009
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Appetizer, Seafood

Shrimp Ceviche

This is my last catch-up post from my time in Iowa cooking with my mom. We had a little Mexican feast one night with tortilla soup, shrimp ceviche, and margaritas.

When I was little I would eat shrimp that my mom would buy off the back of a truck from some guy. Is that weird? I think he would send us a postcard before he rolled through town, and then we would go to whatever parking lot he was stationed in and buy some shrimp. I wonder if the shrimp man is still around. Anyway, at some point in my childhood I developed an aversion to shrimp and stopped eating it for several years. I’m not really sure what turned me off, but I just refused to eat it.

Then came college and studying abroad. I spent a semester in Spain, and my host mother would make paella at least once a week. Along with the fish, mussels, and clams she would throw in shrimp. I probably could have just said, “No me gusta gambas,” but I didn’t want to offend her so I gave them another shot. I realized that they really weren’t that bad, and I’ve been eating shrimp ever since. A trip to Spain may not be the solution for everyone, though. I have a vivid memory of my friend Jon trying to order paella at this little food stand in Valencia and telling them about five times that he wanted it “sin gambas.” Unfortunately for him, they ignored his requests and he got paella con gambas. On a side note, it was at that same food stand where two of my friends, Katherine & Kathryn, shared a whole chicken. A whole chicken!! This seems to be a common theme among my friends. See: chicken pot pie post

Getting back on track, my mom and I made shrimp ceviche, and you should too. It was very easy and very good. We more or less followed a recipe from Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen.

Shrimp Ceviche

  • 1 lime
  • 1 pound medium-large shrimp, unpeeled
  • 1 cup diced jicama plus more for serving
  • 1 small red onion
  • 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp cider vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 or 3 serrano or jalepeno peppers
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes
  • 3 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 avocado
Start out by cooking the shrimp. Squeeze the juice of a lime into a sauce pan, add the rinds, and add a quart of water. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Raise the heat to high, add the shrimp, cover and let it return to a full boil. Immediately remove from the heat and carefully drain off the liquid. Tightly cover the pan of shrimp, and set it aside for 15 minutes to finish the cooking, then spread them out on a tray to cool.

Once the shrimp have cooled so you can handle them, peel and devein them. Cut them into 1/4″ bits.

While the shrimp are cooking you can start chopping up the other ingredients. We picked up a bunch of peppers at the store not knowing how many we would need for the ceviche and the soup. One and a half to two of the big, light green peppers went into the ceviche. Neither my mom nor I realized how hot the big peppers would be. Whenever I cut jalepenos I cover my hand with a plastic bag. I skipped that with these peppers thinking they weren’t very hot, and I was really regretting it the next morning when my fingers were still burning.

Chop whatever tomatoes you’re using. We used grape tomatoes because all of the other tomatoes at the store looked pretty sad. For the onion you can either slice it or chop it into bits. Chopping it might work better so all of the ingredients are more similarly shaped.
Mix the lime juice, vinegar, thyme, and oregano.

Then combine the lime juice mixture with the shrimp, onions, and peppers in bowl or whatever container you have laying around.  Cover it and let it stand at room temperature for up to an hour.  So says the actual recipe.  We did not cover it, and we gave it a little stir every ten minutes or so.  I’m not really sure why.  That’s just what my mom told me to do.  And a few tomatoes prematurely made their way into the mix.
After the marinating is done, add in the jicama, tomato, cilantro, and avocado, and season with salt.  If you think you’re going to have leftovers, only add the avocado to your own serving.  Serve with chips or slices of jicama.
Here’s the whole meal.  Thanks, Rick Bayless.
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