Friday Fish Night!

Growing up my parents taught me to appreciate food.  My mother is an artist, and she loves to express herself through cooking.  I learned all my basics from her - how to make a roux, how to cut vegetables, how to devein shrimp... after my many tears and cries "I'm going to ruin something!" my mother taught me to trust myself through my cooking.  She also taught me that when food is made with love, it always tastes so much better.  And apparently a pie can only be made when you are happy, or else something bad will happen (and that is why she would get up before the sun to start pies during the holidays, to avoid any distractions from her two wild, salivating children).
She respected food so much, the meat guys at the local grocery store knew her by name. Her favorite was her meat man Joe, who always told her when good pieces of meat were coming in, when things were going on sale, or whatever - he had her back when it came to meat.  I had met him a couple of times when I was dragged to the grocery store, but I never really thought of him outside of that store.  Then he was laid off, and my mother was heartbroken.  She eventually made nice with the new meat guys, but it was never the same.
Then I started hanging out with my dear friend Emily, whom I explained in an earlier post that I hated her when I first knew her (and now she's one of my dearest friends, or "in my top 10 I'd like at my wedding," as she would say).  Band kids would start hanging out at her house at night, but it was always late when we were there so her parents and sister were asleep. But when Emily and I became better friends, I came over at different times.  And then I met her dad.  And I instantly knew that he was Joe, my mom's favorite meat man.  Clearly our friendship was meant to be.

But back to 2010, today was Friday Fish night at my apartment - Emily and I made spade fillets and salmon fillets.  We are both going through a "we can only go out if it is cheap" stage and we decided to stay in (because what isn't cheaper than that?!).  I was at the store today and I bought some salmon, which only costed $5.00, and between two people that's dirt cheap! I had all of the other ingredients at home, so cooking this evening was quick, painless, and easy on the wallet.

I was slightly inspired by my Pecan and Ginger Crusted Tilapia because I still have some left over ginger, so the salmon became my asian-inspired dish and the spade was cooked for a delicate pallet, only using fresh herbs and a little garlic.

Pecan and Garlic Sautéed Salmon
Ingredients
1 salmon filet, with skin
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tsp dried basil

Rub the basil, salt, and freshly ground pepper into the flesh side of the salmon.
In a small sauté pan, start browning the garlic and ginger together in the olive oil, once it starts to brown, remove the garlic and the ginger and set aside (these will be used later), leaving the oil in the pan.  Turn the oil up on a high heat and once the oil is hot, put the salmon in skin side down, to crisp the skin.  Then flip and cook until the salmon is cooked through.

For this recipe, I made the same honey balsamic glaze that I made for the tilapia, but I added in both the browned garlic and ginger, as well as some ginger powder.

Herb and Garlic Fish
Ingredients
2 filets of white fish (whichever you choose)
2 tbsp fresh herbs, mashed with a little salt and olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Rub the fish filets with the herbs before adding to the heat.
Start to brown the garlic on a medium-high heat, and after a couple of minutes add your fish.  Sprinkle each side with a little salt and freshly ground pepper.  Cook on both sides, until the garlic starts to brown and the herbs start to cook as well.  Once the fish is cooked through, remove from heat and put in a warm oven.

Spicy Rice
Let's just say I'm always doing something crazy with my rice! Haha! :)
Ingredients
1 cup white rice, cooked per packaging directions
1 tbsp butter
Salt to taste
2 tsp herbes de provence
2 tsp habanero sauce

Once rice is cooked through, add in all the ingredients above and stir.  You may need to adjust per your taste, but I found that the spicier it was, the better it balanced the fish's delicate flavor.
Serve the white fish over the rice.

Ciao, e bella cucina!
Katherine

Pecan-Ginger Crusted Tilapia with a Honey-Balsamic Glaze

So I was feeling a little crazy today and decided to make something up. I had some tilapia in my freezer and some pecans in my pantry and decided to add a little spin on a classic dish. And it turned out fantastic! So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 Tilapia filets
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 inch chunk of ginger
Salt to taste
2 cloves of garlic - minced
Flour
Powdered ginger
1/4 cup of milk
Olive oil
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp of honey

Directions:
Puree/finely chop the ginger (I used a magic bullet) and combine with panko, pecans, and salt.  Set aside. In a separate bowl/plate, combine flour and powdered ginger. You only need enough to lightly coat each filet. Set aside.  Then pour your milk into another separate plate. Set aside.
While heating olive oil in a large sauté pan, you will dredge the filets in the following order: flour, milk, and pecan mixture. You lightly coat the fish, on both sides, in the flour and then put it in the milk and turn the filet so milk covers both sides as well. After you make the flour-milk paste, dip the fish in the pecan mixture, coating until you can't see any more white.  Then pan-fry the fish in the olive oil.
Allow the fish to completely brown on each side. As you can see in the picture, my fish was a dark-golden brown on both sides and was cooked perfectly. Set the finished fish on a plate and set in the oven while you make your glaze.
Do not remove any "crunchies" or oil from the pan before adding the vinegar. Remove your pan from the heat and let it cool for a minute or so before adding the balsamic vinegar. If you want a lighter garlic flavor, brown the garlic first. I didn't - I added the balsamic and garlic at the same time.  As soon as the balsamic is added into the pan, put it back on the heat and stir constantly.  Add in your honey and continue to stir. Add in a little salt and continue stirring.  The balsamic vinegar should be bubbling and steaming while it reduces - the more it reduces, the thicker it will be so you can decide when to stop reducing it.
Plate your fish and drizzle a little of the glaze on top and enjoy!! :)