Parmesan Crusted Salmon

This is yet another winner - both in taste and ease to prepare.

Picked up this recipe from Hellman's.

• 1/3 cup Mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp. finely chopped flat-leaf parsley (used dried parsley instead)
• 1 tsp. grated lemon peel (omitted)
• 4 pieces salmon fillet (about 4 oz. each) - (used 1 fillet slab picked up from costco)
• 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs - (used seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Combine Mayonnaise, cheese, parsley in bowl. Arrange salmon on baking sheet. Evenly top with Mayonnaise mixture, then sprinkle with bread crumbs.
3. Bake until salmon flakes with a fork and topping is lightly browned, about 12 minutes.

Salmon Kho Tieu

One of the dishes that I love at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant is their Salmon Casserole.

I've tried preparing this at home before and made use of a clay pot and a ready-to-use Kho Tieu seasoning that I got from a Vietnamese grocery. I remember that it tasted too pepper-y back then so we filed a mental note to use less of the seasoning.

We never did get to try this out again because our clay pot broke.

Several years later, I find myself in a bind - my cholesterol levels are up from last year and I really have to watch what I'm eating. I'm sure hubby isn't far behind (his levels were even higher than mine last year) so what's a gal to do but learn to cook healthier dishes ?

This recipe was adapted from The Ravenous Couple's site, my changes are in italics:

1 lb catfish steaks (I used Salmon fillet)
4 tbs fish sauce
3 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs minced shallots (I didn't have shallots)
2 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs black pepper
3 green onions, sliced 1 inches long (didn't have green onions either, so I just put onions)
3 tbs caramel sauce
1 can of young coconut juice
1 thai chili (thinly sliced, optional)
cooking oil

1. Clean the fish steaks, rinse well and pat dry. Marinade with fish sauce, sugar, pepper, garlic, and shallots for about 1/2-1 hr.
2. In pot, heat about 1 tbs of cooking oil on medium high and add the marinaded fish. Allow to sear and brown for about 2-3 before searing opposite side for another few minutes.
3. Add the caramel sauce and just enough coconut juice to the level of the fish steaks. Cover and turn to med low heat and allow to simmer for about 25 min (longer if you want it really soft), checking a few times to make sure that it's not reduced too much. Add more coconut juice or caramel sauce if needed. The fish will eventually caramelize and brown, as will the sauce which will be a thick gooey consistency.
4. Taste sauce and make final adjustments with fish sauce or sugar. (I adjusted the taste with salt as hubby doesn't like the smell of fish sauce)
5. Turn off heat and add additional fresh cracked pepper, green onions, and optional chili pepper.

This dish turned out really nice. The first bite tasted a bit off as it wasn't the same as what we usually get at the restaurant but after I got to terms with that, I realized that this was really really good. In fact, we didn't have any left for hubby's baon tomorrow because we ate it all.

Salted Fish Fried Rice

Did I ever tell you that I'm a friend rice fiend? I love rice, all kinds of rice. This salted-fish fried rice is one of my absolute favorites whenever we go out to a Chinese restaurant.

Ingredients:
- garlic
- rice
- egg
- salted fish (Salted Threadfin)
- sliced chicken
- spring onions

1. cut / shred the Salted Threadfin into little pieces - you could probably use other types of salted fish but this is the real deal. This fish comes in dried form but we just this because you're not supposed to use a lot anyway.

My hands and fingers hurt after making himay this fish because the flesh was so hard! I use 2 slices for the 2 serving fried rice that I usually make.


2. Saute the garlic and sliced chicken in oil (I use a little bit of the oil from the Salted Threadfin). When the chicken is cooked, add the shredded fish and saute a bit more.

3. Add the rice and egg.

4. Garnish with egg slices and spring onions.

Broiled Flounder Parmesan

My family has always abstained on Fridays during the Lenten season. Having my own household didn't change anything, I still abstain and make my husband do the same thing :)

I haven't prepared anything yet when hubby got home from work. I figured we could just wing it with some buttered pasta and salmon flakes (like what we sampled at Costco last time). Hubby had something else in mind - the flounder fillets.

The last time we had flounder, I baked it with crab meat, shrimp and mushrooms mixture. I wanted something different this time and found a recipe for Broiled Flounder Parmesan from Diana's Kitchen.

* 2 pounds flounder fillets
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
* 3 green onions, chopped
* 1 or 2 dashes of hot sauce, to taste
* thinly sliced lemon and parsley for garnish, optional

Place fillets in a single layer on a greased baking dish or broiler pan; brush with lemon juice.

Combine Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, salt, butter, and green onions, and hot sauce in a small bowl; set aside.

Broil flounder fillets 4 to 6 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Remove from oven; spread with cheese mixture.

Broil about 30 seconds longer, or until cheese is lightly browned and bubbly.

Garnish with sliced lemon and parsley if desired.

Broiled flounder recipe serves 6 to 8.

Our verdict: YUMMY!

Our first thanksgiving - Shrimp and Crab Stuffed Flounder, Baked Scallops w/ Bacon

I wanted to make something special for our first thanksgiving. I couldn't decide what to prepare but I knew that:

1) we are not standard thanksgiving fare fans (i.e. turkey, yams, stuffing,...) ; and,
2) given that we'll probably be spending thanksgiving by ourselves, there's no sense in having too much food that we'll be eating as leftovers in the next few days.

Inspiration struck when we were wandered, quite accidentally, into the supermarket's seafood section. There were crabs, shrimp, fish and scallops. It was then that I decided to prepare an all-seafood meal. Given that we're usually red-meat eaters - aside from the occasional chicken - this would be unique. Special, even.

Found a great recipe on the web for Shrimp and Crab stuffed flounder by Linda Reir.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 (4.5 ounce) cans small shrimp, drained
1 (4.5 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1/2 pound cooked crabmeat
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
8 (6 ounce) fillets flounder
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons water
2/3 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish and set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and saute onion, shrimp, and mushrooms until onion is tender. Stir in crabmeat, salt, pepper, and paprika; heat through.

Spoon the shrimp and crab mixture onto each flounder filet. Roll the filet up and fasten with toothpicks. Place rolled filets in prepared baking dish.



(Note: Either the flounder filets I got were too small or I was trying to stuff too much of the crab mixture in so instead of rolling the fish, I just folded it over.)

In a small bowl, whisk together soup, chicken broth, and water until smooth. Pour over the filets. Sprinkle cheese over the top.









Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and remove foil. Sprinkle the parsley over the top of the filets. Return the dish to the oven and bake uncovered for an additional 5 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

... and voila! Obviously, this dish is sorely lacking in presentation, but I swear, this is good!









We did make one concession in deference to turkey day, in addition to the stuffed fish, we had baked scallops wrapped in turkey bacon (hubby's idea). These turned out very good too. The scallops were huge - at least an inch and a half in diameter - and very very sweet, I just sprinked them with some seasoned salt and wrapped them in bacon.