The Food We Eat

Fish (Salmon) Tacos

Ok, so there are a gazillion recipes for fish tacos out there. And many claim to be the 'best'. Well, you know what? It's kinda hard to ruin 'em. But, that said, I am a minimalist when it comes to fish tacos. I mean, why ruin good fish by dousing it with a ton of condiments. I could deal with piling on tons of stuff on chicken and beef tacos, but fish? No sir. Simple is good for me. Is this the 'best' fish taco recipe I have you ask? Well, I'll take the fifth on that, but this my friends, is pretty close.

So what do I mean by simple? Well, it sort of depends on what fish you use. Last night, one of my girlfriends was coming over for dinner and this girl likes good food. Awesome! We had some copper river salmon in the freezer, so I decided salmon tacos it would be. Given the fattiness and strong flavor of this fish, some acidity is much called for. But you don't want to overpower the salmon-y flavor too much. So, a simple marinade with olive oil, lime, some fresh cilantro...yum! I whipped up some chipotle sourcream to go on top, and simple shredded cabbage for crunch. That is it!

If you like, some pico de gallo would be ok too, but in my opinion, the chipotle sourcream does great all on its own. The gentle heat from the chipotle, the coolness of the sour cream - why ruin this party?

Good accompaniments would be some black beans and/or spanish rice.

Margaritas would have been great, but it was a school night, so boo hoo. I guess wine had to do. Tough life, eh?

Salmon Tacos

Serves 4 generously

1 1/2 lbs salmon fillets

2 tbsp olive oil

12 corn tortillas

2 cups shredded cabbage

Marinade:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (one large lime)

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp fresh ground cumin

1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Chipotle - Sour Cream:

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbsp milk

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp (less if you want) chipotle chilis*

Method:

1. Skin the salmon fillets and cut into 1 inch chunks.

2. Add all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour the marinade over the salmon pieces, coating each piece well. Marinate for 30 minutes. Please time this well. You don't want to marinate for much longer, or it will compromise the texture of the salmon (we are not trying to make ceviche here).

3. Chipotle-Sour Cream: Look for canned chipotle in adobo sauce in the latin section of your grocery store. You don't need much, so I usually puree the entire can contents (chilis + adobo sauce) and freeze the paste flat in a quart-size ziploc bag. This way, I break off what I need and use. In this case, I used 2 tbsp of this puree. It is Spicy, so go easy if you can't handle spice. If you are cracking open a can, you could use 1 chili (with some sauce clinging onto it). Mash well or puree into a paste.

Mix the chili paste with salt, sour cream, and a couple tablespoons milk to thin the sour cream mixture out. Set aside in the refrigerator. 

4. Heat a large non-stick pan. Coat with 1 tbsp olive oil. Cook the salmon pieces in one or two batches. Please don't overcook the fish. On med-high heat, it should only take 2 to 4 minutes for the salmon to cook.

5. Meanwhile, heat the corn tortillas. My favorite way to do this is to hold the tortillas over an open flame for about 30 seconds on each side. The tortillas get nice and pliable, and you cannot beat the smell of the toasted corn. Much better than microwaving or heating in an oven. Keep the tortillas in a towel-lined container, covered, until ready to serve.

6. To serve, scoop some cabbage onto a tortilla. Add a couple pieces of salmon. Spoon on some sour cream and call it dinner, my friends.

Miso Glazed Salmon

So, have I told you about my crazy $212.80 seafood experience? Read on..it's not as crazy as you might think. A month or so ago, I happened to be at one of my favorite grocery stores in Seattle, Central Market. All I really wanted was some milk and cheese. Before I even laid my foot in the store, a sign beckoned me - "Fresh Wild Alaskan King Salmon". Let me begin by saying that I am a HUGE salmon lover, and snob too. I only want the wild stuff. This farmed crap just will not do. I better be careful though, because we all might be forced to eat the farmed stuff if we keep consuming like we do. In any case, I'll enjoy the good stuff while it lasts (I hope I am offsetting my bad karma by all the good things I am doing for Mother Earth).

There are many varieties of Salmon in the Northwest - Sockeye, King, Coho, Chum. Of all these, King (aka Chinook) Salmon is my favorite. I love the deep orange flesh, the meatiness, the texture, and the flavor. It also happens to be the most expensive (you know, beer budget, champagne taste). Well, lets just say -- I had to get some. It was flown in just that morning from Alaska - it looked really really good. But I promise, I wasn't quite planning on buying the 'whole' fish. All 18 pounds of it. But it was such a good deal. And it was way cheaper to buy the whole thing instead of fillets. Lets do the math: $212.80/18, so that is approx. $12 per lb. Awesome! The friendly seafood guy did a beautiful job filleting the fish, and I carried my bounty home *very* carefully. Don't laugh but I actually strapped the huge package in A's car seat (uh oh!). Gosh, I'd love to have seen the look on the cop's face If I had been pulled over :-). In any case, I spent a good few hours that day cutting, wrapping, vaccuum sealing the fish, but all that had paid off. We have been eating lots of that yummy Salmon recently. Lucky us!

Back to dinner. I had some delicious Gai-Lan (aka Chinese Broccoli) in the CSA bin, so I really wanted to use that up when it was still so fresh. J cut out the Food and Drink section of the WSJ on June 8 for me - it had a feature on Summer Foods recipes courtesy of my absolute favorite local chef, Tom Douglas. This guy rocks!! I have never been dissappointed with any dish in any of his (now 5? ) Seattle restaurants. That is a great record considering I have eaten at his restaurants a lot. Tom had featured Sake poached Salmon, but alas, no Sake in the house (but fear not. I have saved this recipe for later). He paired it with Aromatic rice which sounded so so yummy, I had to make that. See here for the Aromatic rice recipe. Seeing the Asian turn dinner was taking, I decided to treat the salmon with a Miso Glaze. Oh so good. And a perfectly respectable way to treat a delicious (no make that 4 delicious) hunks of King salmon.

Miso Glazed Salmon

Serves 4 to 6

4 Salmon fillets, skin on (6 to 8 oz each)

3/4 cup Shiro Miso

1 tbsp soy sauce

4 tbsp Mirin

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp finely grated ginger

2 tsp olive oil

Method:

1. In a small glass bowl, combine all the ingredients above (except the salmon). Whisk to incorporate.

2. Smear the glaze over the salmon and refrigerate 1 hour (you could probably get away with another hour, but I would not go beyond that. You want to be able to taste the salmon, not just the marinade).

3. When ready to cook, turn the broiler on to high. With your fingers, scrape some of the excess marinade off the salmon fillets. Reserve the excess marinade.

4. Add the marinade to a small saucepan and thin with a bit of water. Cook 5 to 10 minutes to ensure that the raw marinade is cooked well (and safe to eat). You are looking for a sauce-like consistency. Thin with water if it is too thick.

5. Place the oven rack 4 to 5 inches from the heat elements. Place the salmon skin side up on a broiler pan lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil (will greatly assist in clean-up). Cook 5 minutes. If the skin begins to burn, lower the rack by an inch or so.

4. Gently flip the salmon and cook 3 - 4 minutes longer (depending on the thickness of your fillets and how you like your salmon cooked). We like ours a little pink on the inside. Be careful not to overcook the fish.

4. Top the salmon with a tablespoon or so of the sauce. Serve with your favorite vegetable and grains. We had ours with Aromatic Rice and stir-fried Gai-Lan.

Note: This would also work well with other meaty fish like Halibut, Sea Bass, Black Cod.

Broiled Salmon with Mustard-Maple glaze

The kids' preschool had their annual hike/field trip to St. Edwards Park today and a bunch of us parents volunteered to go on the hike. I have been going every year now, and missing it is just not an option. The kids had fun as usual, and had an unusual amount of energy. While we were at the park, a couple of us were taking about food (surprise surprise) and tuna steak and salmon burgers came up. So of course, fish was on the mind.

This leads to dinner tonight -- Wild Alaskan King Salmon with Mustard-Maple glaze, sauteed leeks and oven-roasted new potatoes. Yum! The kids are not hot on potatoes (even the French Fries kind), so I made some white rice to go along for them. J and I love potatoes, so more for us.

I wish I'd made some more salmon, so we'd have leftovers for lunch too. The kids pose a serious competition for Salmon these days. I have pretty much learned to make at least a 6 oz portion for each of them. I'm not complaining. Its great to see my boys turn into food snobs right in front of my eyes...

Maple-Mustard Salmon

(From Cooking Light, July 1999)

Marinade:

3 tbsp Maple Syrup

3 tbsp Dijon Mustard

1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper

4 - 6-8 oz salmon fillets, skin-on

Method:

1. Whisk together mustard, maple syrup, vinegar, salt and pepper. Coat salmon fillets with marinade and let rest in fridge 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile preheat broiler on high.

3. Broil salmon fillets approx. 6 inches from top, approx 6 - 10 minutes. My Broiler goes pretty high temp, so 6 minutes was plenty for me. We also like our salmon a bit transluscent on the inside.

Oven-Roasted Potatoes

10 new potatoes

1 tsp herbs de provence

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Scrub potatoes well. Slice lengthwise into approx 1/2 inch wide wedges. Soak potatoes in a bowl of water 10-15 minutes to get rid of extra starch.

2. Preheat oven to 400F.

3. Drain potatoes and dry with a kitchen towel. Toss with herbs, salt, pepper, olive oil. Spread in single layer on jelly roll plan.

4. Bake in oven approx 45 minutes. Test for doneness. You should be able to slide a knife in with very little resistance. Do not overbake.

Wilted Leeks

3 baby leeks (white and light green parts only)

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt

Method:

1. Julienne leeks into 1/4 inch wide strips. Wash well (dirt is lodged in between the concentric layers usually). Spin or towel dry.

2. Heat oil in shallow pan. Add leeks and saute on med-high for approx. 3 - 5 minutes till they are wilted and just tender. Add salt to taste.