Halibut Asian Style

• 2 pounds halibut fillets, cut into chunks
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
• Olive oil
• Sesame oil
• 3 large garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 lemon
• 5 sprigs of fresh coriander, leaves pulled off
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
• 1 fresh red chile, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Place the sesame seeds onto a flat dish, then add the halibut chunks, turning them over in the seeds to nicely coat.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add about 3/4 of the sliced garlic to the pan and fry for 1 minute, or until golden and crisp, remove from heat and use a slotted spoon to quickly transfer to a plate, leaving the oil in the skillet.

Return the pan to the heat, then add the sesame-coated halibut to the garlic oil. Sear on one side for 1 to 2 minutes. Using a spatula, turn over and cook on other side for another 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Place the grated ginger in a small bowl with the soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil and the remaining sliced garlic. Add the zest of the lemon and 2 tablespoons lemon juice, then mix well to combine. Taste and add more lemon juice, if needed.

Have I ever told you just how much I hate camping?

Yes sir, I looked back, and not so surprisingly I have … in this post, and again – it was implied at the end of this post, and yep, again in this post!

I guess the word is out: I despise camping for a variety of reasons, one of which has to do with fishing.

Going back to the time, when I was a kid, our summer vacation was camping. First in tents, years later in a trailer.

All six of us packed into a station wagon or a truck, on the road, fighting like cats and dogs in the backseat which would prompt my mom would reach back, without warning and without even looking, and slap at us with a fly swatter. Have you ever been hit with a fly swatter? It hurts and leaves a mark!

Then we’d set up camp and settle into a campground in Northern Arizona or in Colorado for at least one week, two or three times each and every summer.

Good Times… for some, but not for all!

When we camped, we also fished.

Well, they all fished – I just floundered.

My mom (the fly swatter-wielding mad-woman) was a great fisherman, she caught fish left and right. That might be attributed to the fact that she’d go downstream, away from the rest of us to fish. When she caught one, she’d walk up to Dad and he’d take off the fish and re-bait her hook, and away she’d go again.

My dad would have also been a great fisherman if he wasn’t always busy bating everyone’s hooks, taking the fish off said hooks, cleaning, and gutting said fish. He was constantly untangling all our tangled lines, unhooking the hooks we snagged in trees, on rocks, and in each other… as we were casting… all at the same time.

Poor guy, he never had a chance to actually fish for himself… but he never complained. Never!

My three siblings all caught fish at one time or another… but alas, I NEVER caught a fish in my life! All those years of camping and fishing and not a single fish for me. Only if my parents took us to the Tamarindo area, which is known to be the idle spot to go on Costa Rica deep sea fishing charters expeditions. I think I could have caught a fish or two there as the waterbody seems to be well-stocked with marine life. Alas, I never got the chance to visit the place as a kid!

But yes, I agree that if I had the skills, I could have caught a fish in my neighboring lake or waterbody. It might have had something to do with my natural-born impatience. I’d cast my line out, expect to immediately get a nibble… when I did not, I’d reel it in and just cast out again and again. With all that casting and reeling, I’d inevitably get my hook caught in a tree or bush, on a sibling, or even in my own mop of hair. Then, I’d say, “I hate fishing” and stomp off in a huff! Yes, I was the complainer!

So when I was at Deer Lake and Paul asked if I’d like to go fishing with him, I said that yes I would like to go fishing with him. I confessed that I’d never caught a fish before! Well, he was happy to take on the challenge and get me out on the lake with a pole in hand. He never had an ounce of doubt that I’d catch a fish on Deer Lake!

I’d only fished in a stream or standing on the shore of a lake, never in a boat. Here, we were in a motor boat and trolling. “Trolling means slowly dragging a line through deep water. Most trolling is ­motorized — from a boat.” What a difference and how much less stressful and more fun!!!

So. Much. Better!

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Thank you again for your kindness on Thursday! I will tell you some of the really wonderful things that I learned and experienced on the difficult trip… but I’m going to save that for tomorrow. I promised to get back to you with a recipe today and a recipe is what you shall have!

When I go to Costco, which you already know is quite often, I always go down the fresh fish aisle. Every now and then I spot whole fish, and although I’ve been tempted before, I’ve always passed them by for the fillets or shellfish. Not this time! I spotted packages of lovely pink snapper and decided to stop being lazy and just go for it.

Whole fish is not as convenient as fillets but I enjoyed the experience of grilling them. Not only did laziness hold me back before, but also Dave really dislikes finding bones in his fish. I’ve never really minded that because I remember my childhood camping days when we’d eat the fish the rest of the family caught.

I say “the rest of the family” because I have never caught a fish in my Life, even though I always threw out the hook and line with the rest of the family… Go Figure!  AND, how about that awesome photo of us camping! Doesn’t everyone look so happy?!

Left to right; Andy, Dad, Sloane, Mom, and me. My old brother, Dennis, must have been taking the picture.  Andy looks sad. My dad has a bit of a smirk. Sloane looks confused. And my mom looks seriously ticked off. Then there is smiling Linda, looking like she has a secret! I can’t imagine why else I would be smiling. I HATED camping. Did then, still do! Yeah, I must have had the goods on one of my siblings or been up to something, otherwise, I would have had a major pout on my face.

In this photo, my chic five year-old-self poses instead of fishing. My brother, Dennis, is to the right of me on the rocks in the stream. I have no idea who the two older boys in the photo are. But my tied-up shirt and shorts are super styling, I’d bet anything that the entire ensemble was pink.

The attitude and body language I am throwing off here are more in line with my feelings about camping. I can tell you exactly how I felt about being there – dread and despair! I’m guessing that I was 12 or 13 years old. This photo was taken at Hawley Lake, near the town of Pinetop in Arizona’s White Mountains. At least Andy looks super excited and happy to be there! Dennis looks desperate to be anywhere else in the world. Sloane’s rocking a fabulous shag haircut. Although, I really can’t make fun of Sloane’s hair when you look at the mop on my head. Oh, those were the days.

Anyhow, I remember that our parents would give us a penny for every fish bone we found while we carefully chewed our fish. We loved it and made a game and contest out of eating fish.

I, of course, would cheat, as I’m prone to do, and bite the bones I found in half when no one was looking, and usually, I would win! If you know how competitive I am, you’d think nothing of this. Not at all surprising!

We thought our parents were being fun, but it was actually to keep us from choking on fish bones. Smart parenting!

Back to Dave – I went through his serving with a fine-tooth comb, so he didn’t have to worry about any bones. Plus, I didn’t want to owe him any pennies. Although, you’ll notice that his plate doesn’t look as pretty as my nearly perfect fillet, pictured below.

You may cook the fish directly on the grill grates or use a grilling basket, as I did.

The grilling basket I have has a wooden handle, which is nice since it doesn’t get hot, but you have to be sure the wood portion is sticking out from the grill, to prevent it from burning.

When I shut the lid, it lifts the basket off the grates, so I stick a metal basket there to hold the lid up a little bit.

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Here is a super quick, super easy, and super yummy fish dish for your Friday!

I served mine with sautéed edamame and cherry tomatoes. Could not be easier or healthier.

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Marissa hasn’t been feeling quite right lately, so she is self-diagnosing and trying to go gluten-free for a week. Oh well, what can a mother do? The one thing this mom can do is help with food prep. Along those lines, we made this calamari recipe with rice flour instead of all-purpose flour. It tasted fine, but the rice flour doesn’t stick quite as well as wheat flour, which left the calamari a bit less crispy than we like, but still plenty tasty.

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I’m making these quick and easy appetizers for our neighborhood Bunco tonight. I know I’ve said it before, but I have the best neighbors and the most fun neighborhood! We are very blessed!

The Ahi tuna marinates for only 20 minutes in a mixture of sherry, sesame oil, sugar, and mushroom soy sauce. (Do not marinate longer or the marinate will totally mask the wonderful tuna flavor, and you paid good money for that!) Mushroom soy sauce is a Chinese dark soy sauce that adds straw mushroom essence to the sauce’s brew. It has a deep, rich flavor and more body and complexity than regular soy sauce and can be used in place of other types of soy sauce in most recipes. The brand to look for in Asian markets is Pearl River Bridge. [Read more →]

About two weeks ago I told you that I was on a “special, highly covert, high-security assignment” for The Arizona Republic. Well, today is the day that the result is appearing as the cover story of the Food section. You may recall that the assignment was to develop recipes using Hamburger Helper. I have to admit that when Karen Fernau, the Food editor, called me and asked if I’d develop recipes for the cover, I was excited as could be. Then as she continued and told me exactly what it entailed, I was disappointed and – well, honestly – disgusted! Eww! But after diving into the task at hand, I have to say, I found it seriously challenging and that made it fun! Surprising all around! Here is one of the three recipes that I developed, with a couple more pictures than you’ll get from the newspaper. It was voted the family favorite in our house. And here is THE LINK to the full story and the other two recipes.

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For my upcoming appearance on Valley Dish, I was asked to create a dish out of 5 ingredients that a viewer had suggested. That sounded like fun, and it was, but it wasn’t exactly what I would consider 5 ingredients. I was emailed the list from the program producer, Cassie, as follows:  Swordfish, Cherry Tomatoes, Risotto, Arugula, and Buffalo Mozzarella. Does anyone else see the problem here? The answer – risotto isn’t what one would consider an ingredient, but rather a dish that stands alone.

Risotto is a classic Italian dish consisting of rice cooked in broth. The broth is added slowly, so that the rice absorbs it completely, creating a creamy consistency. Parmesan cheese, butter, and onion are the classic additions.

Therefore, rice is the ingredient. Specifically a high-starch, medium to short-grain rice. The varieties of choice are Arborio, Baldo, Padano, Roma, Carnaroli, and Vialone Nano. Arborio is the most readily available, while Carnaroli and Vialone Nano are considered the best and not coincidentally the most expensive. Here is the recipe I created and will be making live on Valley Dish (NBC Channel 12) next week. Hope you’ll tune in (or TIVO it – as I TIVO absolutely everything I watch) at 3:30 on Tuesday, November 9th.

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Green is one of my two favorite colors, blue is the other. When asked, the majority of Americans will state that their favorite color is blue. But I digress, there is no blue in the recipe, just green and orange. And that second color, orange, is my least favorite color. Not that it matters, just saying…

When I saw the striking orange and green heads of cauliflower at the market, I had to have them. I then cooked and puréed each to the consistency of baby food, and used them as the bed for a light and lovely fish fillet. Broccoli, fennel, celery root, potato, sweet potato, and such, may be used in the same manner, so don’t fret if you can’t find these colorful cauliflower orbs!

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One of my favorite songs by The Killers is All These Things That I’ve Done. The chorus, “I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier” is my favorite part and was used in a Nike advertisement during the last summer Olympics. Hence the title:  I’ve got sole.  My niece, Raina, had a post on her Facebook page, right before Easter, that totally cracked me up…  “I’ve got ham, but I’m not a hamster.”  I really did laugh out loud at that one!

I was the lucky and happy recipient of an “over-purchase” of fresh fillet of sole and banana leaves after Wednesday night’s cooking class at Les Gourmettes. That meant that Thursday’s dinner was on the table in less than 10 minutes! Fresh banana leaves are available at Asian markets, and are very inexpensive, give them a try!  The leaves tear easily, so it is important to quickly pass them over an open flame to make them more pliable and easier to handle. The exposure to heat brightens them and releases the leaf’s natural oils and fragrance. When steamed, the leaves tend to lose their vibrant green color and turn a darker shade of olive green. Click here to make the chipotle mayonnaise, if you don’t already have some on hand.

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