Poisson Cru- Tahitian Ceviche with Coconut Milk

A couple years ago, we took a trip to Tahiti as the flights from Seattle to Papeete were direct (9 hours) and very inexpensive on a Air Tahiti Nui's new 787's.  We actually spent less going to Tahiti than we did for a week in Hawaii.  Tahiti is part of French Polynesia, and there is so much French heritage, food and wine there.  You don't think of eating stinky French cheeses, a freshly baked baguette and wonderful French wine in the tropics, do you?  Yes, but you certainly can.  This recipe is Tahiti's version of poke, or seviche.  Similar dishes available in other countries, but we really, really loved this!  We ate it over jasmine rice, with loads of local fruits at a picnic shelter on a beach on the island of Moorea.  Moorea is about an hour ferry boat ride from Papeete, so its an easy way to see a very lush and naturally beautiful island.  We did a small group tour of the island, just 8 of us in the back of a bus/jeep.  We did a grand tour of the island, a waterfall hike, some fruit markets and bakeries to shop for our lunch and then lunch at the beach.  They also sell a wonderful rum punch, already mixed, and sold like orange juice which was pretty fantastic too.

Serves about 6-8

Ingredients

 2lbs white fish, chopped into cubes

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/2 cup carrots, cut into thin matchsticks or shreds

1/2 cup cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks or shreds

1/2 cup thin sliced red cabbage

1/2 cup onion (red or white), cut into thin matchsticks or shreds

1/4 cup green onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal

Salt and Pepper to taste

I'm going to keep the instructions simple, cut fish into small bite size portions, add everything else and mix.  Let chill for about 10-15 minutes and serve at once, on rice, or just on the side.

Here's a picture of our guide making the poisson cru at the beach. Okay, he is super darling and fit, right?

He was our tour guide for a great tour of the island, plus he had everything planned for our lunch for 8 people.   His friend had caught the tuna the day before and he had brined it is sea water. We stopped for fresh fruit, local candy and some great rum fruit juice cocktails that they sell pre-mixed in Tahiti.

It was a fun and different lunch that tasted delicious!

His attention to detail was amazing, displaying the fruit on fronds from a palm tree. Fruit platter is below and also the strange local candy, called po'e, that is made with fruit, starch and coconut milk.  Pineapple, grapefruit, mini bananas and papaya all came from local fruit trees.

Here's another meal in Tahiti; this one was at the hotel pool... where we rented a cabana to wait for our late evening flight to SEA.  What a wonderful way to go!  I am having poisson cru again below...  My husband is having his favorite French dish, Steak Frites!

Tahiti was so beautiful!

Easy Seared Ahi- Sesame Crusted

This is such an easy dinner that we have been making forever, so I was surprised that I hadn't shared this one before!

Frozen ahi tuna is pretty easy to find at the grocery store, ask at the fish counter they might have some there that is kept in the freezer. We usually buy a case from Costco online every January when it's on sale.  You get about 26 pieces and it comes to about $5 to $6 a piece. It thaws SO fast, that its a great last minute dinner idea.  We also make a homemade poke with it, which is pretty awesome for a lunch or an appetizer.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

2-4 pieces of frozen ahi tuna

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1/2 cup Sesame seeds, toasted

1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil for cooking

In a ziploc bag, or a low dish, add the soy sauce and the sesame oil. Add the ahi to marinate for about 10 -15 minutes. If you marinate it much more than that, it will be overly strong.  I learned this the hard way.

Once marinated, drain the fish and dredge it in a plate of the sesame seeds.  

Add to a nonstick fry pan heated over medium heat.  Cook for 2-3 minutes per side.  Remember, ahi is best a bit under cooked, which is what my cooking times account for. If you want your fish well done, you will need to cook it more.  Don't use too high of heat, or your sesame seeds will burn.  Serve at once with some stir fried veggies and rice.

We love to serve it with this wasabi sauce.  I know this is NOT authentic and made with horseradish and sugars, but it is really good!

Argentinian - Chupin de Pescado (whitefish stew)

 

Sometimes, you just know a recipe is going to be a keeper!  I found this one in the Food & Wine magazine (Link here) that had been kicking around since July 2023 at our cabin. It sounded like a wonderful Cioppino or Bouillabaisse... but was easier with only one kind of fish

Luckily we had brought some frozen mahi mahi and I had almost everything else, except for roasted red peppers and clam nectar. While fish broth or clam nectar are definitely more authentic, I'm not convinced that chicken stock wouldn't be as good as a substitute.

I did my sauce ahead of time, and then reheated it when we returned from a day of fun.  I nestled the pre-cooked potatoes and the fish into the sauce and reheated it on medium low.  Be sure to cover the pan if you do it that way.  If you heat the sauce, then ad the potatoes and the fish, cover it, and cook it for about 10-15 minutes.  I cut each mahi mahi filet into 4 'fingers' so it would cook faster.  

All in all, this was a quick and very satisfying meal.  It's not necessarily South American in flavors, more like Italian, in my humble opinion.  I pasted in the original recipe and instructions, only adding a 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes. I also used just two 8oz filets of fish, but I had lots of delicious sauce left over. I used the leftovers with sauteed zucchini and it was a wonderful side dish.

Ingredients, Serves 4

Potato Rounds 

• 3 small (4-ounce) Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed
•  4 cups water
•  1/4 cup kosher salt

 Pomarola

•  1 (15-ounce) can whole peeled plum tomatoes
•  1/4 cup olive oill, plus more for drizzling
•  1 small yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/3 cups)
• 1 medium garlic clove, finely chopped
•  3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
•  2 fresh or dried bay leaves
•  1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
•  1 teaspoon black pepper, plus more for garnish
•  Sprinkle of red pepper flakes
• Granulated sugar, to taste

 Chupín

•  1 (1 1/2-pound) skinless grouper fillet (1 1/2 inches thick), halved crosswise
•  1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
•  1 1/2 cups fish broth or clam nectar
•  1/2 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
•  1/2 cup pitted and quartered black olives
•  1/2 cup drained jarred roasted red bell pepper strips
•  2 tablespoons drained capers
•  Finely chopped fresh parsley

Make the potato rounds

1. Bring potatoes, 4 cups water, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan over high. Reduce heat to medium-high, and cook potatoes, undisturbed, until just tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from heat, and let potatoes cool in water 30 minutes; drain. Peel potatoes, and slice crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Set aside.

Meanwhile, make the pomarola

1. Puree tomatoes in a food processor until smooth, about 10 seconds; set aside. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium. Add onion, garlic, and salt; cook, stirring often, until onion is mostly translucent, about 4 minutes. Add bay leaves, paprika, and black pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in pureed plum tomatoes, and gently simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens and is slightly chunky, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Season with sugar to taste.

Make the chupín

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Season grouper with salt, and let stand 15 minutes. Meanwhile, stir fish broth, chickpeas, olives, bell pepper strips, and capers into pomarola. Bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat to medium-high, and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and pour into a 12-inch nonreactive ovenproof skillet. Nestle grouper in sauce. Bake in preheated oven 9 minutes. Remove from oven; gently flip grouper using a spatula, and add potato rounds. Return to oven, and bake until fish is opaque and easily flakes with a fork and a thermometer inserted in thickest portion of grouper registers 135°F, 9 to 12 minutes. Drizzle with additional olive oil. Garnish with black pepper and parsley. Serve immediately.

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Mahi Mahi with Feta Cream Sauce

Easiest dinner ever.

Feta is one of my favorite cheese, along with goat cheese!   This is a great easy way to fancy up some fish for a quick week night dinner.  We often have frozen fish in the freezer (thanks to Costco), and Mahi Mahi is one of our favorites.  This would also work for halibut, tilapia and even salmon.  It's quite possible that this would be great on chicken breasts too, but I haven't tried that yet.

Ingredients

Makes 2

• 2- 6 oz mahi mahi fillets
• 3 Tbsp mayonnaise (like Best Foods)
• 3 Tbsp of crumbled feta
• 1/4 tsp of dried dill
• 1/4 tsp of garlic powder
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• Fresh black pepper
• 1 tsp minced parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

On a foil lined pan, coat with oil and place fish fillets on top.

Make mixture of the mayo, feta, dill, garlic, lemon juice, pepper and parsley.  Make sure to mix well and get most of the lumps out.

Cover the entire top of the fish with the mixture, put on the top rack of the oven and cook 10-12 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish. Mine took 14 minutes but they were very thick filets.

Here they are after baking, some of the sauce fell off, but it still plated up nicely.

Here's another recipe that is something a bit similar, Baked Parmesan Salmon. Try that too!

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Blackened Cajun Spice Mix

A pork chop in the blackened seasoning mix, pan fried in a mixture of olive oil & butter, YUM!

Once upon my husband worked at a restaurant for a certified master chef.  The blackened seasoning that they used on fish, sauteed in butter and served over spinach was the bomb. The guy was nice enough to share this with my hubby. 

We've been looking for the recipe for many years now, but could not locate that slip of paper... basically we've been trying to locate it for about 15-20 years!

After years of wondering, we finally located the recipe in a binder of recipes that I had collected to "save" (back before you had the internet... hahaha!).

Here's the recipe that I adapted the measurements so you can make a SANE size recipe at home.  We've been arguing about whether the original has too much salt (which I believe to be true... and my hubby doesn't agree). 

Makes about 2 cups, plenty to share with friends and family!  We use this on fish, chicken, pork and even steak.  It would probably be great on a cauliflower "steak" too.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup kosher salt (use 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp if you like things salty...)

1/4 cup onion powder or granulated onion (NOT onion salt!)

1/4 cup white pepper

1/4 cup cayenne pepper (if you are afraid of too spicy, you can reduce this to 1-2 Tbsp...)

1/4 cup paprika

1/4 cup dried thyme

2 Tbsp ground pepper

Mix in a bowl with a whisk to fully mix.  Save in an air tight jar, or jars.  Sprinkle liberally onto meats before grilling or pan frying.  

Baccalà Mantecato- Venetian Appetizer Spread

I'm still dreaming of a trip we took a couple of years ago to Venice.  I was prepared for a stinky, crowded tourist trap city, but was wonderfully surprised and delight with what we saw and experienced there.  I wrote about our food walking tour of Venice here, and this was one of the surprises that we tried at one stop. 

This is a Venetian specialty of whipped salted cod served on slices of bread or polenta.
I'm embarassed to say that I've had this recipe in "draft" mode for over a year, but decided to finally finish it up and post it.  I know that most people won't go to the trouble to find the dried cod (you can order it on Amazon though!) and make this, but it was so delicious and not fishy!

We had a couple's party after the trip and we all brought small plates of tapas to share.  This is what I made. We had a great time and shared our memories of a great trip.

Serves 6 - 8

Prep Time: 3 days

Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

1/2 Pound of Dried Cod
2 Cloves Garlic

1 Bay Leaf

Salt & Pepper

Good Olive Oil

To Serve:

Cracked Black Pepper

Cut the cod into pieces and place them into a pan full of water.

Leave it in water for 2 to 3 days, changing the water twice daily.

After soaking, change the water again and place the cod and water, along with a bay leaf and cook for 30 minutes on low heat, removing any foam that comes to the surface.

After 30 minutes, remove the cod from the pan and place in a container with high sides.

Remove the skin and the bones from the cod and add 2 gloves of garlic.

I used my food processor to mix this, slowly adding the olive oil to get the desired consistency.  It should be soft and fluffy when it's ready. The quantity of the oil will depend on the cod itself.Continue mixing until the cod turns light and has a whipped, mousse-like texture. Taste and add salt if required.

Serve on fresh cut bread slices or grilled slices of polenta.

Sprinkle top with some cracked black pepper.

Below is a picture of a plaque in the fish market, that shows the standard sizes that the fish must be.  I believe our guide told us that the sign was hundreds of years old. 

Just outside the fish market, you can catch a gondola ride across the grand canal. Sigh, what a great trip.

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Tilapia with Black Beans & Kale

I know I lost some of you immediately with the title.  
Some people seem to have an unnatural dislike of both tilapia and kale.  
So, I guess they're not reading anymore, so let's not worry about them, okay?

I thawed the fish a couple of days ago, but I've been too wiped out to cook.  
To sum it all up, two nights ago, I suggested scrambled eggs instead of really making something.  My hubby acted like that was a grand idea, hence the reason I love that guy!  

The next night, ditto.... both of us exhausted.  He suggests we go have "happy hour" for dinner.  So, yep, of course that happened and we happily had street tacos, nachos and beer.

Ahem, today I planned ahead and thought through this.  
What was really easy?  
What did I have already on hand?  
What was healthy? 
Because you know... I was eating nachos, tacos and beer last night, I needed something that was good, and good for you.

Serves 2 (easy to double)
Ingredients

2 tilapia fillets
3 cups kale, chopped
1/4 cup onion, thinly slivered
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes, or canned drained tomatoes
1/2 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp lemon zest
Fresh lemon for serving

Preheat the oven to 375.

Cut up the onion, the tomatoes and the kale.  I did the onions quite thin, as I knew I was only going to cook them for a short time.

Kale?  I use a big knife and cut the ribs out, then I chop, chop, chop them into small pieces.

 
Add to a big bowl. Add the beans, chili pepper flakes, the lemon zest and the olive oil.  NOTE- don't add the lemon juice until serving as it sometimes makes the kale a yucky color.

Toss to coat. Add a little salt and pepper, toss again.  It's totally OK to taste it now and make sure it tastes good.

Put two large pieces of foil on the counter (about 18 inches long) and add a big pile of the "salad" kale mixture.  Top with a fillet of fish... ummm... the tilapia  (not the MacDonalds sandwichs- hehehe).  

Salt and pepper the top of the fish. Fold up the edges, making a little flat envelope, like the one pictured below.  Put on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes in a 375 degree oven.  

Serve at once, but be careful opening the foil it will be very, very steamy.  Serve with a big wedge of lemon.

Link to My Favorite Tilapia Recipes
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Halibut with Parmesan, Cream Cheese & Chives

Fresh halibut can kind of take your breath away.... more than once actually!
Once when you buy it and see how much it is per pound, and once again when you taste it.  We made this at home last week for our anniversary with a nice crisp bottle of white wine and a green salad. Perfectly delicious and perfectly easy when I'd rather be visiting with my sweetie of 31 years instead of cooking.

While fresh fish as wonderful as halibut can be terrific just baked with lemon and butter, this topping was delicious and didn't over power the fish.  The firm texture of halibut is a great partner to a creamy flavorful top.

This one is so easy, you can make it for your Mom, because it is Mom's day tomorrow!
Happy Mom's to all my friends out there.  I hope it is the happiest of days.
 

Serves 4
Ingredients

4 fillets of halibut, about 8 oz per
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 lemon, juiced
Salt and Pepper 

Topping
4 Tbsp cream cheese
1 Tbsp mayo
1 Tbsp fresh chives, minced
1/2 Tbsp fresh basil, minced
1 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, minced
1/2 cup parmesan, freshly grated 
Salt and Pepper 

Preheat oven to 450
Cut halibut into fillets, add to a baking pan coated with a little oil.  Squeeze 1/2 lemon over the top of the fish.Salt and pepper, halibut and drizzle with a tablespoon of melted butter. 

Bake for 6-7 minutes in the 450 degree oven.

While that is baking, make topping by mixing the cream cheese, mayo chives, basil, sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.  Take the fish out of the oven and carefully top each fillet with some of the topping.  Add back to the hot oven and back another 6-7 minutes.  You can also broil the top for 1-2 minutes to get a little more color too, but watch it, the topping can slide off when it gets too hot.

I did this recipe in a similar way with salmon in this link here.

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