Smoked Salmon Dip

This is a great way to finish up any leftover home-smoked salmon you have, if you have any left over, that is.  Purchased smoked salmon works too!

Smoked Salmon Dip

2 cups shredded smoked salmon
1/4 cup finely minced red onion or shallot
Juice of 2 lemons
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
Tabasco sauce to taste

Mix all ingredients until well combined.  Smoked salmon is very salty, so no need to add extra salt. 

Serve with sliced baguettes, crackers, or veggie sticks.  This dip is even better after it's been refrigerated for a couple of hours to let the flavors meld. 

In the photo at the top of this post, the smoked salmon dip is served on flatbread crackers from Central Market, and sprinkled with a little Green Goddess dressing mix from Penzey's.

Smoked Salmon Recipe

Don't you love Alton Brown's show Good Eats on the Food Network?  He reaches out to my inner food geek with his brilliant analysis and explanations of the chemistry of food.  We recently tried his recipe for smoked salmon, and it's terrific.  It's sort of like a cross between the smoked salmon you get in the supermarket, which isn't truly smoked, but is actually cured, and warm smoked salmon that you make at home in your backyard smoker.

This should be made with salmon fillets with the skins on.  We purchased some beautiful salmon to prepare this recipe and didn't realize until we unpackaged it at home that it didn't have the skin.  I recommend using salmon with skin, or if you use skinless salmon reduce the amount of salt/sugar/peppercorn rub significantly because skinless salmon absorbs so much more of the rub.

So from Alton Brown's Good Eats on the Food Network, here's the recipe:

Smoked Salmon

Ingredients
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon crushed black peppercorns
2 large salmon fillets or sides, pin bones removed

Directions
In a bowl, mix together salt, sugar, brown sugar, and peppercorns.  Spread extra-wide aluminum foil a little longer than the length of the fish and top with an equally long layer of plastic wrap.  Sprinkle 1/3 of the rub onto the plastic.  Lay 1 side of the fish skin down onto the rub.  Sprinkle 1/3 of the rub onto the flesh of the salmon.  Place second side of salmon, flesh down, onto the first side.  Use the remaining rub to cover the skin on the top piece.  Fold plastic over to cover, then close edges of foil together and crimp tightly around the fish.

Place wrapped fish onto a plank or sheet pan and top with another plank or pan.  Weight with a heavy phone book or a brick or two and refrigerate for 12 hours.  Flip the fish over and refrigerate another 12 hours.  Some juice will leak out during the process, so make sure there's a place for the runoff to gather.

Unwrap fish and rinse off the cure with cold water.  Pat salmon with paper towels, then place in a cool, dry place (not thre refrigerator) until the surface of the fish is dry and matte-like, 1 to 3 hours depending on humidity.  A fan may be used to speed the process.

Smoke fish over smoldering hardwood chips or sawdust, keeping the temperature inside the smoker between 150 degrees F and 160 degrees F until the thickest part of the fish registers 150 degrees.  Serve immediately or cool to room temperature, wrap tightly, and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Serve with the traditional salmon accoutrements:  creme fraiche or sour cream, capers, diced hardboiled egg, diced red onion, fresh dill, thin lemon slices.

If you have any left over after a day or two, make smoked salmon dip.  That recipe is next.

Baked Stuffed Shrimp With Remoulade Style Sauce

These shrimp make a very tasty tapas-style appetizer.

Technique:  when you devein the shrimp, then cut all the way through the middle of the shrimp, so that you leave a hole in the middle, then you can lay the shrimp out flat on a baking dish with the body of the shrimp lying nice and flat and the tail facing up for a pretty presentation.  You can then "stuff" the body of the shrimp without the stuffing falling out of the shrimp.

Baked Stuffed Shrimp


25 fairly large shrimp, heads removed and shells removed except for last segment and tail, deveined and cut as described above
1/4 cup red bell pepper, very small dice
1 Korean pepper, very small dice (if you don't have Korean pepper available, just increase the amount of red bell pepper a bit)
1/2 cup shallots, very small dice
2 tablespoons garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
zest of 1 lemon (Meyer lemon if available) (use a microplane)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 teaspoon paprika (if you use only red bell pepper, then use Hungary half-sharp paprika; if you use a combination of red bell pepper and Korean pepper, then use regular paprika)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup panko crumbs

Mix all ingredients with a fork.  Place the prepared shrimp on a baking sheet.  Scoop up the filling with a standard teaspoon, press it slightly with your hand into a ball, and place on a shrimp.  Continue until each shrimp is "stuffed."  Make sure each shrimp tail curves up and over the stuffing for a pretty presentation.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, until shrimp are pink and stuffing is golden brown.  Serve with remoulade style sauce.

Remoulade Style Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise
Juice of 1 lemon (Meyer lemon if available)
1/3 cup spicy brown mustard
1 tablespoon garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
2 tablespoons shallot, very small dice
2 tablespoons capers, rough chopped
splash of port wine vinegar or red wine vinegar
splash of Tabasco sauce

Mix ingredients well and serve with baked stuffed shrimp or any other seafood.

Fish Tacos

We prepared some very tasty fish tacos recently, which turned out to be un-tacos, I guess, because we didn't end up wrapping them in the tortillas, but they were darn good nonetheless.  We fried up some tilapia fillets coated with a smoky, spicy batter, served them with fresh, crispy veggies, and drizzled on a citrusy dressing.

I read in a Cooks Illustrated magazine article that there's something that gives catfish and tilapia a "dirt" flavor.  They said to soak catfish or tilapia in buttemilk to eliminate the problem.  It seemed to work really well in this recipe.

Fish Tacos

Fish
3 tilapia fillets
enough buttermilk to soak the fillets (about 2 cups)
Peanut oil or vegetable oil for frying

Dredge
1/2 cup flour

Batter
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 can or bottle of beer
2 tablespoons salt
1-2 tablespoons chipotle chile powder (depending on how much heat you like)
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder

Sauce
Zest and juice of 2 limes
Juice of 1 pomelo *
Juice of 1 ripe tomato
2-3 tablespoons pomegranate vinegar *
salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste
Tabasco sauce to taste

Veggie Fillings
Shredded Cabbage
Thin Sliced Radishes
Thin Sliced Green Onions
Chopped Cilantro
Any other veggies you'd like with your fish tacos

Rinse your tilapia fillets and place in a shallow dish.  Pour buttermilk over tilapia.  Refrigerate and turn the fish over with tongs every few hours to be sure it's evenly soaked in buttermilk.

Get your batter station ready.  Put the 1/2 cup of flour in one shallow bowl.  Prepare the batter in another bowl by wisking the egg, adding the flour, spices, and beer, and wisking to combine.

Heat oil in a saucepan.  I like to use a small saucepan so as not to use much oil and therefore I cut the filets into smaller portions.  You can tell that the oil is hot enough when a sprinkle of flour "sizzles" in the oil.

Remove the fillets from the buttermilk.  Cut your fish filets if necessary so they'll fit into the  pan in which they'll be fried.  Dredge each piece of tiplapia in the plain flour.  Dip into the batter, then lift out of the batter and let the excess drain away a bit.  Then gently lower into the cooking oil.  Cook for a couple of minutes, until nicely golden brown, turning one or twice during the cooking.  A spatter guard is a really good idea to help prevent "fried kitchen" when you're frying the fish!

* Frugality is the name of the game.  Frugality doesn't necessarily mean cooking cheap, but it does mean cooking smart, using everything and not wasting anything.  We love to cook and we enjoy searching for great ingredients.  We're also blessed to live in Carrollton, Texas, which is in the middle of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and which is becoming a mecca for ethnic food markets.  For us it's easy and frugal to have ingredients on hand that some cooks might consider exotic.  If you don't have easy access to international markets or you don't cook frequently, substitute juice from an orange or grapefruit for the pomelo juice and substitute red wine vinegar for the pomegranate vinegar.  It's just a waste to spend big bucks and extra effort procuring specialty ingredients unless you'll really use them.

Oven "Fried" Salmon With Meyer Lemon Reduction, Buttermilk Creamed Potatoes, and Asparagus With Meyer Lemon and Texas Red Grapefruit Hollandaise

This was our dinner Friday night.  It's a bit more ambitious than my usual quick and easy cooking, but well worth the effort.

For the fish:
I intended to use trout for this dish, but evidently I had some miscommunication with the fishmonger and ended up with salmon.  Oh, well, it's all good!

Leave the skin on the fish.  Portion your fish into even serving-size pieces.  Rinse and pat dry.  Set up a breading station.  First bowl, flour with plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper.  Second bowl, one egg beaten with a splash of water.  Third bowl, panko crumbs mixed with freshly chopped dill and parsley (citrus zest would be good in this too).

Hold fish with skin side up, dip in flour, covering all sides except the skin.  Then dip in the egg mixture, covering all sides except the skin, and allow the excess to drip off.  Dip in the panko mixture, covering all sides except the skin, pressing lightly to coat the fish well.  Place the fish skin side down in a cast iron skillet coated with olive oil.  Give the panko-coated fish a light spritz of olive oil with a Misto sprayer or Pam olive oil spray.  Bake at 400 until fish is flaky.  Time will vary greatly depending on type and size of fish.

For the Meyer lemon reduction:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup shallots, fine dice
1/4 cup fresh squeezed Meyer lemon juice
1 cup chardonnay
1 cube Knorr chicken bouillon

Melt butter in skillet over medium heat, add shallots and saute until soft.  Add lemon juice, chardonnay, and bouillon cube.  Increase temperature to medium-high.  Stir until bouillon dissolves.  Cook at a low boil, stirring frequently, until sauce is reduced to a thick consistency.

For the creamed potatoes:
Scrub Yukon Gold potatoes and cut into thick slices.  Put potatoes in large saucepan and cover with water by 1 or 2 inches.  Add a tablespoon of salt.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook at a low boil until potatoes are soft all the way through.  Drain, cool slighly, and remove skins.

Over low heat mash potatoes with potato masher and add butter, buttermilk, mayonnaise, and freshly ground black pepper to taste.  A little buttermilk ranch dressing mix or green goddess dressing mix is a perfect seasoning for these potatoes.  I love the ones from Penzey's.

Use an immersion stick blender to process the potatoes until smooth and creamy.  For a pretty presentation, spoon into a heavy duty plastic bag, snip off a corner, and pipe onto plate.  Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and dill.

For the asparagus:
Rinse asparagus, trim the ends.  In a skillet simmer 2 inches of water with a healthy sprinkle of salt and a big squeeze of lemon juice.  Add asparagus in a single layer and simmer until crisp-tender.  Remove asparagus and shock in cold water to maintain the bright green color.

For the Hollandaise:
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
pinch salt
pinch cayenne

Vigorously whisk lemon juice and egg yolks together in stainless steel bowl until thickened and doubled in volume.  Place bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water.  The water shouldn't touch the bottom of the bowl.  Don't let the eggs get too hot or they'll scramble.  Continue to whisk egg/lemon mixture rapidly while slowly drizzling in the melted butter.  Whisk until sauce is thickened and doubled in volume.  Remove from heat, whisk in salt and cayenne.

I whisked in a big squeeze of Texas ruby red grapefruit juice to the finished mixture.  Next time I plan to make the Hollandaise with all grapefruit juice instead of Meyer lemon juice.  There's a Gordon Ramsay recipe for Hollandaise made with grapefruit juice and olive oil that sounds interesting to try.