We made this recipe a year ago using collard greens instead of spring greens. I loved it them and I definitely loved it this week. Instead of tossing the greens in the buttermilk dressing, I drizzled it. What a light, healthful meal. Paleo fans and health nuts will love this.
In this week’s issue of whatzup, we feature Veracruz Style Tilapia. You can read the entire article online.
Ingredients
Preparation
Place fish in a 1-gallon freezer bag and season with salt and pepper. Pour the lime juice over the fish, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
In a large pot, over moderate heat, heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the onion, cover, and sweat until translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté briefly, crush the tomatoes with your hands and add them to the pot. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Lower the heat and add the olives, capers, raisins, jalapeños, and bay leaves. Cover and simmer about 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, remove the bay leaves, and keep warm until ready to serve.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Place 1/2 cup of the sauce in the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Remove the fish from the marinade and arrange it on top of the sauce. Pour the remaining sauce over the fish then scatter the potato slices on top. Bake until the fish flakes when tested with a fork, about 35 minutes. Serve with rice.
I was skeptical when I saw the former Bar-B-Cutie building being remodeled into a Japanese restaurant. For one, I am a devoted Asakusa fan and there’s little room in my heart for more sushi affection, and two, it is such a weird location. I’ve seen several restaurants come and go since I moved here, so I wasn’t very hopeful about Koto.
I decided to give it a try right after it opened and was blown away by the transformation of the interior space. It’s like walking into an alternate universe. It used have a bright and cheery chain restaurant feel, and now it is decked out in dark woods and Asian decor. Part of the space has been sectioned off for hibachi, which I haven’t tried yet. When sushi is an option, it’s the option I always choose.
I love popping into Koto for lunch. Because it’s so close to my office, it’s the perfect spot for lunch meetings. Prices are more than fair. I can get in and out for under $10, and that includes soup, salad, and two rolls. I’ve been a couple times for dinner, as well, and was thoroughly impressed by the sushi selection, service, and prices.
Beef Negamaki $5.95
Last weekend, Jon’s dad came to town and took us to dinner. We opted for Koto and had a wonderful experience. We started with soup. I am partial to the clear soup ($1.50), which contains chicken broth with mushrooms. green onions and tempura crunch. Jon loves Miso ($2), made with soy bean based soup, tofu, green onions and seaweed. Jon’s dad chose Kani soup ($2), made with chicken broth, crab, tofu, green onions, and seaweed. Next, we sampled the Beef Negamaki ($5.95). I have had it once before based on a recommendation from a friend and really liked it. It’s made with thinly sliced beef drenched teriyaki sauce, wrapped in scallion and served warm. I am typically not a beef eater, but this beef is so thin and so tender, it seems to melt in your mouth. If you haven’t tried it, I suggest adding it to your must-try list.
We ordered two rounds of rolls. First up: Dynamite ($12.95), Fire Island ($11.95), and Black Diamond ($10.95).
Top to bottom: Dyanamite, Fire Island, and Black Diamond
The Dynamite Roll is made with spicy salmon and avocado, and topped with flaming tuna, white tuna, salmon, strip bass, caviar, onion, and chef’s special sauce. I love rolls that incorporate a wide variety of fish and seafood. Each bite offers something different. And anytime a roll contains spicy salmon, it’s a no brainer for me. It’s just spicy enough to get the blood pumping, but not spicy enough to make the experience unpleasant.
Fire Island is a different story… it’s almost too spicy, but I loved every bite of it. It’s made with spicy tuna, jalapeno and tempura crunch, topped with salmon, spicy sauce and caviar. The name suits it well, so if you can’t handle spicy food, steer clear of this one. Jon and I love spicy food, so this one goes down as a top choice for us. The combination of spicy and crunchy is right up our alley.
Perhaps the most unique roll on the menu, the Black Diamond is made with crab meat, avocado and shrimp tempura, rolled and deep fried and topped with green onion, caviar, eel sauce and spicy panzu sauce. I don’t know about you, but deep frying a sushi roll seems sacrilegious, but let me tell you, it’s absolutely delicious. The light tempura breading provides an unparalleled crunch and texture. I was concerned that eating a warm sushi roll would turn my stomach, but I enjoyed it immensely. All the flavors combine to propel this to the top of our list.
For round two, we ordered the Manhattan roll ($9.95) and finished it off with two lighter rolls, an Avocado ($3.50) and an Oshinko ($3.50), or Japanese Pickle.
Left to Right: Oshinko, Avocado, and Manhattan
The Manhattan roll contains shrimp tempura, eel, caviar, avocado, and wasabi mayo sauce. It is lighter than the first three rolls and presented a nice combination of flavors and textures. I am a big fan of eel, so I enjoyed its flavor mixed throughout. Of course, we love the crunch, and this roll has a lot of it.
The Avocado Roll and the Oshinko roll are very light and provided a refreshing ending to our meal.
I encourage you give Koto a try, if you haven’t already. Prices are fair, sushi is exceptional, and the ambiance is intimate and appropriate.
We had a VERY lazy Sunday, watching the Olympics and napping. Okay, mostly napping. So when we woke up late in the afternoon, we were too tired to go to the grocery store before dinner. While Jon mowed the lawn, I took inventory of what we had on-hand and came up with this yummy and healthy Salmon Bulgogi dish. Bulgogi is a Korean dish that typically features beef marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil and other seasonings. We substituted salmon and it turned out great. We used chives and bok choy from our garden. I’ve never cooked bok choy before and had a lot of fun doing so.
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Blend 1 garlic clove and next 7 ingredients in mini processor. Arrange salmon in 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Spoon marinade over. Let marinate 5 minutes.
Preheat oven to 500°F. Arrange fish, with some marinade still clinging, on rimmed baking sheet. Transfer any marinade in dish to small saucepan. Roast until just opaque in center, about 11 minutes. Bring marinade in saucepan to boil; set aside and reserve for glaze.
Meanwhile, heat oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add bok choy, kale, green onions and garlic powder. Stir-fry until bok choy is wilted, about 6 minutes.
Divide vegetables among plates. Top with salmon. Drizzle with remaining marinade.
As I’ve mentioned before, occasionally, I take over cooking responsibilities; such was the case earlier this week. And as usual, I improvised and created an Asian inspired noodle dish… noodle bowls really are my specialty. In this case, I took inventory of what we had on hand: organic soba noodles, white fish, garlic, mint, lemons, and sesame oil. I googled Japanese noodles and fish, read through a couple recipes and put this together. It turned out better than excepted, especially considering I almost burned the house down when the oil caught on fire in the oven. Scary! But everything turned out well. The lemony sauce I created for the noodles paired well with the cumin-garlic rub I prepared for the fish. We are big fans of sesame oil in almost everything, and it fit especially well with this dish. The dash of mint, which I cut from the garden, added a unique flavor in the end.
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Rinse under cold water; drain well.
In a small bowl, combine lemon zest and lemon juice. Slowly whisk in 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add the garlic. Mix well. Toss noodles with the dressing.
Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with foil.
Season both sides of the fish with remaining olive oil, sesame oil, cumin and garlic salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cooked through.
Divide the noodles among four plates and place the fish over the noodles. Garnish with mint and sesame seeds.
It’s been hot here in Northeast Indiana! The last thing we want to do when we get home is cook a hot meal, standing in front of the hot oven. This week, we enjoyed a refreshing salmon salad with red peppers. I like the addition of miso to this recipe. It gives it an Asian flair. Light, cool, tasty. The perfect dish for this 100+ days. (Hint, cook the salmon in the morning while it’s still cool and use for dinner later.)
Ingredients:
Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil; brush lightly with vegetable oil. Place salmon steaks on prepared baking sheet. Whisk miso, mirin, vinegar, ginger, and sesame oil in a small bowl to blend. Season salmon lightly with salt and spread half the miso mixture over them. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, or refrigerate for up to 1 hour.
Position an oven rack 6″–8″ from broiler and preheat. Broil salmon until golden brown and just opaque in center, 10–12 minutes total. Remove skin, place in bowl, break into small and mix in mayo, onion, pine nuts, cilantro, and green beans. Slice the red peppers in half and remove the seeds. Scoop salad into peppers and serve.
This weekend, Jon and I ventured to Winona Lake, near Warsaw, to take pictures of front porches. You see, we are contemplating adding a front porch to our house, so we wanted to gather ideas to show our designer. Oddly enough, not many of the houses around Winona Lake have front porches- it seems that our memories betrayed us- an apparent case of confabulation (admittedly, Jon had to explain what this word means when he used it). But all was not lost because we got to eat at Cerulean. We’ve been there a handful of times, but it has been a few years.
I love this quote from its website: “Cerulean through food, at its best and at every level: is about communication, communion and joy, while encouraging a modern sensibility that inspires.” It embodies the experience you will have at Cerulean. The atmosphere is fun and inviting. The menu fuses tapas, sushi, and high-end dinners into a perfect combination of choices, each carefully crafted for quality and presentation. Jon and I love to share food. It’s one of the reasons tapas has always been so appealing to us. Cerulean gave us the opportunity to truly experience our food- taking our time, tasting each bite, and enjoying each other’s company.
Here’s what we had:
Round 1- (Tapas)
maple leaf duck bacon tomato, black risotto, endive $9
This was my favorite dish of the evening. The duck bacon had a nice light flavor and the texture was perfect- not crunchy like typical bacon, rather tender and juicy, with a thin layer of fat on one side to lend richness to the taste. Surprisingly, the black risotto was extremely cheesy and sticky, and while that turned Jon off a bit, I loved it. It was salty and comforting and complemented the smoky duck bacon.
balsamic pork strawberries, ide’s honey $7
We thought this dish was going to be pulled pork and I think we would have liked that texture better. Although we enjoyed the dish, we probably wouldn’t order it again. It simply wasn’t what we were expecting. We couldn’t taste much balsamic, and while the honey was a good idea, serving it on the bottom made it almost impossible to integrate into each bite. We’d suggest serving this as pulled pork and drizzling the honey over the dish. We did enjoy the combination of pork and strawberry though, which opens up many doors for us in our own cooking.
viking lamb sausage melon, mustard, cucumber-tarragon puree $8
This was Jon’s favorite dish. The combination of melon, sausage , mustard and cucumber-tarragon puree was savory and unexpected. The salty sausage was tempered by the subtly sweet melon. The mustard added a delightful punch. The flowers you see are actually edible flowers, which is a nice touch.
Round 2-
strawberry gazpacho tomato crisp, basil $4
I love gazpacho and I’ve had strawberry gazpacho before, so I had to try this to compare it to others I’ve had. It is certainly one of the better I’ve had, but I am glad it is served in such a small serving size. By the time I was done, I was done- I don’t think I could have eaten anymore. It has just enough acid and tart to make it difficult to eat in large quantities. I loved the tomato crisps and will need to figure out how to make those. What a fun addition.
Round 3- (Sushi)
gunslinger: tuna, avocado, tomato, cilantro, scallions, sriracha, lime $10
This is the most surprising roll I’ve ever eaten- the flavor knocked the wind out of me. The combinaton of scallions, cilantro, lime and cilantro gives this roll a heavy Mexican quality, but once the shock of that wore off, we thoroughly enjoyed it. I did have to take a break after the first one to regain my senses. I can handle spice, but this was a little much for me. Luckily, I got used to it and finished off my half with ease. Thanks to our waiter for suggesting we eat it sans soy in order to enjoy the flavor combinations already present.
red dragon: tempura ebi roll topped with tuna, eel and eel sauce $14
Though this roll could be compared to a typical tuna roll, I enjoyed the added flavor of the scallions. Plus, it served as a nice buffer after the smoking hot gunslinger. Jon described this roll as super meaty- meat on the inside, meat on the outside… delicious!
eel: unset eel, tempura asparagus, cucumber, topped with shrimp & avocado $11
Eel is my favorite, so there’s very little that could be done to mess up this roll, but I especially enjoyed the added flavor and texture of the tempura asparagus. Normally, Jon and I steer away from rolls containing asparagus, but this one was perfect.
tiger: avocado, cucumber, carrot, red pepers, peanut sauce, ginger, lemon zest, scallion $7 (not pictured)
We ordered this roll to go because we simply could not eat another bite, but we really wanted to try it. We ate it sporadically throughout the following day. It is lovely- the peanut sauce is a nice touch, giving it a Thai flair. I also liked the taste of ginger in the roll. Normally, we eat raw ginger between each bite, but incorporating it was surprisingly pleasing.
If you haven’t been to Cerulean, I recommend making a the trek to Winona Lake to do so. It is a bit pricey (our bill came to over $80), but for special occasions, this is the perfect spot. Check out the full menu on the restaurant’s website. Also, follow them on Twitter and like their page on Facebook.
Before you turn your nose up, hear me out. I was skeptical the first time Jon made this dish. Marinating catfish in mustard? There’s no way that will be good… of course, I wouldn’t be sharing this recipe with you if it weren’t amazing. The combination of the tangy mustard, savory bread crumbs and mild fish makes for a surprisingly mouthwatering Southern treat. We served ours with the leftover greens and asparagus we made earlier that week. Yummy!
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Rinse and dry catfish. Salt and pepper fish on both sides. Layer 1/2 yellow mustard in bottom of glass baking dish, sprinkle with Thyme. Place fish on top of mustard and layer with remaining mustard and Thyme. Cover and marinate overnight. Remove fish from baking dish and shake off excess mustard. Mix Panko and bread crumbs in a large bowl. Dip it in bread crumbs until well coated, and place into a glass baking dish. Bake at 475 for 13-15 minutes, until bread crumbs are slightly brown.
Preparation:
Toss shrimp and 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning in medium bowl to coat. Cook bacon in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp and brown. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel to drain. Remove bacon grease from skillet, leaving about 1 tbps. Add 2 tbsp vinegar, okra and cherry tomatoes. Stir in remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning. Cook 1 minute. Add clam sauce and allspice. Boil until sauce it thickens, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Add shrimp. Sauté shrimp until just opaque in center, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix cooked bacon. Serve.
The original recipe did not include vinegar, however, because okra can get slimy- vinegar prevents this. It also called for flour, to create a roux, but we opted not to thicken the sauce.
*We served ours over Japanese Wheat Noodles, tossed in olive oil and pesto.
If you like crab cakes, you will adore these salmon cakes. Packed with savory goodness and drizzled with a homemade buttermilk dijon dressing, they will literally melt in your mouth. Sautéing provides the same crispy texture as deep frying but with less saturated fat. The original recipe called for these to be served atop mixed greens as a salad, but we chose to blanch some greens and serve them on the side. The combination was perfect. I think the buttermilk makes the dish.
Ingredients:
