Cooking with Martha: Seared Fish with Crispy Potatoes and Green Sauce

I do believe I was tardy to the Martha Stewart party when she first arrived on the scene.  To be honest, though, once I became aware of her and her craftiness I never did seek her out.  I thought she had great ideas, but I was never, and still not, in a position to really follow her closely.  I'm not entirely crafty and I found her cooking style to be rather...pompous.  This is, of course, not to say that she has no talent; she's full of it.  I received one of her larger recipe books, Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, and I've made a couple of her recipes.  Funny thing is, I'm not a huge baker.  I love to bake, don't get me wrong, but it seriously stresses me out.  Cooking is comfortable; baking is a challenge.  It's so precise and there are usually so many steps, I lose patience easily.  Anyway, about a year ago, one of my coworkers picked up an issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine from the store.  It's like a digest and I actually don't see them on a regular basis at my grocery store.  My coworker bought it before realizing she doesn't cook nearly as much as I do, so she passed it along to me.  This little issue, entitled "Back to Basics," is riddled with really yummy recipes.  I've made a few of them and they've all turned out to be great successes.  My favorite is this one.

Originally, I first followed this recipe closely and seared my fish.  This time around, it was during the summer months, and I wanted to grill everything and anything I could get my hands on.  So, I grilled the salmon for this, instead of cooking it indoors.  It was equally as delicious, especially since the majority of the flavor comes from the incredibly simple and refreshing "Green Sauce."  The sides for this dish have also been a hit.  The Crispy Potatoes are wonderful.  In fact, I provided this recipe to my mom and she easily made it her own and baked each potato with a bit of blue cheese and bacon, making them incredibly decadent.  I also like the roasted tomatoes, which are a nice compliment to the fish and potatoes.  It has something fresh and sweet to the rather heavy plate.  I recently shared the recipe for the fish and Green Sauce with a classmate to share with me and a couple of other girls we grouped with for a few projects last semester.  It was delicious and everyone loved it.  This is definitely a dish you can eat on a weekday by yourself or with your spouse or dress it up on the weekends with guests.

A Delicious Surprise: Greek-Style MahiMahi with Toasted Orzo with Saffron & Fennel

I think this is more than once I've said that my proficiency with fish is lacking.  One week I knew I wanted to make fish, but I wanted to try something new.  So I did what I always do in this situation and turned to my back issues of Gourmet (RIP) and found a rather interesting recipe.  It sounded interesting because it paired fish with cheese.  For some odd reason, fish and cheese just doesn't seem appetizing.  I mean, I love tuna melts, which pairs fish with cheese.  I also greatly enjoyed tuna-noodle casserole when I was little, which also paired fish with cheese.  I see, now, that both of these examples use tuna paired with cheese and not other kinds of fish, which is where it's left me feeling rather iffy.  I can't think of any other examples.  But, it sounded really good and I loved the sound of the side dish, but I'll get to that later.

I took a leap of faith in Gourmet's test kitchens and chefs and decided to give this a try.  I was pleasantly surprised when I went to have a taste and it was delicious.  The cheese, which is feta, actually wasn't that powerful and, when paired with lemon, mayonnaise and dill, it doesn't get in the way of the fish.  In fact, that's another issue I had with this recipe beforehand, which was baking the fish covered in mayonnaise.  For some odd reason, that seems weird to me.  I think it's because I can't pull mayonnaise away from its parts.  Eggs and fish?  I just can't visualize that tasting good, but, like I said, I was pleasantly surprised with this fish.  It had a ton of flavor and the fish was extremely tender.  In the end, I really enjoyed the dish a lot and will definitely make it again.

Like I said earlier, one of the reasons I wanted to make the mahimahi was because of the side dish:  toasted orzo with saffron and fennel.  I, for one, love orzo (my mom is not a fan; she expects rice, but it's pasta!).  It's pasta you can easily eat with a spoon.  I've only made it a few times, but this was one of the first times I made it with an actual recipe; I wasn't flying by the seat of my pants.  I also love fennel.  I'm a huge fan of black licorice and anything anise-y.  I usually make my Christmas biscotti with more anise than necessary just because I love that flavor.  I was really pleased with how this side dish came out. It had a great flavor and wasn't super heavy, like rice tends to be.  The flavors were really fresh and light and went perfectly with the fish.

Oh yeah - the mayonnaise sauce on the fish:  I would eat it with a spoon - so delicious!

Light & Refreshing: Grilled Chile-Lime Salmon

I remember when I found this recipe.  I knew I wanted grilled salmon.  However, since my fish-cooking knowledge is rather limited, I wasn't sure how to season the salmon.  At the time, I had a handful of limes on-hand from another meal I had made recently and I didn't want them to go to waste.  When I searched for "grilled salmon" on epicurious.com (I love epicurious.com because they have all the recipes from pretty much all recent issues of Gourmet, RIP), it yielded a whole slough of different recipes and I couldn't really get into any of them.  I was definitely looking for a recipe which was simple and quick, but, of course, tasty.  One recipe stuck out above the rest:  grilled chile-lime arctic char.  I had had arctic char before and I remembered it was very similar to salmon; same fatty and pink fish with similar flavors.  It helped that the recipe included some substitution options at the bottom, including swapping out the arctic char with salmon.  Perfect!

One thing I look forward to during the summer is asparagus.  Yes, and lets get this out of the way to get our giggles out beforehand:  asparagus makes your pee smell.  In some ways, I find this reassuring that my body is working the way it should.  But yeah, depending on the asparagus, it can be rather embarrassing in mixed company.  However, when it's just Marshall and I - who cares?  So, Marshall and I made a trip to our local farmer's market and picked up some really awesome, super thin, asparagus - totally perfect for grilling.  I simply drizzled them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and they went on the grill until tender.  You'll also see a tiny pile of sautéed spinach on my photographed plate.  This did not appear on our plate with leftovers, but I had some baby spinach I bought for my sandwiches the week before and I wanted to use it before it went bad.  I really love sautéed greens.  The spinach went into a pan with olive oil and chopped garlic.


All in all, it was a satisfying and light meal, perfect for a hot summer evening!

¡Que Sabor! - Grilled Baja-Style Fish Tacos

Before I say anything else, I want to get this out there:  I love fish...but I'm afraid of it.  The problem comes from not being familiar and comfortable with preparing fish.  I've been on the wrong end of bad fish before and it is NOT pretty.  I would hate to do that to Marshall or myself or any guests for whom I cook.  I'm comfortable with chicken and lamb.  I've gotten continuously comfortable with red meat (I used to hate the blood-factor).  I just never worked on strengthening my relationship with fish.  Of course, it all comes from how you were raised, right?  Unfortunately, we never got to eat a lot of fish when I was growing up.  My dad is deathly allergic to all types of fish.  He'll even start coughing if there's even the smell of fish.  When he was little, his parents fed him fish, unaware of his allergy, and he ended up in the hospital not being able to breathe.  Since then, he's steered clear of fish as much as possible.  This meant, of course, that my mom and I couldn't cook fish for dinner.  We did, however, take advantage of the nights my dad worked late or when he volunteered at my elementary school's weekly bingo night.  My mom and I would pop over to the store, pick up some fish and cook it up.  Normally it was marinated catfish, which was easy to throw in a fry pan.  I remember eating salmon a few times, but nothing really elaborate.  Since then, my repertoire has been skimpy on the fish.  Marshall and I try to eat healthily and what's more healthy than fish, right?  I've worked hard to get over my squeamishness over fish.  I'm learning more and more with every dish I make.  I've gotten to the point where I'm consciously searching for new fish recipes to add to our menu each week.

A few weeks ago, I found a recipe for one of my favorite things:  fish tacos.  They're so easy, but so easy to screw up.  I definitely do not care for fried fish tacos; I really like grilled fish.  Thanks to my trusty friend in the kitchen, Cooks Illustrated (I really should just bite the bullet and order a subscription already!), I found a great recipe for Baja-style Fish Tacos.  The recipe overall was easy and prepared not only the fish, but also a spicy spread and cabbage salad to garnish.  The page also showed a recipe for a Mexican-Style Marinated Tomato Salad.  Sure, it was just the salad version of guacamole, but it was really delicious and paired well with the tacos.  Plus, it photographs really well!  Both dishes were delicious and perfect for the warm weather.

The recipe also called for mahi-mahi, but unfortunately the fishmonger I frequent did not have any when I went shopping.  Luckily, the recipe provided some helpful replacements, if mahi-mahi could not be found.  I love when recipes provide options for main ingredients.  Since I'm unfamiliar with fish, I don't really know what substitutes can be made.  It's not like picking out substitutions for cuts of beef or chicken.  Each fish has its own distinct flavor and texture, which play well with different flavors and cooking methods.  One of the fish they suggested was red snapper, which my fishmonger had, so I used that.  The recipe also suggests using halibut or swordfish, as well, in case mahi-mahi and red snapper cannot be found.  Just be careful of the swordfish, since high levels of mercury is found in swordfish.  A helpful link is Seafood Watch, which is prepared and constantly updated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Seafood Watch provides helpful suggestions and tips for which fish to buy at certain times throughout the year, as well as whether or not to buy farmed or fresh and how the fish is caught.  Normally, fresh-caught fish is best, but the sticky bit is how it's caught.