Seafood and Salmon Casserole

I had no idea what to do for diner tonight. There was a little piece of salmon leftover from a few nights ago, half a zucchini and a few mushrooms about to turn, and a nice chunck of Fontina cheese begging for mercy. This called for some freestyle cooking! I didn't want to just warm up the salmon, cook some rice on the side and fry up the zucch's and shrooms. Bo-ring...So here's what I did:



I started by cooking some rice, in a bit more water than usual so there'd be some liquid to moistened everything else later! Then I sauteed some onions, garlic, zucchinis and mushrooms in a bit of oil and butter until soft, with some salt, pepper, paprika and thyme. Meanwhile I defrosted a bit of seafood mix. Yes, a frozen seafood mix. It comes in very handy when it's winter time and fresh seafood is not really available...
When the veggies got soft I added the seafood and cooked them for a few minutes, until semi-done. Then I added the rice and the little bit of water left at the bottom of the the pot, along with the already cooked salmon and a bit of milk to tie everything together*. And a bit more salt and pepper.
*I originally thought of making a bechamel sauce but I decided to keep it semi-healthy...
All of this wonderful stuff went in to a baking dish, dotted with a few knobs of butter and got covered in Fontina and some Parmesan.





In a 450 oven it went, for about 5 minutes, then on broil until it got nice and golden.



Easy and delicious. Can't really beat that.

Simply Grilled Trout Filet

Trout has got to be my favorite fish, ever. I love salmon and cod too but when I go to the fish store and find nice fresh pink trout, I gotta have it! I always get filets, which are really easy to bake, grill or fry, but eventually I will give a go at baking whole trouts, the little ones you can stuff and cook in the oven. Seems easy enough... But that's another post...
Yesterday afternoon I stopped by that fish place I always go to at the Atwater market and picked up some trout filets, and had a nice little grilling session. I've always been a bit scared of putting fish on the grill, always thinking it would stick and make a big mess...it actually happened once last year I put a big salmon steak on, without oiling it first...big mistake. Anyway now I know as long as you oil the grill and the fish there won't be any problems! Thank you Food Network!!
So, with this fish it was pretty simple:

1-Get some nice trout filets, rince them and pat dry.

2-Marinade it a bit, 30 minutes is plenty long:

*On a plate, squeeze over the fish half a lemon, pour a BIG glug of olive oil and season with salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, parsley and a bit of cayenne. Rub it all over and flip the filets, so they're skin side up, cover with plastic wrap and let them chill in the fridge for about 30-45 minutes.

3-Get the grill started on med-high heat, and take the fish out of the fridge.

4-Once the grill is hot, oil it gently with a towel(carefull not to drop any on the flames...ouch...), then place the fish SKIN SIDE UP first. After 3-4 minutes flip it and let it cook for another 5 minutes, more or less depending on the thickness of your filets, and how cooked you like it. I'm not the biggest fan of raw fish so I always cook it through but if you like it a bit raw inside by all means...!

You will be able to tell when it's done by sticking a fork in it gently in the thickest part, if it flakes easily it's done!



All that's left here is a nice squeeze of lemon(once it's off the grill of course! by this time the fish is done, it's on the plate ready to eat!).

And don't forget the Sauvignon Blanc!!

I love grilling fish!

Baked-in-Foil Cod with Lemon and Thyme.

This is the first fish post on this blog. Surprising considering I really love fish and seafood and I eat a lot of it. But I usually have salmon or trout, and I always cook it the same way. It will be on here eventually...
I was going to get salmon for diner, actually, but I noticed at the store there was right next to it some fresh cod. Nice and thick filets, not too expensive. Oh Joy! Cod is my favorite white fish. It's so light and flaky, and easy to cook, like I did tonight wrapped in foil. Only 4 ingredients went into that. Well, 5 if you count the fish. And it cooks in no more than 10 minutes...
Here's how it went down:
First I cut a piece of foil big enough for that particular piece. I cut 6 lemon slices, lay down 3 on the bottom, along with some fresh thyme, sliced green onions and a few knobs of unsalted butter, salt and pepper. Then I lay the fish on top, and salted it again and pepper, a few more SMALL knobs of butter, the 3 lemon slices(on top of the butter), fresh thyme and green onions.

Before:


Wrap it snuggly in the foil, leaving a few small openings at both ends. In the oven at 400F for about 10 minutes, and it's done. If you're not sure how to tell the doneness, the fish will no longer be transparent, and will flake easily at the touch of a fork.

After: see how it opaque now...


This time I sliced the onions a little too big, they were not totally cooked but they're good raw so it wasn't a big deal.
Also the juice and melted butter at the bottom makes a nice little drizzle,
and since it was all done in foil, there's no mess, and the pan used won't be dirty=no washing...well, just a quick rincing!



Fish is awesome!

p.s. the orange vegetable on the first picture was sweet potato. cut up, steamed and dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper.