Category: Seafood - Niñanin-ya

Baked Fish Fillet in Packet

11/11/2012

This could easily be a picture recipe to be honest. It's that simple.

Tip 1: You can skip the lemon since your sauce is already with lemon.
Tip 2: Smudge butter like I did.
Tip 3: You can make your lemon-butter sauce thicker by adding 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons COLD water.
Tip 4: Put on your chefy hat, it's your fish! It won't complain whatever you add in the packet!

Ingredients:
2 white fish fillet
1/2 lemon Slice (optional)
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
2 butter cubes (optional)
2 Baking paper or parchment papers cut to the size of each fillet

Serves 2

Pre-heat the oven to 150F

Make sure fillets are de-boned and skinned. Rub olive oil all over fillets.

Place fillets in each baking paper. Sprinkle salt and pepper.

Close packets by folding the ends together.

Bake for 15 minutes or until parchments are a bit brown.

Discard juiced in packet and serve with lemon butter sauce. Recipe below.

Related Recipe: Lemon Butter Sauce

Zespiri Kiwifruit Seafood Salad with Kiwi Chili Mayo

9/30/2012

My children have a bad case of hay fever and it's definitely a condition any parent would rather wish their kids do not have especially in this place and climate. A twice a year flu season throws the whole school in chaos, I in definite panic. Most kids will recover after week with ample medicine and rest. My kids,,, not that easy.

Then I found out that kiwifruit is a rich source of Vitamin C (double the amount orange offers and 5 times the nutrition you'll get from an apple). One kiwifruit a day is enough to supplement your daily Vitamin C. Lucky for me, Zespiri kiwifruit in particular is on the sweeter side and so the possibilities are endless.

Tip 1: Re-use paperbag from fast food chains for breading. The best for coating, 100%. It absorbs extra moisture from meat which you do not want when deep frying. Leaves your to-be fried pieces perfectly coated all the time!
Tip 2: When deep frying breaded shrimp, you only need to deep fry for few seconds, once the oil bubbles starts to subside, it's time to fish them out. It will continue cooking while resting.
Tip 3: Add more cayenne if you want your dressing spicier.

Kiwi Chili Mayo Ingredients:
1/3 cup pureed Zespiri kiwifruit
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 1/2 tomato ketchup
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or 1/8 teaspoon crushed chilis
1/8 teaspoon anatto powder dissolved in 4 tablespoons WARM water
1 teaspoon cornstarch diluted in 4 teaspoons COLD water
1/2 to 1 cup mayonnaise

Salad Ingredients
4 Zespiri kiwifruit, peeled and sliced bite size (whichever you prefer)
500 grams medium sized shrimp, cleaned, deveined and cut into 3
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup bread crumbs
250 grams calamari
1/2 cup cornstarch
Dash of salt and pepper
Lettuce, shredded
Sesame seeds, toasted (for garnish)

Dressing Procedure:
Heat kiwifruit, soy sauce, ketchup, sugar, cayenne in a sauce pan. Add the anatto mixture and cornstarch mixture to the saucepan and simmer until thick. Take off from the heat and let it cool down. Add kiwifruit mixture to mayonnaise, mix thoroughly. Set aside.

Deep-fried Seafood:
Dip shrimp pieces in egg then drop to bread crumbs. Deep fry for a few seconds, drain excess oil on kitchen towel, set aside.

Dry excess water on calamari rings. Add cornstarch, salt and pepper. Toss until well coated. Deep fry for a minute, drain excess oil on kitchen towel, set aside.

Assembling Procedure:

Add lettuce on serving bowl. Top with mixed calamari, shrimp and Zespiri Kiwifruit pieces. Drizzle with Kiwi Chili Mayo.

Serve immediately!

Happy Eating!!!

BETCHAdidn'tKNOW *Zespiri Kiwifruit also contains high levels of Actinidin, an enzyme that helps with protein digestion and aside from a steak garnish, kiwifruit can also be used as a natural meat tendrizer. :)

Beer-battered Fish

3/16/2012

Whenever J and I go to a pub or a bar, Fish and Chips will always be one of the ones we order. It's such an amazing dish that sometimes I even have cravings for it.

Lucky me, there is a nearby joint called London Fish and Chips, but of course, home-made is always the way to go.

Tip 1: try and find a dark beer, to add colour. I would have loved to use Guinness but didn't have one available.
Tip 2: some starts with the flour in the bowl first to ensure the batter gets the right consistency.
Tip 3: use a bamboo skewer for easy handling in dredging flour, dipping in batter and frying.

Ingredients:
1 beer
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 large egg, lightly beaten
500 grams hammour fillets, or any other white meat fish, cut into serving sizes
salt and pepper
1/2 cup flour for dredging
oil for frying

Makes 5 generous servings

Directions:
Heat the oil until its 375F.

In the meantime, mix beer, flour, baking powder, salt and egg. Whisk it until smooth and silky.

Season fish with salt and pepper, dredge them in flour, shake excess flour before dipping them into the batter. Fry them 4-5 minutes.

-AcousticChef, cookin' one tune at a time!

Crunchy Calamari

3/16/2012

One of my favourite food is pub food. Something about how hot oil renders its superpowers to whatever ingredient is in it. It's definitely artery-clogging so it's not advisable to eat this type of food every day. However, once in awhile, it's good to indulge in greasy glory.

It's the weekend and I thought, why not go pub food lunch on this fantastic Friday.

Tip 1: if you don't have time to buy fresh squid rings, use the frozen ones... they taste as good as the fresh ones once they're cooked.

Ingredients:
250 grams squid rings
1/4 cup all purpose flour
salt and pepper
oil for frying

Serves 2 appetizers

Directions:
Heat oil until it's suitable for deep frying, 375F is the best temp.

Mix flour, salt and pepper in a medium size bowl.

Dredge your squid rings in the flour mixture, shake excess flour and deep fry them, 2 minutes.

Fish them out from the pan and rest it on a kitchen towel to soak excess oil.

Best eaten with Greek Oven Roasted Potatoes, Beer-battered Fish and Tartare Sauce.

Enjoy your pub food!

-AcousticChef, cookin one tune at a time!

Spaghetti Al Tonno (Cheat Version)

2/29/2012

It's basically the fish version of bolognese. It's equally yum, just on a lighter note. This is also the cheat version... I didn't have enough will power to wait til I complete all the ingredients as I was craving for this pasta for days... yeah,,, I'm pretty bad with self control when it comes to food.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion, minced
knob of butter
1 box of button mushrooms, approx 8-10 pieces, cut into chunks
600 grams of tuna chunks in can
Dolmio sauce with extra onion and garlic
1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves, torn
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Pasta:
500 grams spaghetti noodles
Knob of butter
Salt

Directions:
Sauce:
Heat the oil in a saucepan. Sautee garlic and onion.

Add a knob of butter in the pan, add mushrooms and cook until it turns into a brownish colour.

Add tuna chunks and cook for 3 minutes before adding the Dolmio sauce. Add basil and oregano and simmer for another 3 minutes.

Pasta:
Boil water in a pan big enough to hold half a kilo of cooked spaghetti. Add generous amount of salt and a good knob of butter.

Once pasta is al dente, drain into a bowl

You can either mix the sauce with the pasta straight away or serve it separately.

Serven with garlic bread and enjoy your rich sauce with gusto!

-Acoustic Chef - cookin' one tune at a time!

Packet of Baked Salmon

7/22/2011

Salmon is one of the very few fishes that I love to cook. It's meaty, it tastes healthy, it's forgiving, you can grill it, bake it, fry it, do whatever you want to do with it and it'll still turn out great!

Though Salmon is pricier than most common fish, for whatever size you buy, it's going to serve double than usual as it's really filling.

This dish works well with fusilli alla caprese but I'm pretty sure it'll taste just as good with fried rice or steamed rice.

Tip 1: Ask your fish monger to take the skin off the fillet. If they can't, slice it off with a sharp knife.
Tip 2: De-bone your salmon by running your fingers all over the fillet and take off any bone you find by a tweezer

Takes 35 minutes to cook, oh so worth it!

Ingredients:
4 salmon fillets (approx 150 grams each)
2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra 2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tomatoes, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Knob of butter

Serves 4

Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F

Sprinkle salmon with 2 teaspoons olive oil, salt and pepper.

In a small bowl, mix the tomatoes, onions, 2 tablespoons of oil, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper.

Place a salmon fillet, oiled and seasoned side down, atope a sheet of foil.

Spoon the tomato mixture over the salmon and add a slice of butter on top.

Gather the sides of the foil packet forming a seal. Place the foil packet on a heavy large baking sheet.

Bake until the salmon is just cooked through, about 25 minutes.

Serve on foil packets or transfer salmon on a plate while reserving remaining juice on a small bowl as spooning sauce.

Happy Eating!!!

Steamed Sea Bass

7/6/2011

This dish is one of the very few dishes I braved in my first attempts in cooking. That only means this is one of the easiest that you could ever find in my must cook list.

Present this dish on a stylish plate, wooden bowl or any fancy plate and you will have a party pleaser in an instant!

I suggest you make an extra sauce just for the ones who love to have their fish well sauced.

Tip 1: Have fun with it!

Ingredients:
1 kilo whole sea bass with head and tail, cleaned, scaled and gils removed
1/4 cup white wine
3 cloves garlic, choppped coarsely
4 tbsps spring onion, chopped
2 tbsps fresh ginger, minced
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tbsps soy sauce
2 tbsps extra white wine

Serves 3-4

Procedure:
Rinse the fish inside and out with 1/4 cup of wine

Steam the fish either in a traditional Chinese bamboo or other types of steamer for 15-20 minutes. Check on it once in awhile to make sure you don't over steam it. The skin should be pulling off quite easily but is still firm to be transferred to the serving plate.

In the meantime, prepare the sauce base by combining 2 tablespoons of wine, garlic, spring onions, ginger and sugar in a bowl.

Once the fish is cooked. Carefully remove the fish from steamer and transfer to your stylish serving plate.

Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan. When hot enough, add the sauce base. Stir until it boils.

Pour soy sauce inside and over the sea bass, then pour the boiled sauce over the fish.

Happy Eating!

Tempura

4/28/2011

Lent season brought out all the seafood in me. Hubby loves tempura a lot and so it's one of the dishes that I learned early.

Although I have an allergy to shellfish, I try my best to serve seafood whenever possible. It's good for my family to have a balanced diet. I'm able to eat shrimp as long as it's not saucy or soupy. The higher the essence concentration, the worst is my allergic reaction.

Tempura is a dish that's perfect for my dilemma.

Tip 1: Make sure you use ice water.
Tip 2: Do not overcook your seafood!
Tip 3: Prepare everything, the sauce, the rice, the drinks so as soon as your tempura is done, drained and all, it can be served and eaten immediately

Ingredients:
16 pcs prawn
1 medium sized potato, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1/2 of a medium sized carrot, sliced 1/2 inch think
2 tablespoons oil
1 egg
1 cup ice cold water
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all purpose flour
500 ml - 1 liter oil for deep frying (depending on the size of your pan)

Serves 2-4 (depending on how greedy one can be!)

Procedures:
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a shallow skillet and fry carrots and potatoes until it's past half-cooked stage. Set aside.

In a small bowl, beat egg and ice water until mixture is frothy.

Add all purpose flour and baking soda. Beat until flour and baking soda is just mixed in. Do not over beat!

Make sure the oil for deep frying is hot.

Dip potatoes, carrots and prawn in the mixture and drop in hot oil. Do it by batches to maintain the oil's temperature doesn't go down.

Serve immediately with tempura sauce on the side. If you don't have tempura sauce, mix lemon juice and soy sauce to create your own sauce.

If you want to add more colour and texture to your plate, then have a little green salad and you're good to go!

Escabeche

4/23/2011

Lent brought out dishes I will normally not cook. First, it's new to my kids. Second, I haven't made it, ever.

My mom cooks escabeche when we were kids so we'll eat seafood, at least in my case, eat a fish, you know, balance diet and all. I actually love this dish, I can enjoy the taste of fish with the gingery, sweet and sour sauce.

Tip 1: Choose meaty fish so you can enjoy this dish so much better
Tip 2: It's up to you whether you want a whole fish or use fish steaks
Tip 3: Make sure your batonnets are of the same size so they cook evenly

Ingredients:
500 grams king fish steak
4 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 inches ginger, sliced into batonnets
1/2 red capsicum, deseeded and cut into batonnets
1/2 stick celery, cut into batonnets
1/2 small carrot, cut into batonnets
2 spring onions, julienne
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Serves 4

Procedures:
Scrub the fish with coarse salt to clean the steaks. Rinse well and sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon of salt all over the fish and set aside.

Whisk the vinegar, water, sugar and the remaining salt in a small glass bowl until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a skillet and stir fry the garlic until golden brown. Add onion and stir fry until translucent. Add the ginger and vinegar mixture then bring to a boil.

Add the capsicum, celery, carrot and spring onions. Mix well.

Dissolve cornstarch in 2 tablespoons cold water then add to the mixture in the skillet. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

Transfer the fish to a serving platter and spoon the cooked veggies and sauce over it.

Serve hot with plain or fried rice and an extra bowl of sauce.

Happy Eating!

Pan-fried Salmon Steak with Cheese Crumbs

1/11/2011

FV46-03-0111

Having two boys who aren't particularly adventurous (at the moment) when it comes to food, I have to be extra creative, not to mention, extra patient. They love to eat but the dish I put forth must deliver in all aspect, otherwise, it'll be a resounding "no thanks mommy, can I eat something else?"

There are times when I slaved in the kitchen for hours thinking they'll like what I cooked and then they'll request for mac and cheese or meat loaf or something ridiculously simple.

My oldest one seems to be okay lately. Majority of the time, he accommodates my request to at least give the food a try and discover that he actually likes the dish. My youngest is a bit of a primadonna, hence the nickname El Divo.

If it's a new dish, it better look FANTASTIC and must equally smell DELISH... otherwise, he'll cover his nose and request for the absurd menu listed on top.

So I found this very simple and easy way to prepare salmon but looks, tastes and smells yum.

Tip 1: De-bone the very rare ones you can find from the fish. You can feel if as it sticks out when you run your fingers on it. Use tweezer that you specifically reserve for this purpose please.
Tip 2: Do not overwash the fish otherwise you'll take out the oils and flavours that you want from it.
Tip 3: Some like their salmon a bit rare in the middle, so you cook it the way you want it. As you fry it, you can see the bottom part turning opaque which is a sign that it's cooked until that level.
Tip 4: If you don't have a broiler, put the cheese mixture on top of the fish the minute you flip to cook the other side. Cover the pan immediately to melt the cheese.

Took me just a jif!

Ingredients:
2 pcs of salmon fillet/steak (150-200 grams each)
1/4 cup bread crumbs (seasoned or not)
1/2 cup matured coloured cheddar cheese (or whichever cheese you love the most)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 knob of butter

Lemon-Butter Sauce (<--click)

Serves 2

Debone and take off the skin of the fish. Rinse it lighly in cold water, pat dry with paper towel

Season fish with salt and pepper and set aside.

Mix bread crumbs and cheese together and set aside.

Heat butter and olive oil. Add the fillet and fry just to your liking. Flip it once the bottom half start turning opaque.

Fry the other side until cooked.

Put the cheese mixture on top and broil until the cheese bubble and crumbs form.

Place the cooked fish on a serving plate with Lemon-Butter Sauce. Perfect dish for Garlic Fried Rice with grilled or pan fried asparagus....

Happy Eating!

-AcousticChef, cookin' one tune at a time!

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I'm No Chef but I love food like it's no one's business.

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