Easy Salmon Poke

For Christmas Eve Dinner, I make my version of the American-Italian Style Feast of the Seven Fishes.  I had never heard of this before meeting my DH. 

On one of our visits back East to see his family, we were fortunate enough to go during the Holiday Season.  My Sister-In-Laws banded together and made the meal the way that their family does it.  Neither DH nor myself could eat very many of the dishes because we have Seafood allergies.  The following year I decided that I would do it my way and have done so ever since. 

This year, DH requested that we try a different dish, one that I have never made, but okay.

Let’s give this a whirl. 

On our last trip back home to Hawaii, I brought back this bottle of Poke Sauce, HMMMM!  

Easy Salmon Poke 

2 servings 

1 6–8 ounce Salmon Fillet, ½ inch dice 

2 Tbsp. Sweet White Onion, finely minced 

2 Tbsp. Green Onions, sliced on the diagonal, divided Greens & Whites 

¼ tsp. Alaea Hawaiian Salt (you can use regular Sea Salt too) 

¼ tsp. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes 

2 Tbsp. Tanioka’s Shoyu Poke Sauce *  

¼ tsp. Sesame Oil 

1/4 package Noh’s brand Poke Mix Ogo Seaweed-optional, but really worth the effort **

¼ tsp. each Toasted & Black Sesame Seeds 

In a bowl, gently combine all of the ingredients, excluding the Green Onion tops. 

** If using the Ogo Seaweed, follow the packages direction and soak it in water for a few minutes and then squeeze it dry, breaking it up into small pieces.

Cover and chill until ready to serve. 

For service, transfer the Salmon Poke to a lovely bowl and top with the reserved Green Onions and a bit more Sesame Seeds. 

Isn’t that pretty? 

This can be served as a Poke Bowl, aka serve the cold Poke over hot steamed White Rice. 

*I know that not everyone has access to premade Poke Sauce, so I’ll add an easy one that you can make at home. 

Auntie’s Easy Shoyu Poke Sauce 

2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce 

¾ tsp. granulated Sugar 

½ tsp. Fresh Ginger, finely grated and include any juice 

½ tsp. Fresh Garlic, finely minced and include any juice 

¼ tsp. Sesame Oil 

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl until the Sugar is dissolved. 

** Noh brand Poke Mix is so handy. I either bring it back with me from Hawaii or Las Vegas or I order it online. It makes your Poke taste that much more true to how we make it in Hawaii. The reason why I say it’s worth the effort is in that package has not only Ogo Seaweed from Hawaii, but Hawaiian Alaea Salt and Chili Pepper as we call it. I never use the entire package, because I make small batches of Poke, so I keep the leftovers in a Spice Jar.

Remember, a recipe is simply someone else’s idea, take it and make it your own.   

Cook for your friends and family!  

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.  

MAHALO! 

Lunch For Moi

I love to go grocery shopping and poke around to find something new-to-me. The other day was no different.

I was in our local Trader Joe’s and found this

I love Risotto and adore Asparagus, put the two together and I’m a happy gal. But how can we bump this up to another level?

💡 Let’s add some Shrimp to the party!

I sautéed these 16/20 count Shrimp, shells and tails on, in some Olive Oil, White Wine (Charles Shaw) and Garlic, followed the directions on the package for the Risotto and then artfully plated my lunch (none for DH, he’s allergic to Shrimp).

BELCH!

That was delicious! I made up the entire package of the Risotto, thinking that I’d only eat half of it – NOPE! I ate the whole thing. 😀

This easy meal is totally customizable, and dead simple. I’m thinking that Clams would be nice too.

Remember, a recipe is simply someone else’s idea, take it and make it your own.

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.

MAHALO!

The Best Shrimp Scampi I’ve Ever Made!

There seems to be a pattern going on here in My Kitchen In The Middle Of The Desert …

But truly, this is the best Shrimp Scampi I’ve ever made!
I’ve tried this dish a bunch of times, but never got it
quite right. Then I saw a magazine recipe (I forget which one)
that suggested making a Shrimp Stock with the shells

Let’s try this!

Auntie Doni’s Shrimp Scampi

1/2 lb. 16/20 Shrimp, shelled & cleaned
1 C. Water
S&P to taste
2 Tbsp. Butter
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. Garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. Parsley, chopped
1/4 tsp. Lemon Zest
2 Tbsp. White Wine
1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes

In a small pot, boil the Shrimp shells in that 1 cup Water, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half.
Strain and set aside the liquid.
Season the Shrimp with S&P.

In a medium sized pan, melt the Butter over medium-low heat; add the Oil, Garlic, Parsley and Zest, cook until the fragrant.
Add the Shrimp and continue to cook until the Shrimp are just pink, turning only once;
add the Wine to mix by swirling the pan and reduce for a coupla minutes.
Pour in that reserved Shrimp Stock, give it a good stir and simmer on low for 1-2 minutes.
Add the Lemon Juice and Red Pepper Flakes.
If the sauce is too thin for your liking, swirl in a teaspoon of cold Butter to thicken.

Serve in a warmed bowl, with an added flourish of fresh Parsley,
and devour!

`Member now, a recipe is simply someone else’s idea,
you take it and make it your own.

Cook for your family!

Clam Sauce Made With Canned Clams, Yup!

I love Clam Sauce, but not when it’s served with the Clams still in the shells, that’s just way too much work at the table for me.  So I had this tin of chopped Clams in the pantry for awhile now, I thought I was buying canned Tuna, oops.  What to do, what to do?

Clam Sauce Made With Canned Clams

(Serves One Diner)

1 6.5 oz. can Chopped Clams, drained & reserve the juice (try to leave the grit behind)

1 small (approx. 1 -1 ½ Tbsp.) Shallot, finely minced

1 tsp. Garlic, finely minced

1 Tbsp. Butter

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 Tbsp. Dry White Wine (something you enjoy drinking, NOT Cooking Wine though)

1 Tbsp. Italian Parsley, rough chopped

Heat a pan over medium with the Olive Oil; sauté the Shallots and Garlic for about 1 minute, not long, you don’t want the Garlic to brown too much.  Add the Wine to deglaze the pan; stir in the Clams, Butter and ½ of the reserved Clam juice to start.  Simmer for about a minute or two til it starts to thicken; then add in the remaining Clam juice to a desired consistency (I used all of the juice), as well as the Parsley, combine well.

Serve over Pasta, Rice, Polenta or solo with some nice Bread to sop up all that goodness.  Top with grated Cheese and more chopped Parsley.

** Cook’s note: If you’d like your dish saucier, just increase the Butter, Wine and use some bottled Clam Juice.  I was good with this dish, though more sauce would have been nice for extra bread dipping 😉

I made Thick Spaghetti for DH’s Steamed Mussels and Clams for moi, MMM!

ENJOY!

Miners Mix Salmon Marinade

Not so long ago, the Ole’ Miner sent me a box filled with goodies.

Namely, Miners Mix Seasonings, Rubs, Marinades, Dips, Mixes and Spreads.  I was so excited to try them all, but there’s only so many hours and stomachs to feed in a day.

We had a lull in our Monsoon rains, so off to the grill I went for our evening repast.

I try to put some sort of fish on the table at least once a week, I know I know you really should eat fish more often, but finding decent seafood in the middle of the desert isn’t easy.

I had a small, 8 oz. frozen Salmon fillet (which is plenty for the two of us) defrosted and ready for some flavoring.  Miners Mix Salmon Marinade is surely enough for an entire side of fish, so I downsized the content to accommodate our need.  I figured the ratio of:

1 Tbsp. Miners Mix Salmon Marinade

2 tsp. Soy Sauce (Aloha brand please)

2 tsp. Rice Vinegar (that’s’ what I use for cooking, less acidic)

1 ½ Tbsp. Olive Oil

Mix all of the above well, reserve 1 Tablespoon for basting and marinate the fish in a zip top baggie for 10-15 minutes, no more.

 

I preheated my “Big Girl” Gas Grill to 500⁰, oiled the grates and cooked the fish on one side with the lid closed for about 3-4 minutes, just till I saw the underside of the flesh going white.  I gave the fillet a baste with that reserved marinade,  gently turned it over and basted again.

Cook covered for another 3-4 minutes until the fish reaches an internal temperature of 140⁰ on an instant read thermometer, place the fish on a plate and tent with tin foil for about 5 minutes, letting all of the juices redistribute.

While the fish was resting, I made up a Greek inspired salad, which included, chopped Romaine Lettuce, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Sweet Bell Peppers, Sweet White Onions, Radishes, pitted Kalamata Olives and a crumble of Feta Cheese.

 

Dress this all to your liking in my homemade Salad Dressing; add some fresh Herbs from my Patio Pot Garden for added interest.  Plate the salad and top with more Cheese as well as our gorgeous, perfectly cooked and seasoned Salmon.

FANTASTIC!!

Mahalo, Thank You Ole’ Miner yet again

Hawaiian-Style Lunch For Two At Home In The Middle Of The Desert

Yup, that’s right.

My husband made a request the other day, he said that he was really ono (hungry for) for some Poke and Sushi.  Well, I was out and about and stopped into my favorite green grocer.  HEH! They’ve got a Sushi Counter, ya know the kind were they make it right in front of you to take home, complete with Wasabi, Pickled Ginger and a small packet of Shoyu (they had chopsticks and forks too 😉 ).

Also in the fresh fish case they had Ahi fillets, CHEAP…I love this place.

DING DING DING!!!  LUNCH!  YUM!

When I got home, I made up a batch of Shoyu Ahi Poke with a beautiful half pound Ahi steak and served that with the Unagi (Fresh Water Eel) Nigiri Sushi.

What a treat!

Kewpie Mayonnaise And Tuna Sandwiches

If you’ve been following along for awhile now, you’ll remember my post about Tuna Sandwiches.

Having lived the majority of my life in Hawaii, THE  mayonnaise of choice is Best Foods (it’s known as Hellman’s on the East Coast of the US).  Although, there is a brand from Japan that has some pull in certain circles…

           Kewpie Mayonnaise, YUM!

I’ve never bought this brand of mayo before, mainly because it’s not cheap!  As you can see, I got the smaller, less expensive bottle  XD

So I’ve had this container in my pantry, waiting for the right moment to break it out… Today’s the day!

 

I brought back a BUNCH of these lovely cans of my most favoritest canned Tuna in the whole wide world (along with an entire suitcase full of other goodies … all food items, of course 😎 ) the last time we went home to Hawaii; I figured if I was going to do it, let’s go whole hog!

In Hawaii, we LOVE our mayonnaise and make our Tuna Salad very simply.  Tuna and mayo, that’s it, well, you do need to use alot of mayo.  My husband doesn’t do care for mayonnaise, so he can’t watch when I do this, “Don’t tell me what’s in there! All I know is that I like your Tuna Sandwich.”  Ssshhhh! Don’t tell him, but I only use a little mayo in the salad, just enough to moisten it all up and then slather GOBS of it on the bread for my sandwich, MMM.

The Kewpie was phenomenal!  I turned the packaging over to look at the ingredients, thinking how different could this be?  MSG, Pepper, Pepper Extract and Apple, interesting (and yes I know that MSG is not good for you, but if you don’t eat it everyday…).  Since DH wasn’t looking, I figured I’d taste-test the two brands side-by-side… WOW!  They’re worlds apart.  That MSG gives the Kewpie Mayo a very savory flavor, they call that Umami.

If you get a chance, do try this different mayonnaise.  If you don’t see it in any of your neighborhood markets, you could always order it on line.

ENJOY!

*Note: As I’ve made mention previously, products that appear here on my personal blog are items that I enjoy and want to share these thoughts about them with you the reader.  I am not compensated in anyway by any company, corporation, individual, group or foundation.  If you see any advertising on this site, it is placed there solely by WordPress.com and I have not done so.  I’m not in this for money, just my own amusement.  🙂

 

 

Fish Vera Cruz Style Ala Missus Dear Friend

I’ve mentioned my Dear Friend before several times here on my blog.  A few months back she and her husband decided, for better health, that they would go Gluten Free-Dairy Free-Pescetarian.  We started to talk about different Seafood, mainly Fish, recipes.  I suggested this one for them

Vera Cruz-Style Fish Our Way

Might tasty!

So as we talked about this particular recipe, I suggested that I contribute to her pantry some of the ingredients to make up this dish and she could go from there if they enjoyed it.  There’s no sense in investing in a whole jar of capers and you discover that you don’t care for them, then what?  Remember, a recipe is simply someone else’s idea, make it your own.  If you don’t like a component, leave it out.

Photo courtesy of Mrs. DF

Beautiful close-up courtesy of Mrs. DF

WOW! Missus DF you knocked it out of the park girl friend!!  She used Cod, which is a nice mild fish for sure, and her choice for a side dish was Cabbage Steaks.  If you’ve never tried them, do!!

So if you’ve been following my blog over the past 4 years and you’ve EVER tried any of the recipes or concepts that I’ve posted, please let me know…a photo of the dish would be awefully nice too 😀

The Honolulu Fish Auction

This seems an appropriate post for Aloha Friday!

One of the most exciting things that my husband and I did while home in the Islands back in 2012, was to go to the Honolulu Fish Auction.  I was really looking forward to this!

I had known about it, but I had no idea that anyone could just walk in off the street not only to watch the action, but participate and purchase any fish that you like, for the right price of course. Prior to leaving to go back home to Hawaii, we had seen brochures offering day trips available through tour companies to the Auction.

We figured we knew our way around our own hometown, why pay to be led by the hand down to Pier 38 or The Honolulu Fishing Village.

We set our alarm clock for EARLY AM and gulped down very strong coffee; we were off.  I wanted to get down there long before the opening bell and be able to look freely at the days catch as well as chat up the crews.

I was impressed that the Hawaii Seafood Council had representatives there, handing out printed information not only about the Auction, but also sustainability.

Only a small portion of what is caught commercially in Hawaii actually stays in Hawaii.  There are many different countries buying fish and then shipping the product out.

Why?  

Because of the quality and seafood safety.

I watched as a load after load were brought in from the boats and inspected, some fish had to be rejected.

I was fascinated; to be able to interact with the guys and ask a boat load (pardon the pun) of probably stupid question in their eyes.

A small catch of Tombo or Albacore Tuna didn’t sell because there was no call for this fish on the market that day; it didn’t look too nice either, not that the fish was bad, “just not worthy” as the guys put it to me.

*Please take notice as to how everyone is dressed, it’s dang cold in there!!

So the bell rings and we’re off to the races! It was nothing like I thought, it’s very subdued. There’s no yelling, no shouting, but then folks in Hawaii aren’t like that.

It was mostly nods of heads, guys throwing down their markers, slips of paper with their company or just their names on it.  I was looking at some of them after the crowd moved over to the next row of fish, and who’s standing next to me? Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa.

What a nice guy!

He asks me where I’m from, if I had been to the Auction before, explaining what he was looking for in the fish that he wanted for that night’s catch of the day at his restaurant.  WOW! No really, WOW!  I’m just a little girl from Kaneohe who’s now living in the middle of the desert…

I had read that as the fish are prepared, a small portion is cut away so that perspective buyers can inspect the meat quality.  As the group of perspective buyers moves on, behind them is a small army of worker bees.  Two guys have handheld receipt type machines is the best way that I can explain it.  They’re tagging each fish that was purchased with the buyer’s name, and all of the particulars, total cost, weight etc.

After them, is this nice man with a bucket, collecting those bits of tail meat.

I asked him what he was going to do with all of that; he tells me he makes Poke or Raw Fish Salad and sell it at the local markets.

No waste Braddah, right on!

Some types of fish I had never seen, other than on my plate.

Above is Opah or Moonfish.  What a beautiful fish, not to mention delicious too.

Can you read the tag? 138 pounds!

That’s my shoe next to it, I wear a size 5 ½ US !!

Monsters,  some of these fish.

And you know there was no fishy smell, well of course not.

These beauties are kept on ice from the time they are landed just a few short hours prior to the Auction, up until they are carted away.

It’s spotless in there too!  As you walk in the door, you have to wash your shoes in a shallow trough filled with some type of disinfectant.  There’s a big handwritten sign, “NO SLIPPERS” (flip flops) over the doorway.  Well YEAH, it was too dang cold for those!

As one row of fish was sold, processed for the customer and taken off the floor, it was back filled by handcarts and small forklifts of more pallets of fish.  We were already a couple of hours into it, and it was clear that they were no where near to being done for the day.

My husband had given up long ago and went to take a nap in the car;  I hadn’t even noticed he was gone. HA!

I was starting to get cold though, so I stepped outside to watch the buyers make off with their bounty from the Sea.  One local family had bought an Ahi or Big Eye Tuna for the Graduation Party they were having at their home.  They invited us to join them, but we regretfully declined.

This was really a treat!

This was in my old backyard, there it was and I had never known it, because I was too busy with my own wrapped up world.  There’s so much more to life, so don’t let it pass you by.  

Get out there and explore your culinary backyard.

Happy Aloha Friday, Have A Great Weekend!

 

Taco Tuesday at Casa Grande Mexican Restaurant in Chino Valley Arizona

Okay, so we talked about Taco Tuesday out with friends before, but that was in Catalina, what about in Chino Valley Arizona?

We met Mister and Missus DF’s at Casa Grande Mexican Restaurant in Chino Valley for a second time.  The first was for Sunday breakfast, yes, I said breakfast and it was GOOD!  I didn’t get any photographs, because I did a face plant into my food before I could reach for my camera.  Not tonight though, Mrs. DF reminded me, “Where’s your camera? You forgot to take pictures on Sunday.”  Thank you Holly!

Oh my GAWD!  Come on Man, for $3 you can have Carne Asada, Carnita, Fish or Shrimp tacos.  For $2 you can have Ground Beef, Chicken, and, ummm, I forget now, HA!  But there were I think 2 other choices for $2.  Oh, AND $2 Margaritas that weren’t bad.

Also on our table were two salads, an Avocado Salad and a Chicken Taco Salad.  The Cilantro Ranch dressing was outstanding.  Make sure if you go to ask for the “secret stash” of the Green Salsa, muy caliente, but very tasty.

Mrs. DF said that I needed to try the Cheesecake Chimi, oh baby!  GOOD!

We’ve already made a date for the four of us to meet at Casa Grande Mexican Restaurant again in two weeks!