Batter-Splattered

Now that I've settled into summer and everything is all big and green, I've come to the conclusion that my new house ... I still think of it as new -- I've only been here seven months -- that's new, right? I think you have to inhabit a place for a full year and see all four seasons before you can stop calling it new.

My new house is like a little oasis in the trees. My goal in life when I was a kid was to live in a house where, when you looked out the windows, all you would see is trees. A lofty goal, I know -- you guys can go be doctors and lawyers, I just wanna live in a treehouse. No neighbors. No buildings. Just green, green, green.

I've attained my goal. And if everyone would stop all this incessant talk about foreclosures, I might actually be able to sleep through the night without lying awake, worrying about every little penny I spend.

I guess I should be looking around for a new goal. But I don't really feel like pursuing my other childhood goal which was to be a forest ranger. Or a fish and game biologist (I had a thing for fish hatcheries). I didn't pursue those goals. I think there was too much math and mathy-science involved. So in the alternative, I just take lots of hikes and commune with nature in my own way. No math involved there. Unless you need to use a compass. Oh geez, the compass with its true north and magnetic north and adding this and subtracting that. I carry the compass and some instructions on how to use it ... probably wouldn't work for a fish hatchery though, like if suddenly all my fry started to die and I said, Wait! I have the instructions right here in my pack.

My birthday was this week. When I told my husband I wanted a porch swing for our rather sparsely-furnished screened-in back porch, he whined and said, "Oh, don't get a porch swing... I need to replace the heads on my pickup."

He's a peach, isn't he? Not only would he begrudge me a porch swing, but notice how he also expected I would be the one to go get said porch swing. For myself. On my birthday. I told him he'd better come home with a cake or he was a dead man.

Not to worry though -- mom gave me a fat gift certificate to REI and I loaded on frivolous purchases aplenty. Sunglasses. A pair of pants to yoga in. A pair of very frivolously priced pants to live in. I love Patagonia. And ordinarily, I'd be clinging to that gift card, waiting for sales and coupons but I don't know what came over me. I was there in the store and decided to go crazy and buy stuff. FULL PRICE stuff. Unheard of, for a thrifty gal like me. I was livin' large that day.

Recipes, you say? Wait, you come here for food and recipes, not just girl talk?

Well okay then. Let me tell you about camping food.

I spent this past weekend camping at a public use cabin up near Fairbanks. The Glatfelder Cabin on Quartz Lake.

There were raspberry bushes growing from the roof!:

How fabulous is that?

But poor Charlie Glatfelder had a rather dismal story. He was living in California and one day he pulled out a map and drew a circle around a blue dot right in the middle of Alaska. That blue dot was Quartz Lake.

 

He loaded his military surplus jeep and drove up and got a homestead claim on the lake and lived the first winter in a walled tent on stilts (to avoid bears?) The following summer he dug a root cellar and lived in that the next winter. Then the next summer he built himself a cabin. At first, everything went great -- he had a garden and traded fish or worked for other stuff he needed. But then eventually he lived on just the fish he caught in the lake, pike mostly, and became malnourished. In the 50s, some U.S. Marshalls went to Quartz Lake looking for a missing person and found old Charlie crazy as loon, convinced people were trying to poison him, and they shipped him off to an institution in California where he recovered but never returned to the lake.

Grim, huh? Yeah. Luckily it doesn't get dark here at night in the summertime, otherwise I might have been thoroughly spooked by the history of the place. Some of the people who wrote in the cabin log book said they awoke in the middle of the night to find faces pressed up against the windows, staring in at them.

View from one of the windows:

 

I took one look at the inside of that outhouse (only three walls and overlooking a hiking trail, hhmmm) and decided there weren't enough moist towelettes in the world to fight off dirty like that. So I employed the bushes that weekend -- and from the aroma while employing the bushes, I'd say pretty much everyone else did the same. When camping, you just have to yield to the dirty.

Anyway, the window-faces were geocachers apparently. It's a good thing they didn't come around the nights I was there because I'm pretty sure I would have jumped through the glass at them and run into the woods screaming, "Glatfelder's back! Glatfelder's back!"

I felt especially bad for poor malnourished Charlie because, boy, did we ever eat good that weekend. I felt a twinge of guilt every time I sat on a stump and  tucked into yet another wonderful meal, all cooked in foil packets, the king of campfire cooking methods.

The only thing not packeted would be tbone steaks cooked on a grate over that very fire. Otherwise, it was salmon with roasted red bell peppers, red onions, and portobello mushrooms all drizzled with sesame oil. Fresh vegetables and fresh herbs drizzled with olive oil. Scrambled eggs with vegetables and salmon or sausage. My mouth waters just thinking about it.

If you should find yourself planning a camping trip, I promise you can't go wrong with the following recipes. I hope you have as good a time in the great outdoors as I did.

Bundle of Veggies

Serves six

Feel free to use other vegetables and herbs. I added asparagus and sprigs of fresh herbs like thyme and rosemary.

• 8 ounces whole fresh mushrooms
• 8 ounces cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup sliced zucchini
• 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or salt-free seasoning blend
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 dash pepper

Pile vegetables and herbs on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 18 in. square). Combine the remaining ingredients; drizzle over vegetables. Fold the foil around vegetables and seal tightly. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 20-25 minutes or until tender.

Earth, Sea, and Fire Salmon

Serves eight

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 (8 ounce) salmon fillets
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 2 large red onions, sliced into rings
• 1 jarred roasted red pepper, drained and cut into strips (I did this at home before the camping trip because it's kind of messy and oily) 
• 8 ounces portobello mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon or more of sesame oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. On doubled-up sheets of foil, arrange potato slices in a layer. Season with a little salt and pepper. Place a layer of onions over the potatoes, then a layer of roasted peppers, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper as desired. Place salmon fillets over the vegetables and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Place whole mushrooms over the fillets, and drizzle them with sesame oil. Seal foil tightly and roast until fish flakes easily with a fork, and potatoes are tender.

Salmon Club Sandwich

Well, my husband has yet to catch a salmon this year in spite of three -- count them -- three overnight fishing expeditions down at the creek. The fish, they just aren't running yet, is what he tells me. Something about high and cloudy water.

He's pretty good with a rod and reel, so I suppose I'll believe him. Although. He doesn't particularly care for salmon and so he leans in the direction of catch-and-release. But. This year I mentioned that if he catches a ton of salmon, we could trade quite alot of it for the halibut that some friends catch by the boatful (literally) every summer in Homer. He perked up at that thought. Now, halibut he likes. I figured he was sure to bring home the salmon if it meant he could swap it for halibut.

But.

Nothing.

Luckily, his friend caught one though and he's plum out of freezer space, so my husband brought that massive king salmon home to store in our freezer and we got to keep some hunks of it.

And when I say 'hunks,' I mean hunks. I'm not kiddin' around. Well, see for yourself:

 

 I whacked that king into chunks and grilled 'em up. And then I used them for this recipe for a salmon club sandwich. That's grilled and toasty sourdough bread there on top.

This particular club sandwich recipe has you whip up a divine lemon basil mayonnaise with minced fresh basil, grated lemon peel and, of course, some mayo. And you can't forget about the bacon. I'll think you'll agree with me that anytime bacon is involved at the dinner table, you're talking party-time. And once you're done cooking the bacon till crispy, you lay those strips on a paper-towel-lined plate, then saute up some sliced red onion in the drippings.

It all comes together to be deliciously sinful. I had mine with a handful of salt and vinegar chips and an Alaskan IPA poured into a glass I specially put in the freezer for an hour or two to get it all nice and frosty..

The original recipe, as provided below, calls for slices of tomato but I didn't include those on my sandwich. For me, salmon and tomato just don't mix. I also don't think halibut and tomatoes go together all that well.

I know, I know. It's a bold statement considering the wealth of halibut-tomato recipes out there, but I'm standing by my aversion.

Just the thought of fish and tomatoes mixing it up together reminds me of being a kid and getting absolutely disgusted if a tiny bit of ketchup touched my baked potato or peas.

And I was in love with ketchup. Still am. In fact, back then, I would not only dip a french fry into a massive plop of ketchup, but I'd also get my fingers in there too so that as I ate the fry, I could lick the extra ketchup off my fingers. Oh dear. My dad thought I was disgusting. And he was right to think so.

But you feel free to go on ahead and slice you up some tomatoes and enjoy this recipe to the fullest.

To me, this tastes like summertime.

Salmon Club Sandwich

Serves four

6 tablespoons mayonnaise
5 tablespoons minced fresh basil
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 5- to 6-ounce skinless salmon fillets (each about 3/4 inch thick)

8 bacon slices
1 small red onion, sliced

8 1/2-inch-thick sourdough or country-style white bread slices (each about 5x3 inches)
8 tomato slices
8 lettuce leaves

Mix mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons basil and lemon peel in small bowl to blend. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)

Mix remaining 3 tablespoons basil, olive oil and lemon juice in large glass baking dish. Add salmon to oil mixture; turn to coat. Cover; chill 1 to 4 hours.
Cook bacon in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Using tongs, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Add onion to drippings in skillet. Sauté until onion is tender and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Grill fish until just opaque in center, about 3 minutes per side. Grill bread just until golden, about 2 minutes per side.
Spread mayonnaise mixture over 1 side of bread slices. Top each of 4 bread slices with 2 bacon slices, 2 tomato slices, 1/4 of onion, 1 salmon fillet and 2 lettuce leaves. Cover with remaining bread slices.

  

Cod and Cauliflower and Whale-Watching

Last weekend I went on a day cruise in search of gray whales migrating north on their way from Baja, California up to the Bering Sea. It was a very rare sunny day in Seward, Alaska -- the captain said it had been raining for two weeks straight -- the luck I have, I tell you.

 

That sea lion on the top there? That's how I feel on this long holiday weekend. Just lolling about.

In the end we didn't spot any gray whales. But we did see a humpback whale and we got to float about and watch a pod of killer whales feeding on fish. My friend Annette took that particular opportunity to argue with some of the many small children on board the boat, particularly one talkative little boy trying to share his knowledge of marine mammals.

Little boy: "See that one over there? The one with the tall straight dorsal fin? That's a male."

Annette: "No, it's not."

Little boy: "Yes, it is! The females have shorter curved fins."

Annette: "No. That's not true."

Little boy: "Well, that's what my marine mammal book says."

I was all like, I don't know, Annette. He seems pretty sure of himself. And he has a book.

He slinked off, thoroughly dejected.

He must have been pretty stoked though later when the captain said over the intercom: "And if you'll look at the killer whale at two o'clock, that's a male. You can tell by the long tall dorsal fin."

After watching those whales feed on fresher than fresher fish, I came home with a fierce hunger. Luckily, I had some fresh cod in the fridge just waiting to be cooked up. And along with it, I made an old favorite, this cauliflower salad with white beans, feta cheese, fresh rosemary, and tangy vinaigrette dressing.

The original recipe is here. Their version calls for thinly-sliced Belgian endive but I usually leave that out, partly because it's good without it and partly because the markets here are hit-or-miss when it comes to finding something so exotic. Exotic for Alaska, anyway.

My favorite step in this recipe is the first -- you saute chopped fresh rosemary in olive oil till it's nice and fragrant then set it aside until you're ready to throw all the other ingredients together in a big bowl. By then, the whole house is full of that lovely aroma of olive oil and rosemary.

I usually make a huge bowl of this, even though there's only two of us to eat it (even my meat-loving other half loves it). That way, I can take leftovers to work with me for lunch -- because the cauliflower is uncooked, it stays crispy for days.

The cod recipe is here. It has a tasty shallot-lemon vinaigrette that you're supposed to split between the fish and a salad of fresh herb leaves. This time around, I just made a half recipe of the vinaigrette though and skipped the herb salad.

The flavors of these two recipes go together so nicely and they're both so easy to prepare.

Cauliflower, White Bean and Feta Salad

Serves six

1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 medium head of cauliflower, trimmed, cut into small florets (about 3 cups)
1 (15-ounce) can white beans (such as Great Northern or navy beans), drained
2 large heads of Belgian endive, trimmed, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced crosswise
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 3 ounces)

Combine oil and rosemary in small saucepan. Stir over medium heat just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Cool.

Whisk lemon juice, vinegar, lemon peel, salt, and pepper in small bowl.

Combine cauliflower, beans, endive, chives, parsley, and rosemary oil in medium bowl; toss. Mix in cheese. Add lemon juice mixture and toss to coat. Season salad with salt and pepper. 

Sauted Black Cod with Shallot-Lemon Vinaigrette

Serves two

Mix in small bowl to make vinaigrette:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup minced shallots
1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Sherry wine vinegar
1 teaspoons (packed) grated lemon peel
Salt and pepper to taste

Sprinkle with salt and pepper:
2 6- to 7-ounce black cod fillets with skin

Heat in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat:
1 tablespoon olive oil

Cook fish until just opaque in center, about 4 minutes per side. Arrange fish on plates and spoon vinaigrette over each.   

Cajun Fish / Cole slaw

Neatly-wrapped filets of fish

So I heard-tell from the newspaper's food section on Wednesday that 10th and M Seafood got a shipment of crawfish and it just so happened that they're located within walking distance of my office downtown so my co-worker and I trudged on over in order to fulfill our 30 minutes of daily exercise, as mandated by the Presidential Challenge.

Exercise is so much easier when the fixin's for a good dinner are involved!

But then again, I discovered that it's awfully difficult to find a crawfish recipe that isn't based on a stick of butter and a pint of cream, thereby dashing any effort I put forth for the challenge.

But I needn't have worried because when we got to 10th and M, there was no crawfish stocked on the shelf behind the crawfish sign. Just as I was about to bemoan my crawfishlessness, these two fellows who'd followed us into the store, hot on our heels, went straight to the counter and requested the two pounds of crawfish they'd called ahead for. The Fishmongette behind the counter had some bad news for them: the crawfish was still en route to the store (I love saying en route -- it's makes me feel like I'm on official police business).

She offered to call Fed Ex and find out where the crawfish-laden truck was located at that very moment.

They took her up on that offer.

The truck was only a couple of miles away and headed straight for the store.

They agreed to wait.

Those were my kinda fellas.

I remembered back to my desperate search for a light and healthy crawfish and decided maybe the food gods were telling me something. Maybe I should buy something besides the crawfish, provided it ever arrived. It had to be a sign.

Instead, I got a filet each of sole and rockfish. Six bucks! Score. And as we sailed out the door, brown paper packages in hand, the Fed Ex truck sailed into the parking lot, so it's nice to know those crawfish lovin' guys were rewarded for their patience and devotion to shellfish.

It was all I could do to resist the urge to spin around and follow that Fed Ex man back into the store.

I decided to stray from my favorite recipe site and go farther afield, settling on this recipe for Cajun Sole with Remoulade Sauce, found on the Food Network but originating in Family Circle magazine. Proving once again that I am no food snob, I saw it as a bonus that the recipe called for crumbled cornflakes because, just the night before, the husband polished off a box. Now that's multi-tasking grocery-shopping.

I decided not to use the remoulade / tartar sauce with this recipe because I was also whipping up a big bowl of cole slaw from a head of cabbage that came in my CSA box. The cole slaw was for the husband because awhile back, when I tackled this recipe, I explained to him that the skillet full of delectable-looking red cabbage he was examining was a 'red cabbage confit,' and that's when he smacked his forward and asked, "Why not just make some plain old cole slaw?"

So I used this recipe, which includes a cup or two of of the tartar sauce recipe from Pearl Oyster Bar. I used the extra sauce for the fish.

It was all really good.

Cajun Fillet of Sole with Remoulade Sauce

Serves four

3/4 cup cornflake crumbs
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/ 2 teaspoon onion powder
1/ 2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 sole or flounder fillets (8 ounces each) -- I used a rockfish fillet and it turned out really well
3 tablespoons light mayonnaise
Vegetable cooking spray
Parsley sprigs and lemon wedges, for garnish

Fillets: Combine cornflake crumbs, chili powder, cumin, onion powder and pepper on large sheet of waxed paper. Brush each fillet with about 1 teaspoon mayonnaise per side. Dip fillets into crumb mixture, coating both sides. Spray both sides of each fillet with vegetable cooking spray. Place on prepared baking sheet. Broil 5 inches from source of heat, without turning, about 8 to 10 minutes or until fish just begins to flake and coating is golden. Serve with remoulade sauce. Garnish with parsley sprigs and lemon wedges.

Cabbage Slaw

Serves three

2 cups julienned Savoy or green cabbage (or 2 cups red cabbage, julienned, and 2 cups green cabbage for a more colorful presentation)
3/4 cup Pearl Oyster Bar Tartar Sauce (recipe follows)
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate till  you're ready to eat.

Pearl Oyster Bar Tartar Sauce

2 heaping T chopped red onion
2 heaping T roughly chopped capers
2 heaping T chopped cornichons, plus 2 tablespoons of the juice
1.5 cups Hellmann's mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and refrigerate till you're ready to use. 

Salmon with Orange-Balsamic Glaze / Roasted White Asparagus

I've been focusing on healthy and lean and easy recipes lately and here's my latest -- white asparagus and copper river salmon. Is that fillet beautiful or what?

I used this orange-balsamic glaze for the salmon -- orange juice concentrate, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and fresh rosemary. Oh my god, did that marinade ever smell good!

I mixed the marinade ingredients all together and poured them into a plastic bag and that's when my husband walked into the kitchen and caught me with my face inside the bag, breathing deeply -- the orange! the rosemary! it was like a ziploc chockful o' summertime.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

I didn't bother to explain because he wouldn't understand anyway. I just loaded my salmon fillet into the bag and put it in the fridge to marinate

On the side, I roasted up some white asparagus:

The local grocery store sells white asparagus all the time but it always looks like it's seen better days -- a little limp, a little brown. But these stalks were beautiful and I couldn't resist.

I did a little reading on wikipedia to see what exactly is the difference between green and white asparagus (white is grown underground in sandy soil) and found this little nugget of info which I thought to be totally fascinating:

Marcel Proust claimed that asparagus "...transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume."

Some of the constituents of asparagus are metabolized and excreted in the urine, giving it a distinctive smell. This is due to various sulfur-containing degradation products (e.g. thiols and thioesters) and ammonia. Recent studies suggest that every individual produces the odorous compounds upon eating, but that only about 40% of individuals have the genes required to smell them. The speed of onset of urine smell is rapid, and has been estimated to occur within 15-30 minutes from ingestion.

I had no idea, did you? Are you one of the 40%? I'm not sure if I am -- I guess I'm no Proust because I've never focused on such things before.

Salmon with Orange-Balsamic Glaze

Serves four

1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 salmon steaks or fillets (about 6 ounces each)
Vegetable cooking spray

Place first 7 ingredients in a large sealable plastic bag. Shake well. Add salmon and refrigerate 30 minutes to 1 hour. Remove steaks from marinade and pat dry with a paper towel. Coat grill with cooking spray and heat on high. Grill steaks, turning once halfway through, until no longer translucent in the center, about 4 minutes per side.

Cod with Roasted Vegetable Ragout

Those are some cute little freshly-washed organic baby zucchinis.

I'm not all about the decadent dishes such as raspberry chiffon pie and chicken cordon bleus with cream sauces.

Well.

Yeah I am.

To fend off the spare tire that inevitably comes along with all those desserts and divine dinners -- especially during a rotten winter like this one where there's not enough snow to cross-country ski and it's too icy to hike -- I mix things up with a recipe like this one.

It's a lean and healthy dinner I just love. Get yourself a big fresh wild-caught true cod fillet and a bunch of assorted vegetables. Roast in oven. Toss vegetables in a light sauce. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and fresh parsley and a little romano cheese.

Even my husband likes this, and he usually makes a point of mentioning again and again that he likes deep fried fish every time I prepare fish in some other way. And okay, he dipped his cod in ranch dressing and he followed dinner up with a big bowl of ice cream but hey, I got him to eat fish and vegetables. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Don't worry about using the exact amounts and types of veggies in the recipe. It's a good clean-out-the-fridge sort of a recipe and you can use whatever you have.

Cod with Roasted Vegetable Ragout

Serves four

four 6-ounce pieces skinless cod fillet

2 medium zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds total), cut into 1 1/4-inch pieces

5 plum tomatoes (about 3/4 pound total), halved

2 medium red onions, cut into 1/2-inch wedges

1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips

2 large garlic cloves, crushed

4 fresh thyme sprigs

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs, from one slice of bread

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leafed parsley leaves

1/4 c grated romano or parmesan

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 500°F.

Season cod with salt and pepper. In a large shallow baking pan toss zucchini, tomatoes, onions, bell pepper, garlic, and thyme with oil and salt and pepper to taste and spread in one layer. Roast vegetables in middle of oven 20 minutes, or until they begin to brown. Arrange fish over vegetables and roast 7 minutes, or until it just flakes with a fork.

While vegetables and fish are roasting, in a small skillet toast bread crumbs with parsley, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste over moderate heat, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes.

Transfer fish carefully to a plate and keep warm, covered. To vegetables add water, soy sauce, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce and stir to loosen brown bits from bottom of pan and break up tomatoes. Divide ragout among 4 plates and top with fish and bread crumbs.