caramelized canned tuna

Sweet, funky, extremely affordable, just 3 INGREDIENTS, and ready in ten minutes. Exactly my kind of recipe.

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1 c (1 120 g package) of canned tuna in olive oil

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tbsp maple syrup or other sweetener, like sugar or honey

serve with your favorite rice, couscous, whole grain, or pasta – or over a giant salad

Fry the ingredients together on medium heat until the smallest bits look caramelized and crispy. Probably between 5 to 10 minutes.

by Taste Cooking

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As per usual, I really didn’t follow the recipe. Heated olive oil in a small skillet, and added a can of low-sodium tuna packed in water, as that’s what I keep in the house. (Olive oil packed tuna highly recommended, as the splatters from even a well-drained can of tuna in water are not fun to clean.) Added an uncomfortable amount of fish sauce (maybe a teaspoon) and about as much honey, with an extra sprinkle of sugar.

Because the fish sauce and tuna are so fishy, it doesn’t taste as sweet as you’d expect. The sugar cuts the stinkiest edge from the fish sauce flavor, and allows you to taste the fermented notes in the fish sauce better. The crumbly bits taste like smoked salmon candy, and the larger bits are meaty and complex.

Smells terrible when the fish sauce hits the pan, but wow, I was not expecting to like this as much as I do. It doesn’t taste like what you think it will taste like.

One warning: this is NOT ulcer / GERD diet compliant, if the way I’m feeling now is any indication. May be a bit too early in my healing process to have THAT much fermented fish sauce. If you don’t have holes in your stomach or small intestine, this is a really fantastic quick meal.

Highly recommended to almost anybody!

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chinese twice-cooked fish

Craving some Chinese restaurant food? This uses only a few ingredients, but since they are fermented, the flavor is complex. Great, simple way to cook some fresh fish. Recipe by by Elaine, loosely based on a twice-cooked pork recipe.

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marinade:
1 fish fillet, around 600 grams
1 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
1/4 tsp. sugar
a little shredded ginger – original calls for “5-6 sheds”(?)
cornstarch for coating

stir-fry:
1 tbsp. cooking oil
1 tbsp. red bean paste (doubanjiang)
1 tbsp. fermented black beans (dou-chi)
1 thumb ginger, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 chili pepper, shredded
scallions or garlic chives (one or two, or more to taste)
1 tbsp. light soy sauce

1. Cut the fish into pieces around 2cm thick. Add cooking wine, ginger shreds, soy sauce, salt and sugar. Set aside and marinate for 10 minutes.

2. Sprinkle corn starch over fish – she suggests 1/4 c – until coated. Set aside for 5-10 minutes, until corn starch gets gummy.

3. Add 1/4 cup of oil to a pan or wok on medium-high heat, and shallow fry the fish pieces until golden brown on surface. Move fish to plate; keep pan on heat.

4. Leave around 1 tablespoon of oil in the pan, turn down heat, and fry doubanjiang for 1 minute until the red turns red. Add garlic, ginger and dou-chi and fry until aromatic.

5. Place chili peppers, scallion sections and garlic sprouts in. Fry until almost soft and return the fish, add light soy sauce and salt. Mix well. Serve immediately.

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recipe by china sichuan food and adapted by me, friedsig

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I love how this still allows some fish flavor to come through – it’s not deep-fried – and the shallow pan-fry allows the fish to stay moist and not overcook. The flavor isn’t exactly subtle, depending on your doubanjiang and other ingredients, so it’s nowhere near bland. Just right. (If you have some nasty frozen fish with a bad flavor, you may want to try something like fish cakes. If you’re set on this dish, though, you could probably beef up the flavor of this dish with chili oil, more scallions or garlic chives, more garlic, and more bean paste.) I splurged on some fresh lake trout, and still got plenty of fresh fish flavor since I reduced the chili and scallions. I also removed all the salt in the recipe because the ingredients are way more than salty enough for me, but of course, if you like it salty, add a pinch of salt.

Definitely recommended if you want something straddling the line between “healthy” and “fried”. Another keeper from Elaine!

tuscan white bean and tuna salad

Want a lunch that costs less than a frozen meal, takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, requires no cooking, is impossible to mess up, and tastes great?

This is an adaptation of a northern Italian recipe.

– 1 can tuna
– 1 can drained and rinsed white beans, or leftover cooked white beans (cannellini, great northern, or similar)
– olive oil and red wine vinegar, to taste
– minced raw garlic and/or onions
salt and black pepper, to taste
optional: capers or minced pickles
optional: sliced olives
optional: fresh lemon juice
optional: tiny bit of mayo or plain yogurt for creaminess
optional: salad greens

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Finally posting this, although it’s been a go-to for me for years for a quick and lazy lunch. This is packed with protein. Eat a clump of it on a big green salad with an Italian vinaigrette, pile it on a slice of whole-grain bread with a mustardy vinaigrette and fresh tomatoes and greens, or just scoop it up with crackers.

For a similar northern Italian salad, try this roasted eggplant and tuna salad, or this springtime niçoise style salad.

springtime niçoise style salad

niçoise salad is amazing and versatile. ever tried it with asparagus? i can’t get fresh green beans in april, so i made an asparagus niçoise style salad for the spring.

the best part is, none of these ingredients are necessary. any leftover vegetables would be great in here. swap out whatever you have or don’t have, and build your dream salad. it’s a great way to use leftover boiled potatoes.

– 1 bunch asparagus
– medium-boiled eggs (the internet said 7 minutes for medium-boiled eggs. but they came out soft-boiled. delicious but not the same.)
– diced artichoke hearts
– chopped olives (use what you have in the house; they don’t have to be nicoise olives)
– leftover boiled potatoes (i used purple fleshed potatoes that were on sale at the co-op and they were beautiful contrasted with the bright green asparagus and bright yellow yolks)
– (optional: tuna or anchovies, if you eat fish)

dressing:
dijon mustard
apple cider vinegar
a few pinches of minced onions or garlic
any fresh herb you have in the house
pinch of salt and pepper

roast asparagus in olive oil on 425 until it cooked but still crunchy, just eight minutes or so

cut everything into bite-sized chunks, like for potato salad or egg salad, top with vinaigrette, and serve.

don’t be constrained by this recipe. get creative! next time, i’d love to add some radishes for crunch. epicurious says to add raw red and yellow bell peppers, fresh tomatoes, and tons of parsley. david lebovitz uses fresh cucumbers, fresh fava beans, fresh basil, and a half a head of lettuce. others call for capers, celery, salmon and sugar, baby beets….

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recipe modified from all the recipes cited above, created by friedsig, and, mostly inspired by this bon apetit recipe that planted itself into my subconscious

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artichokes and asparagus are two of my favorite foods. here you can eat them at the same time!

it’s nice to have a new quick lunch for the week with just a little weekend meal prep. if you make the vinaigrette and roast the asparagus and boil the potatoes and eggs on a weekend, you can construct this salad in five minutes. also, a great seasonal salad: use tomatoes and cucumbers in an august salad, and asparagus and radishes in an april salad. it’s also nice to have a unifying theme, and feel like, “i am eating nicoise salad,” and not, “i am eating this hastily assembled pile of leftovers”

eggplant tonnato (roasted eggplant and tuna salad)

i modified this significantly, but here’s the original:

2 (6-ounce) cans light tuna packed in olive oil (preferably Italian), drained, divided
1 large anchovy fillet
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for drizzling
2 teaspoons drained capers (or anything pickled)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 (11 1/2- to 13-ounce) jars or containers grilled eggplant, drained
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1/3 cup coarsely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon red-wine vinegar
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1/3 cup coarsely chopped mint
2 cups (1/2-inch) bread cubes from a country loaf, toasted
Equipment: 4 (16-ounces) wide jars or containers with lids

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Blend 1/4 cup tuna, anchovy, mayonnaise, oil, capers, and lemon juice in a blender until smooth to make tonnato sauce.
Pulse eggplant, garlic, parsley, zest, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a food processor until combined but not smooth.
Toss tomatoes with mint, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Divide eggplant mixture among jars and layer remaining tuna (broken up into large chunks), tonnato sauce, croutons, and tomatoes (including juices) on top. Drizzle with olive oil.

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from epicurious

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surprisingly, not bad. a very strange combination of flavors. i never imagined i would puree tuna. i left out half the ingredients due to my budget – left out the anchovies, the croutons, and even the tomatoes. it’s still pretty okay. if, like me, all you have in the house is a can of tuna and a few eggplants, you can go pick up some mint and give this a try. instead of capers, i used some pickles. you could use pickled anything.

plus, once you have fresh mint in the house, you can make radish, butter, and mint sandwiches (don’t knock it ’til you try it,) as well as cucumber salad with mint, cold cucumber soup, fattoush, or a mint dressing with rice wine vinegar!

not a bad healthy choice for a quick lunch – if the eggplants are roasted already, you can put this together in just a few minutes! roast a few eggplants on a day off and keep them in your fridge just in case you need a quick meal!

miso-glazed fish

here’s the original recipe:

3 tablespoons white miso paste
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons sake
1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 (7 ounce) black cod fillets

simmer all but fish together for 3 min, pour over fish on baking sheet, and broil 5 min on each side.

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recipe by chef Nobu Matsuhisa

 

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UPDATE:

Got it! This is one of my favorite fish recipes. Usually I just throw fish on a hot cast-iron, squeeze a little lemon juice on there, and call it good – that’s my typical “fish recipe”.

This is my new go-to fish recipe!

heat the cast iron on medium-high with a thin layer of sesame oil and veg oil

separately, in a small saucepan or frying pan, combine over low heat
(this is more than enough for one small 4oz fish fillet, and would be enough for 2, but any more than that and you should double or triple this.)
1T water
1 t sesame oil
1 t fermented black bean paste or chili-bean paste (sub. miso if you don’t have this)
1 T sake and 1 T mirin, or 2 T of one if you only have one
1/2 t or so of the crumbly onion and chili bits from la jiao jiang (opt.)
1/2 T miso
a few dashes of liquid ginger or a little minced fresh ginger
1/2 t black sesame paste (opt., if you like it sweet, or a pinch of brown sugar)

stir often and cook down for about 3 minutes, until thickened.

throw (defrosted) fish into cast iron. let cook for a minute or so, then pour a little sauce over the top. cook til done on one side (just 2 or 3 min for a thin fillet) and flip, pouring the rest of the sauce over the top.

serve hot, with rice, or veggies, or basically anything.

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i had this with roasted squash (it’s february!) and it was great. i picture sichuan blistered green beans or a big green salad with this once it warms up out there.

smoked salmon spring rolls

super quick, super healthy! i was told to “cook” something that didn’t involve the oven. great for hot days. a nice variation of sweet veg spring rolls for fish eaters.

– spring roll wrappers
– smoked salmon or other smoked fish
– fresh crunchy veg, like thinly sliced cucumbers, thinly sliced carrot, lightly steamed asparagus, or fresh lettuce
– creamy things, like avocado, goat cheese, or cream cheese
– mung bean noodles or thin rice noodles
– fresh herbs, like fresh dill, tarragon, basil, mint, cilantro, or any combination

roll all thinly sliced ingredients into soaked and prepared spring roll wrappers.

serve with a dipping sauce like gyoza dipping sauce, or make a simple dipping sauce with any combination of mirin, soy sauce or hoisin, ginger, sesame oil, chili sauce, rice wine vinegar, and fish sauce. (any two of those together will make a great dipping sauce!)

new england clam chowder

my very first clam chowder.

watch out – this is not a cheap dish unless you went clamming this morning. (if you did, please invite me over so i can help you make this.)

in a soup pot, saute an onion in lard until translucent
add 2T flour, saute a few minutes
add clam juice from 3 small cans clams (not the meat) + 1 bottle clam juice
simmer 10 mins
add 1 bay leaf, around 1t dried thyme, a few cups of veg (or fish) stock, a few cloves roasted garlic, and a few red potatoes, cut small
simmer until potatoes are cooked through
separately, in a saucepan, add a pint of half and half to the clam meat and simmer until clams are cooked, 5-10 minutes
combine everything with a dash of sherry, worcestershire, salt and pepper, and tabasco, and serve.

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modified from this

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i am a sucker for cream, so i can’t imagine a better way to put clams in my face. clams are not my favorite, but cream is, and this soup is ideal for a rainy spring day craving for potatoes and cream. dip sourdough in the broth – it’s great.

look chin pa (fish balls)

This wonderful traditional Thai food blog says these fish balls can go in rice or noodle soups, or in suki-yaki.

They emphasize that we should only use a soft-fleshed (not necessarily white) fish, which is also much cheaper.

Gluten-free, very healthy, and extremely affordable!

250 gms (8.8 oz) Soft Fish Meat
2 Teaspoons Salt
1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
4 Garlic Cloves
2 Tablespoons Chopped Spring Onions
2 Tablespoons Cassava Starch (Tapioca Starch)
50 gms (1.8 oz) Crushed Ice

1. Clean & gut the fish and remove the backbone, on soft meat fish you should be able to open the fish and pull out the backbone with the small bones attached. You can then scrape the meat off the skin with a knife.
2. Put the fish meat into the blender with the garlic, salt, pepper, spring onions, and cassava starch.
3. Blend until smooth.
4. Put a pan of water onto boil, and a bowl of cold water next to it.
5. Crush the ice, if you don’t have an ice crusher, place the cubes in a plastic bag, wrap it in a towel and bash it with a rolling pin.
6. Add the crushed ice to the blender and blend it into the mixture.
7. Using two teaspoons, scoop out spoonfuls of the fish mixture and shape into balls, then drop them into the boiling water.
8. Cook for 1 minute, the ball will float to the surface.
9. Scoop out the balls and drop into the cold water to cool quickly.
10. If you want to freeze them, keep them separate on a tray until frozen, then transfer them to a freezer bag. That way they won’t stick together.

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from appon’s thai food

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Drop into homemade stock for a quick soup!

seared salmon with balsamic glaze

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 teaspoons packed light brown sugar
4 (6-ounce) center-cut salmon fillets
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Stir together vinegar, water, lemon juice, and brown sugar.

Pat salmon dry and season with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Increase heat to high and sear salmon, skin sides up, until well browned, about 4 minutes. Turn fish over and sear until just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes more.

Transfer salmon to plates and carefully add vinegar mixture to skillet (liquid will bubble vigorously and steam). Simmer, stirring, until thickened and reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 2 minutes.

Spoon glaze over salmon.

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from epicurious

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fantastic glaze, great recipe, very simple. highly recommended.