Another Easy Tasty Way to Bake Cod

Almost identical to https://thestayathomechef.com/baked-cod-fish/

Ingredients

• about 800g of cod pieces
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup most-of-the-way melted butter
• 2 tbs grated parmesan
• 1 tbs flour
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• smidge of dijon mustard (up to 1tsp if you actually like mustard)
• juice of 1 lemon or lime
• lemon slices to tuck around the fish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Grease a 9x13 baking dish
3. Place cod fillets in the baking dish. Season with a moderately generous amount of salt and pepper
4. Combine remaining ingredients (except lemon slices) in a small bowl
5. Spread the butter mixture over the fish
6. Arrange some lemon slices around the fish
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish

Grilled Salmon

I think I've been making grilling fish harder on myself than I really should... this was the easiest grilled fish I've ever made and among the tastiest (though I don't know if anything is likely to top the super fresh halibut fillets we had earlier this year).

The recipe comes from The Spruce Eats: How to Grill Salmon in 3 Easy Steps

I added a miso glaze when I put the fish on the grill, and I used a side of coho, cut in half. I also failed to maintain the temperature of the grill, so I added about 50% to the cooking time (according to the temp gauge on our bbq, I put the fish on at about 425F and the temperature dropped to just over 300F for a big chunk of the cooking time, so I left it on longer than they suggest).

Here is roughly what I did - this made almost exactly the right amount to feed 6 adults and 4 kids:

Ingredients

• in my case, a little more than 1kg worth of skin-on salmon fillets (1 side + 1 large fillet)-- any size/amount of fillets will do. See original recipe for tips on dealing with other cuts (basically put tin foil under it)
• 1/2 lemon (optional)

Glaze

(this made way more than I needed - you could definitely half the recipe):

• 2 tbs white miso
• 1 tbs rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbs mirin
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil

Method

1. Mix together the glaze ingredients in a small dish and set aside
2. Heat the grill to med-high heat and clean it
3. If you're not lazy, rinse and dry the fish and pull out pin bones (see original recipe) - otherwise skip this step
4.  Rub both sides of the fish fillets with olive oil and put skin-side down on a dish or tray
5. Just before putting it on the grill (I did it after, which is probably why I lost so much heat), brush the top (non-skin) side of the fillets with the glaze. Don't overdo it as excess glaze could lead to flare-ups
6. Transfer fillets, skin-side down, onto the grill (I used 2 spatulas)
7. Cover and monitor the temperature if that's easy for you to do... one recipe I read suggested using the outer 2 burners on a 3-burner grill - I just turned the middle one down low
8. Don't touch it - just cook for 10-15 mins for a 1-inch fillet + 10 minutes per additional inch. Watch for the white fat to show on the top.
9. Remove to a serving platter. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over top if you have some.

Grilled Cajun-Style Halibut

Based on https://kalynskitchen.com/recipe-for-grilled-halibut-with/, but with a few of my own tweaks.

Ingredients

•  Halibut (I use thick fillets) - this recipe is good for about 4 peoples' worth... adjust quantities as necessary
• Olive oil
• The spice rub:
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp sumac (or substitute with lemon zest)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• pinch of cayenne (optional)
• Optional: Mango Salsa for serving

Method

1. Heat the grill to very high temperature
2. Dry the fish fillets, but only if you're less lazy than I am
3. Drizzle some olive oil over the fillets and rub to coat them
4. Sprinkle "a generous quantity" of the rub on each piece of fish and rub to coat more-or-less evenly on both sides
5. Put the fillets non-skin side down diagonally on the grill and immediately lower flame to medium-low setting. Close the lid to keep in the heat.
6. Cook about 3 mins (2 for thinner fillets) then rotate the pieces 90 degrees for fancy criss cross grill marks. Cook another 2-3 minutes with the lid down.
7. Carefully flip the fillets (I use 2 spatulas) so that the skin side is down. Cook another 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of your fillets. (Lid down - make sure the temperature doesn't drop too low). Total cooking time should typically be 8-10 minutes, depending on thickness. Don't overcook - remember it will keep cooking a little when removed from grill.
8. Carefully lift the fillets from the grill - now that the skin side is down, you don't have to worry so much about losing fish if it is sticking.
9. Very nice served with a fruity cilantro-y fresh salsa (mango is best)

Almond-crusted Fish Fillets

This was a tasty dinner, inspired by wanting to avoid heavy carbs and by taking a look at the fish counter in Thrifty's (they were selling almond-crusted sole fillets). I will write the recipe as I did it (as best I can remember) but there are many options for substitutions or scaling up/down...

Ingredients

• 4 good-sized fillets of snapper (or any white fish would be good)
• roughly 1 cup of nuts - I used mainly almonds and a few hazelnuts
• roughly 1 cup of breadcrumbs
• roughly 1/8 cup shaved/grated parmesan cheese (I probably would have done 1/4 cup if we had it)
• roughly 1/2 tsp garlic powder (I didn't feel like mincing garlic)
• about 1/3 cup chopped parsley leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg, beaten 
• olive oil

Method

1.  Chop the nuts finely using a food processor or knife (exact size doesn't matter)
2. Lightly roast the nuts in a dry frying pan then set aside - don't burn them!!
3. Mix together the nuts, breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, parsley, and salt and pepper and spread some of out on a large plate, saving some for spooning over the fish and replenishing the dipping plate
4. Dip fish fillets, one at a time, first in the beaten egg and then in the nut mixture.. spoon more nut mixture over top and press it down to make as much of it stick to the fish fillet as you can. As each fillet is prepared, place it on a second plate (in other words, do all the dipping first before you start doing any cooking instead of dipping and putting straight in the frying pan - it'll save stress on timing the cooking).
5. Heat oven to about 250F
6. Heat oil in a large frying pan (or in my case 2). Add the fish fillets in a single layer and top each with a little extra nut mixture so as not to waste it.
7. Frying time is going to vary a lot based on the depth of your fillets and your personal preference, but if you do like I did and stick them in a warm-hot oven for a little while at the end then it may help you to avoid over/undercooking... I fried each fillet probably 2-3 minutes on each side then transferred the pans to the oven where they stayed until I finished the rest of dinner about 10-15 minutes later. I turned down the heat on the oven to 170F shortly after putting the fish in.

Suggested Accompaniements

Our meal was fish fillets, green salad (incorporating some roasted nuts), and a simple stir fry of broccoli and mushrooms tossed with soy sauce and sesame oil. Very tasty!

Teriyaki Fish (Salmon) Fillets with Asian Salsa on Brown Rice

Ok this was a good dinner I happened to come up with tonight. And super quick/easy to make! Worthy of writing down and sharing. I served myself a second mini-helping just so I could take a picture (and well also because it was good!)

The first serving was much bigger!

A great opportunity to use the multi-slicing tool our neighbours brought back from Vietnam

Ingredients

Fish

• fish fillets (in our case, sockeye salmon)
• soya sauce
• rice wine vinegar
• maple syrup
• sliced lemon (optional)
• black pepper

Asian Salsa

• finely sliced carrot sticks
• 1 tomato, diced
• a few inches' worth of cucumber, diced 
• chopped cilantro
• finely chopped roasted peanuts (optional)

Dressing

• ~2 tbs rice wine vinegar
• ~1 tbs fish sauce
• ~1/2 tbs white sugar
• ~1 tsp chili sauce (sambal olek)
• ~1 tbs olive oil
• drizzle of sesame oil

Directions 

I. Rice

1. Start cooking some brown rice so that it will be ready in time
2. For extra rich and tastiness, stir 1 tbs of butter into the cooked rice prior to serving

II. Asian Salsa

1. Mix dressing ingredients together in a small dish
2. If you happen to have a fancy slicing and dicing tool from Vietnam then you can use it to make fun shapes with your veggies like nice fine carrot strips and squiggly cucumber chunks!
3. Put the chopped carrots, cucumber, tomato, and cilantro in a bowl 
4. Toss the veggies with the dressing
5. Sprinkle the chopped peanuts over top

III. Fish Fillets

1. Preheat oven to 400C
2. Drizzle a little olive oil in a pyrex baking dish. Place fish fillets skin side down in the oiled pan
3. Drizzle roughly equal parts soya sauce, olive oil, and rice wine vinegar over each fillet (I didn't use too much)
4. Drizzle the fillets with maple syrup to your taste (I used less of the maple syrup than the other drizzles)
5. Place a slice of fresh lemon on each fillet and grind some pepper over top
6. Put the dish in the oven and bake for roughly 8-10 minutes for 1 inch thick fillets (adjust time based on thickness)

Serve either on plates or as rice bowls.

Cold-Poached Salmon

I've never poached anything before... and it's too cold and rainy tonight for the BBQ, which is how I have recently been preparing salmon.  So I decided to give it a try.  I read a few recipes and articles including one that recommended cold-poaching over regular poaching.  The author compared the results to sous-vide cooking and it sounded good so I decided to give it a try. 

.... and here we are so clearly the results were tasty enough that it's something I would recommend!

Ingredients

• Salmon fillet(s) that will fit in a flat-bottomed pan (I had 2 large fillets about an inch thick)
• 1/2 cup leftover white wine (we just happened to have some hanging around)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 clove garlic, sliced
• Some herbs for poaching - I used dried dill, a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme, and some fresh parsley
•  Fresh herbs for garnish (in my case a few chives and some parsley)

Method

1. Start with cold fish from the fridge. That's how it usually is anyhow, so no problem.
2. Put the wine and water and garlic and herbs in a pan on the stove top
3. Place the salmon, skin side down, into the cold water/wine mixture
4. Oh, I just remembered that one of the recipes said to put some butter on top of the fillets but I forgot to do that.  Seemed like a good idea though!
5. Turn the heat on to quite low (I think I started around 3 or 4 out of 10 on the dial)
6. Allow the water to slowly come to a simmer (not a heavy boil)... turn the heat down even lower once it gets going (2/10) to keep things from getting too hot
7. I didn't know whether I should put a lid on or not. I didn't for a long time (like around 12 minutes or more) but then I thought maybe I should...
8. So after 12 minutes or so I put a lid on and then the salmon quickly got opaque on top within about 2-3 mins with the lid on.
9. Once the salmon is opaque, take it off the heat and gently lift the fillets out of the pan onto a serving platter
10. Top the fish with the fresh chives and parsley.

Topping

I think traditionally you'd have some kind of creamy yogourt-dill-type sauce on poached salmon, but that's just not my style.

Instead, I happened to have a pile of pomegranate seeds in the fridge so I cooked up a tiny batch of pomegranate-butter syrup which I drizzled over the fish.  I made that just by smushing the pomegranate seeds to get the juice out, discarding the seedy bits, and simmering it on the stove in a small pot for about 5-10 minutes to reduce it down to a syrup.  I added a bit of butter to the resulting syrup and stirred it together.  I think it was a good accompaniment (but strong, so it didn't take much!). 

That said, if you don't want dill-yogourt sauce either and you don't happen to have pomegranate to get rid of then a little squeeze of fresh lemon would surely be just lovely.

Good served with: oven-roasted baby potatoes + onions and a fresh green salad