fish with a face.

I remember the first time that I ever had a "faceless" fish. It was right after we got to America, back in the early '90's, and were were "fresh off the boat". My father wanted to treat us to a buffet and I had never seen so much food in my life! One thing that I found odd, though, was the fish they served. Sitting there, under the hot heat lamp of the buffet, were slivers of fish flesh floating in an oil-slick of "lemon butter" sauce.

Confused, all I could think to myself was "Where's the rest of the fish?".

Soon after, I learned that people on this side of the world didn't like to see the face of what they were eating. Scratch that, they didn't want to see discernible parts that told them what the animal was. No chicken feet, no pig's head, no fish heads.

Fast forward to the future. I remember the first time that my husband ever had fried fish at my parent's house. While he dutifully ate what was presented to him during dinner, it wasn't until when we got home that he remarked on the "faces" of the fish. He found it odd that we didn't simply fillet the fish then fried it separate from the bones. How different, he remarked.

How do I explain? Eating the entire fish was normal for me. If he wasn't there, I would've cracked the skull open, scooped up the stray bits of flesh and offal, and would of ate it with delicious relish over rice. I would've picked the fish clean until only it's bones were bare and no morsel were left. This was how I was raised . . . to eat everything, waste nothing. And the heads, oh, the heads were the best part. The essence of the fish were contained in those heads.

It was moments like these that reminded me of how truly different we were from each other: my husband, a white mid-western raised boy from a small town in North Dakota. Me, a Filipina with a mix of Philippine roots and big-city Southern California upbringing. Our worlds could not have been any more opposite.

But that's why we're together. He's the ying to my yang, the butter to my toast, the cherry on my sundae. I love the easy-going friendliness he brings to my busy hurried life. Who knew afternoon naps could be so refreshing? And to him, I bring fishes with a face.

My favorite fish would have to be the pompano. It's a relatively firm fish with a nice mild flavor. Wrapped in banana leaf and seasoned with lemon, ginger, garlic, and parsley, this fish turns divine! I served this with my father's daikon radish salad, a type of Filipino sawsawan. We typically have this sawsawn with fried fish, but I had a hankering for it today. It usually consists of grated daikon radish, chopped tomatoes and onion, fresh cilantro, a mix of white vinegar and fish sauce, then seasoned to perfection with salt and pepper.

And yes, I did pick this fish to its bare, bare bones.

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Baked Banana Leaf-Wrapped Whole Fish
(makes 2 servings)

1 whole pampano, scaled and cleaned
1 lemon, sliced
1/2-inch knob ginger, peeled and sliced
handful flat-leaf parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 large banana leaf, enough to wrap fish

 
Preheat oven to 375F degrees.

Score the fish diagonally, up to the bone, a few times on each side. Spread the minced garlic in the cavity of the fish. Stuff the cavity with parsley, lemon, and ginger. Drizzle fish generously with olive oil then season well with salt and pepper on each side. Rub oil and seasoning into the fish, making sure to get between the scored flesh.

Wrap the fish in the banana leaf and tie well with either leftover banana leaf or kitchen twine. Bake for 25 minutes of until flesh between the scored skin is opaque. Remove from oven then cut the banana leaf open to expose the fish. Increase oven heat to 450F degrees and continue cooking fish until skin is slightly bubbled and banana leaf has charred, about 2 to 5 minutes. To serve, peel skin from meat and then portion out fish.

mom-inspired tuna pasta.

My favorite breakfast that my mom makes is ginisang sardinas, which is basically sautéed mackerel sardines in tomato sauce that's served with a side of hot, steamy rice. Her version, though, is slightly different in that she adds additional tomatoes, adds one or two bay leaves, and is heavy on the onion. Finished with a few squeezes of calamansi, and you have a great hefty meal to start the day.

I didn't really fully appreciate her cooking until I got married and started living with my husband. To date, I've only made a handful of Filipino dishes that were either a hit or miss with the hubby. I miss her cooking and I guess that nostalgia (and the fact that the husband is iffy on Filipino food in general) makes me shy away from making Filipino dishes on my own.

Today I was feeling a little homesick. Eating at the table with my mom's generous cooking and having a conversation about the day's events were the norm during dinner time. This was family time and I was missing my family. So to ease that, I decided to make her sardines, but in a more "inspired" version and with an Italian twist.

I started with using an almost 2 to 1 ratio of tomatoes to onions. Adding a good amount of garlic and olive oil followed, then finished it with some lemon juice for acidity and lots of parsley for herbacious freshness. Since sardines in tomato sauce isn't something that we regularly keep in the house, I used chunk light tuna that's always a staple in our pantry. Toss that together with some hearty rigatoni, and dinner was served.

While it's a far cry from my mother's sardines, the flavors were there and the bite from the rigatoni added a pleasant counterpart to the fish. Fusion pasta . . . mmmmmm. As an added bonus, this made for a quick and tasty meal that was ready in less than half an hour. Mom, here's to you!
 

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Tangy Tuna Pasta
(makes about 4 servings)

2 cups dry rigatoni pasta
2 cans chunk light tuna, lightly drained
1 clamshell grape tomatoes, halved (or 2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped)
1 large onion (about 1 cup), thinly sliced
2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 large dried bay leaves
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley, divided
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil

 
Prepare pasta as directed then reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat 2 to 3 tbsp of olive oil. When the oil is hot, add tomatoes, onions, garlic, and bay leaves to the pan. Cook until the tomatoes have softened then add the tuna and a third of the parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Sautée for 5 minutes, stirring lightly, then add the drained pasta. Cook for another few minutes. If the mixture is too dry, add some of the reserved pasta liquid as needed.

Remove pasta from heat, discard bay leaves, then stir in lemon juice. Toss in the remaining parsley then adjust seasoning with additional salt and pepper to taste. To serve, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and additional parsley for garnish.

rollin' for breakfast.

I had some leftover ready-made pizza dough sitting in the fridge so I decided to try and make some breakfast rolls this morning. I was tempted to make something sweet, but the need for a savory breakfast in the morning decidedly won out. Plus, the recipe sounded interesting and I was in the mood for eggs anyway.

Reading through the recipe, this seemed simple enough. I decided to add more spices and onion to the filling to make these rolls more flavorful. I didn't have any breakfast sausage so I swapped it with some thick-sliced deli ham. Then, all I did was roll out the dough, layer on the fillings, and bake that sucker for 30 minutes. Yum!

I do wish my rolls were more big and fluffy, though. But that's more my fault than anything, really. If I had used a similar dough like the kind called in the recipe, I'm sure I would've gotten big, fluffy rolls as well. As for the taste, they were pretty good! Nice and savory especially with all that onion added in. I do wish that I had more cheese in these rolls, though, so next time I'm doing the full one cup. So would I make these again? Definitely!

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Breakfast Rolls
(adapted from The REAL Housewives of Riverton)

1 pkg ready-made pizza dough
4 eggs
1 tbsp milk
1/4 cup Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp paprika
salt and pepper, to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 to 3 slices ham, chopped
1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheese
olive oil

 
Preheat oven to 400F degrees.

In a bowl or a glass measuring cup, combine egg, milk, parsley, and spices. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and beat together until well combined. Set aside.

In a large skillet, drizzle some olive oil and saute garlic, onion, and bell pepper until slightly browned. Pour egg mixture over the contents of the pan. Let the eggs cook for up to a minute or until the bottom starts to set, then flip by sections. Repeat the flipping every few seconds until the eggs are firm but still moist. Remove from heat, transfer to a plate, and set aside.

Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Sprinkle on egg mixture, chopped ham, and shredded cheese. Roll tightly, pinching the ends together, then cut into even 12 sections with a sharp knife. Transfer to a well greased pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

Makes 12 rolls.

crabby imitation.

When I was younger, I discovered the wonders of seafood louis salad and, in turn, imitation crab. At the time, I was going to college and the louis salad they had at the campus grocery always had imitation crab. I got sooo hooked on that salad! I loved the flavor and texture of the imitation crab and find myself buying packages to experiment with at home.

Fast forward to now, and I still love the stuff. I particularly love Kanimi's Crab Smart brand as it's made with natural ingredients and doesn't have any added preservatives. Plus, it tastes great too! That's a winner in my book!

Anyway, back to the dish. The hubby recently bought some blue crab dip from Costco for New Years. It made for great snacking sandwiches with a little bit of onion and celery added in. For mine, I stirred in a little bit of lemon juice to cut some of the brininess that I sometimes get when I eat crab. So, since New Years was a few days ago and we had some dip left over, I thought I would experiment and make something with it.

At first, I wanted to make some crab cakes since it's very rare that we have actual real crab products in the house. However, I was concerned that it was going to be too mushy and wouldn't have enough texture to it. Then I thought, maybe crab-stuffed fish instead? Oh, wait . . . I didn't have all the ingredients. . . :/

In the end, I decided to mash the two recipes together. Invention is the mother of necessity, so I substituted with whatever I had in the fridge. And for my "Aha!" moment, I decided to add imitation crab to the actual crab in order to give some "meat" in the stuffing. Spinach was added in an "oh-my-god-I'm-out-of-parsley!" moment to make up the bulk of the green sauce. Oi . . .

In the end, though, this on-a-whim experiment turned out surprisingly really well! The lemony-herby "chimichurri" sauce was nice and "refreshing", as the hubby put it, and really made the dish bright. The stuffing turned out exactly as I wanted it with a great crabby taste and pieces of the imitation crab acting as nice fillers. With some salad, this made for a lovely light dinner!

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Crab Stuffed Flounder with Spinach Chimichurri Sauce
(adapted from Winter Monroe and QVC's In the Kitchen with David)

For the Sauce:
1 large handful baby spinach
1 large handful flat leaf parsley
1 scallion, cut into pieces
1 large garlic clove
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
2 to 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 to 2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste

For the Crab Stuffing:
1/4 cup Inland Market's Blue Crab Spread dip
1/4 cup Kanimi's Crab Smart imitation crab flakes, lightly flaked
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/2 cup onions,, finely chopped
1 handful fresh flat leaf parsley, minced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 rib celery, finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped red onion
2 tsp lemon juice
pinch ground coriander
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper

2 flounder filets
garlic powder
onion powder
paprika
ground coriander
salt and pepper
olive oil

 
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Prepare a greased, foil-lined baking pan.

In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients for sauce and blend until greens are finely chopped but not pureed. Season as needed (this should be lemony and herby with a hint of garlic) then set aside.

Drizzle olive oil on flounder fillets then season with spices, salt, and pepper to taste. Set aside.

In bowl, combine all ingredients for crab stuffing. Place the flounder filets flesh-side down on a work surface. Take half of the stuffing mixture and place onto the center of each filet. Roll each fish filet around the stuffing and place them, seam-side down, onto the baking pan.

Sprinkle each filet with salt, pepper, and paprika, then bake for 40 to 45 minutes. To serve, drizzle fish with chimichurri with additional sauce served on the side.

Makes 2 servings.

scales like a...potato?

We finally finished the leftovers! I love Thanksgiving, but I can only eat turkey and ham for so many days. By yesterday, I was ready to throw in the towel. So for tonight's dinner, I decided we needed to "detox" from all that heavy eating.

And what better way to do that than through fish?

I was looking for a recipe that not only looked fancy, but also something that would be fun to make. When I came across this potato-crusted fish, I knew that I had hit the jackpot. Whenever I made fish, It was either baked, pan-fried, or steamed. This recipe seemed interesting and easy enough to do. I wasn't too crazy about the refrigeration or the pan frying part though . . .

So, I decided to take a little leeway from the recipe. I started with using frozen fillets straight from the freezer. I read this tip a long time ago, which saved me on having to thaw the fish before being able to use it. Then, instead of pan frying, I decided to bake these suckers to cut down hands-on time. Also on the plus side, I would be able to cook all the fish in one go. Huzzah!

Another thing I changed was adding more ingredients to the mustard mixture. Tarragon sounded lovely, as well as parsley and citrus zest. To cut down on the fishiness of packaged fillets, I thought it would be a great idea to cook them on sliced citrus wedges and some parsley.

The result? A lovely flavored fish filet that has an incredible herby and citrusy flavor! The potatoes aren't potato-chip crispy, but has enough crunch around the edges to make them irresistible. I also like the fact that the citrus slices helped to avoid the fish from sticking to the pan. Served with a salad, this was the perfect meal to have after Thanksgiving leftovers!

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Potato-Crusted Fish
(adapted from Live. Laugh. Cook.)

2 to 3 frozen fish filets (like salmon, tilapia, cod, flounder, etc . . .)
1 to 2 red potatoes, thinly sliced
1 tbsp Dijon or favorite mustard
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp flat-leaf parsley, minced
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
zest from one lemon or orange
salt and pepper

handful flat-leaf parsley
1 lemon or orange, sliced

 
Preheat oven to 450F degrees.

Combine mustard, butter, olive oil, garlic, minced parsley, tarragon, and zest into a paste. Season with some salt and pepper then set aside.

On a foil-lined baking sheet, lay down two slices of citrus for every fish fillet used. Layer with a few sprigs of parsley.

Take a frozen filet and cover the bottom of the fish with some of the mustard mixture. Place on top of the parsley and citrus slices. After that, brush the top of the filet with additional mustard mixture then repeat process for the remaining fillets.

Take the potatoes and toss in the leftover mustard mixture and add olive oil to moisten, if necessary. Working one fillet at a time, arrange the potato slices in an overlapping pattern to cover the fish. Season lightly with salt and pepper then bake for 30 minutes or until the fish is done and the potatoes are crispy and tender.

Makes 2 to 3 servings.