Tag: shrimp

Tuna Steak

A while back I picked up a four-pack of frozen tuna steaks at Food Basics for about $10.00, which is a really reasonable price around here. Now, I know that frozen fish can be hit or miss, but around here a lot of the stuff you find at the fish counter is previously frozen anyway (it’s usually noted only in the tiniest of print), so I figured I’d give it a shot. I followed Jamie Oliver’s tutorial for How to Cook Tuna Steak, which I’ve had great success with before. I figured it would be a good idea to keep the methodology the same if I wanted to test a different product, only changing the one variable and all that. See, teachers, I did learn something in science class!

I am happy to report that it turned out really well! I’d say it was easily as good as the tuna steaks I’ve previously bought from the fish counter. Now, the stuff from the counter probably doesn’t compare favorably to fresh, but unless I want to spend an exorbitant sum to get stuff flown in from the ocean, it’s probably the best I’m going to get. After all, we are landlocked here — the closest ocean (the Atlantic) is almost 500km away! (And that’s if you go to Maine — it’s more than double that to stay in Canada.)

The rub on the tuna is salt, pepper, coriander seeds, and fennel seeds, all ground together with a mortar and pestle. I served the fish over sticky rice, along with garlic shrimp, steamed asparagus, and steamed edamame. Overall it was a lovely, fresh-tasting dinner, and I look forward to having it again.

Late Night Ramen

Ever have one of those nights where you just forget to have dinner? I did that the other day. I had a late lunch, which threw off my internal schedule, and then I wasn’t at home for dinner. It didn’t even occur to me until something like eleven o’clock at night that I should probably eat something. Of course, by then most things are closed, so going out to pick up some ingredients was problematic at best. Normally my late-night food runs toward sandwiches or cold cereal, but the girls had polished off the bread and all that was left in the cereal bag was dust. So I had to get creative.

I rummaged through the freezer and found some ramen noodles and sauce packets — originally from two different meals and hence likely by two different brands, but they were missing their original packaging. I did have a few eggs, the remnants of a frozen naruto fish cake stick, some frozen masago, and a few frozen dried shrimp. Aside from the green onions, which I grabbed from the garden, it was a little short on the veggies, but the fridge was bare! I grabbed an apple on the side to make up for the lack.

It wasn’t a difficult meal to make, but it’s definitely more effort than I usually put into food right before bed.

Shrimp and Eggs on Rice

I have been terribly busy lately, so I needed another super-easy meal again last night. Once again, I also wanted a dish that helped clean out my freezer, so I grabbed a bag of shrimp and threw together shrimp and eggs on rice.

I pan-fried the shrimp in garlic butter, which my family always loves. I mean, they like anything with garlic butter, I think. I also sprinkled a tiny bit of furikake on top at the time of serving. While the basmati rice was cooking, I soft-boiled some eggs and set them aside to put on the rice at the time of serving as well. Honestly, this was one of the simplest meals I’ve made in a while, but everyone scarfed it up, so I’m not complaining.

Spending Time at the Lake

I was lucky enough to spend a few days this week at the cottage my parents are renting. We had a delightful time. Mornings were lazy and, when we finally dragged ourselves out of bed, I cooked brunch.

That’s bacon, eggs over easy, apple slices, and whole wheat toast — made of store-bought bread, which is unlike me. I decided I needed to remedy that situation and so after we cleaned up from brunch, I started to throw together some homemade loaves. I didn’t have access to the internet or my plethora of cookbooks, so I used the White Bread recipe from page 596 of the Joy of Cooking (Rombauer & Becker, 2006 edition). (Actually, I used the app since it has the whole cookbook on my phone and doesn’t need Internet access, but it’s the same recipe either way.) In the recipe I substituted olive oil in the same quantities for the lard and butter, which has worked in the past and did so this time as well.

That’s a horrible picture of the loons on the lake because my zoom lens isn’t spectacular. You’d think it’d be easier to get a photo of a bird that can grow to almost a meter long, but these ones had no interest in coming any closer. The loons were calling away while I was kneading my dough. I find it a very soothing sound, but I grew up with it. In understand that to some people a loon call, especially their mournful, echoing night call, can be kind of creepy. My father likes to tell us the story of going camping and being approached by frightened tourists in the next site over who were sure they were hearing the sobbing souls of the damned.

Anyway, after brunch and bread and loons, we all needed a dip in the lake…

Followed by a drive out to the ice cream parlour for a cool treat and some reading time.

It wasn’t too long before it was time to go back to the cottage to bake the bread, and then to make dinner. I made shrimp with garlic butter, jasmine rice with furikake, corn on the cob, and of course the freshly-baked bread.

Dessert was cherry drop biscuits baked the day before using the Rolled Biscuits recipe from page 638 of the Joy of Cooking (or the app again). I added a bunch of pitted, quartered cherries stirred into the batter and a sprinkle of sugar on the top of each biscuit before baking. I got lazy and just made them drop biscuits instead of rolled, and they turned out fine that way.

Then it was time for one last dip in the lake, followed swiftly by bedtime for the kiddos, who had had a long, fun day. I took the opportunity to bring my glass of maple Sortilège on the rocks out to the screened-in sun room (the mosquitoes are much too bad in the evening to simply sit outside) so that I could watch the sun set. It wasn’t the most spectacular that I’ve viewed from this spot, seeing as there wasn’t a cloud in sight, but I think I can live with that.

Shrimp and Asparagus on Steamed Rice

I actually had a moderately successful weekend! First, I got my tomato plants caged before both the exceedingly hot weather and the related thunderstorms rolled in:

That’s eighteen tomato plants, but except for the two that my friend gave me (on the far right, closest to the front), I have no idea what kind they will grow up to be, because they self-seeded. They are coming up nicely, though, and they’re starting to flower, so that hopefully means that they’ll be yielding fruit soon. Now all that’s left to stake or cage is the eggplants, but I’m in no huge rush since they’re not even flowering yet so I don’t have to worry about the weight of their fruit dragging them down.

You might have noticed that there’s a lot more green to the garden than last time I wrote about it. The potato plants have come up nicely, but some other weed has decided that my garden is an absolutely lovely place to try to take over. I’m going to go on a weed-pulling spree as soon as the current heat wave breaks — it hit 48°C (118.4°F) with the humidex yesterday, and I’m just not made for that kind of temperature. The weeds can wait.

And after a string of highly unsatisfying meals, I managed to successfully pull together a lovely light dinner of shrimp skewers with butter and garlic, and asparagus with olive oil and salt. Except for the rice, this supper was all cooked quite quickly on the back yard grill, meaning that I also managed not to heat the house up too badly. Grilled shrimp and veggies is so easy, I’m not entirely sure why I don’t think to do it more often. Perhaps it’s a mental block left over from my childhood? When I was a kid, the barbecue was for hot dogs, hamburgers, and steak, with the occasional foil packet of potatoes thrown in for good measure. I really need to re-think what I can do on the grill to make the best use of it this summer.

Thai Coconut Curry Recipe

I’m trying to broaden my culinary horizons further, not only because I love eating new things, but also because I get bored of cooking the same things all the time. To that end, I’ve been perusing cookbooks and browsing YouTube cooking videos to find inspiration. One of the channels that I discovered was Brothers Green Eats (and I say I discovered because they’ve been posting cooking videos for about four years, but they’re new to me). I’ve really been enjoying working my way through their videos, and they’ve given me some great ideas.

This past Saturday I cooked up some coconut curry based on their Cooking “Cheat Codes” – Make Anything Taste Delicious tutorial, with the relevant bits about curry paste and coconut milk starting at about the 5:00 mark). This recipe is customized according to the ingredients that were available locally and seasonally, as well as to suit the tastes and dietary issues of my family. However, it is a very flexible technique that can be used with a wide variety of ingredients. You don’t have to use the brands that I did, either, but I thought it was necessary to note what worked well for me. This dish is dairy-free, and can easily be made vegetarian or vegan by omitting the meat; since it’s added more or less at the last step, the meat doesn’t have a huge amount to do with the development of the flavour. I should note right now that the curry paste that I used is not vegetarian or vegan, but I’m sure you could find one that is, or make one of your own to suit your personal dietary requirements.

I have a feeling that I will be making this recipe over and over again — especially since there are almost infinite variations available.

Thai Coconut Curry
Serves 4-6

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Please note: weight measurements for the vegetables in this recipe are taken after peeling and removing inedible portions like leaves and stems.
Wash and slice:
– 1 small onion (60g (2oz))
– 1 small yellow zucchini (200g (7oz))
– 1 small green zucchini (200g (7oz))
– 2 medium carrots (200g (7oz))
– 1 small eggplant (200g (7oz))
On a baking sheet, spread evenly:
– 2 Tbsp olive oil
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/8 tsp pepper
Add the sliced vegetables to the baking sheet. Mix them by hand or with a spatula until the vegetables are evenly coated with the oil and spice mixture.
Roast the vegetables in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for between 40 and 60 minutes, turning the veggies in the pan halfway through that time. The vegetables are done when they are tender but before they start to fall apart.
In the last 20 minutes or so of the roast vegetables’ cooking time, steam and drain:
– 150g (5.25oz) chopped baby bok choy
According to the package directions, cook until al dente and drain:
– 340g (12oz) medium egg noodles
In a large, deep, non-stick frying pan or non-stick wok, heat on medium heat:
– 1 Tbsp olive oil
Add to the oil:
– 3 Tbsp Blue Dragon Thai Red Curry Paste*
Cook for 1 minute, stirring regularly to prevent burning and sticking.
Add to the pan:
– one 398mL (13.5fl oz) can A Taste of Thai Lite Coconut Milk
Stir until ingredients in pan smoothly combined.
Add the roast vegetables, baby bok choy, and medium egg noodles to the pan. Stir until all solid ingredients are evenly coated. Add to the pan:
– 250g (9oz) peeled, cooked shrimp**
Stir until ingredients are heated and coated evenly.
Serve, optionally topping each dish with:
– a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds

* Or curry paste of your choice.
**Or an equal amount of cooked chicken chopped into bite-sized pieces.