Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Bluegill in "tunafish" salad

Put the fillets or whole bluegills clean and skinned in a greased baking dish add a little salt and pepper add 1/4 to 1/2 stick butter and bake at 350 to 400 till fish is tender and falling appart..remove fish from oven and let stand and cool
remove all the meat with a fork into a bowl.. now you ready to make the Bluegill Salad



1 pound bluegill meat,picked from bones and cut into very small pices
1 stalk celery, peeled, and cut into 1/8-inch dice (or smaller)
4 teaspoons finely sliced fresh chives
1 teaspoon minced fresh tarragon leaves
1/3 cup prepared mayonnaise( I sometimes add a little more mayonnaise)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper



In a medium bowl, lightly toss the bluegill, celery, chives, and tarragon together.
In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, and mustard & sugar. Add the dressing to the bluegill meat mixture and stir until just coated. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If not using right away refrigerate until ready to serve.

This dish is really better after standing in the refrigerator over night

Serve on toasted bread or on a bed of lettuce.

********************
http://thefootofthemountain.com/?p=40
************************

I want to do the fish in the microwave.
What water or vinegar to use?
Will an egg overpower the fish?

Here are the most likely adds
chopped celery
chopped onion
carrot?
spoon of green pickle relish
powdered mustard
mayo

My idea is to make a basic salad and then perhaps add some smoked taste, like finely sliced oysters.

6/21/16  chopped up red pepper, onion, celery. 
Used a quarter white onion
2/3 red pepper
small bit of celery
Added in powdered mustard.  This works best because the mix is juicy enough.  added dried parsley.  Used two teaspoons.
squeezed in half of a lime juiced.
dribbled a bit of lemon
cooked the fish in a bit of wine vinegar. 
added black pepper.
added a good tablespoon of green pickle relish
added some Turmeric for sweet
mixed it all up before I added the fish.  Then just folded in the fish so it did not break all up.  I'm not certain it has enough flavor.
I used Mayo in two scoops, perhaps about a cup and a half to two cups.  I think next time, less mayo.

Put in refrigerator for a good chill

Saturday, March 26, 2016

oyster clam chowder

1 can of cream of mushroom soup.
1 can of milk.
A bit of butter

1 can of clams
1 can of smoked oysters

Heat without boiling or burning. 

I imagine that the oysters would be enough by themselves.  The clams were milder.

AUGUST 32- 2022

Started with a few cups of milk.
Added 1 can of cream of mushroom soup'\
Added in some left over cooked salmon.
A can of oysters.
A dozen large, unpeeled Argentia shrimp
A sprinkle of bits of cooked pork belly.
Minced onion from the store
Some parsley
Good bit of ground whole peppercorns
Tablespoon or so of seafood magic

Cooked it just below boiling, then reduced it to very low and let it cook a long while to reduce the liquid.  Kept stirring every little while.
It was very good and rich.
Served with asiago bread cooked by Hannaford and toasted.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Sopa de Ajo con juevo


Most of the time when pressure cooking is discussed, we hear of the dangers of explosion because of the old fashioned cooker, especially one brand made by one company, but this week I went to the pressure cooker because of an explosion.

I wanted to try to cook a favorite of mine while I lived in Spain, Sopa de Ajo con Juevo (Garlic soup with egg)

I found an old recipe I like in “The Spanish Cookbook” by Barbara Norman

http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Cookbook-Barbara-Norman/dp/B000HFAQXO/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

One of the books I picked up in a $5 large bag of books at the lastest library sale here in Homosassa.

I thought I used an ovenproof dish to saute the garlic and then I could pop it in the oven, but I overheated it, and when I added the preheated beef broth, it exploded into hundreds of pieces, glass chunks, shards of glass, taking my garlic infused olive, my fried bread and all the broth with it and scattering the mess all across the stove and the kitchen floor. Luckily, nothing hit me. It did not fly high enough to do me any injury. However, it was a mess and a waste.

So, this morning I went to the Instapot pressure cooker.

I used the “saute” open lid mode to make the garlic infuse into the oil and fry the paper thin slices of bread.

In the same pot I added the broth and paprika, manually steamed the soup.

Then I expelled the steam, took off the cover, broke up the bread pieces (these are just a very few paperthin slices that fry up and collect the olive oil to better distribute the taste of it throughout the broth, and added three eggs to the hot broth and put the lid back on. The soup is so hot it easily cooks the egg. No over needed.

I've read that in Madrid the soup is often made with wisked egg, but I first had it in Avila and they put in the whole egg and let it cook, so I'm partial to that recipe. I put all three eggs in a small bowl and dumped and covered quickly. If a soft egg is desired with some runny yoke, eat all the egg in the first bowl. As the soup cools it continues to cook the egg.

I used a low sodium packaged broth although I love salt. Especially in the Swanson brand I've been getting broth in Chicken and beef that was too salty.

The recipe calls for saute of the garlic in whole cloves and for three. I used six and sliced them length wise. They were still easy to remove, and afterward proved a very tasty, crispy treat.

This was a very simple soup and without explosions quite easy to make.