Seafood - Are You All Ready For This??

[cjs]

Oh my God, this neighborhood can eat!!! What a fun day -

This is my sink full of King Crab Legs...

Capt. Jay and his girlfriend, Dora, cleaned them all.

In addition to these, he also brought some wonderful King Salmon, smoked salmon and about 25 Black Cod collars.

The neighbors all brought dishes (green salads, baked beans, appys, etc.)and desserts and we ate for hours. I'll post some of the best 'finds' of the day - one gal brot a broccoli salad that was very goood - I'll try to get that recipe also. It was like a zoo around here - there was a little guy about 2 - terrible twos, also!! - but, cute as bug and ALL BOY!!!

Truffle Popcorn - everyone loved this, it has become a staple of the winter of '07.
Garlic Roasted Shrimp Cocktail - old recipe, but I had some prawns to use up (still working on freezer...)
Hot Crab Dip - another old recipe, sure I've posted this before.

King Crab "Nachos" - a new recipe and were these ever a hit - they are delicious!!

alaska king crab "nachos"
Gourmet | June 2000
Makes 24 hors d'oeuvres.

24 won ton wrappers
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
For filling
1 ripe California avocado
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon wasabi paste
3/4 lb cooked Alaska king crab
leg in shell (1 leg), thawed if frozen and split lengthwise

Special equipment:
2 mini-muffin pans

Make won ton cups: Preheat oven to 375°F.
Stack 12 won ton wrappers together and trim stack into a 3-inch square. Repeat with remaining won tons. Transfer 1 won ton to an oiled work surface and brush top lightly with some oil. Top with another won ton and brush lightly with oil. Repeat with remaining won tons (this way both sides become lightly oiled).

Put 1 won ton into cup of a muffin pan, pressing it gently into bottom and side to form a cup. Repeat with remaining won tons and sprinkle with salt to taste.

Bake won ton cups in middle of oven until crisp and golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer won ton cups to racks to cool (they will continue to crisp).

Make filling:
Scoop flesh from avocado and mash coarsely with a fork. Stir in shallot, 1 tablespoon lime juice, and wasabi |to taste. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove crab meat from shell and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Toss crab with remaining tablespoon lime juice and salt to taste.

Spoon guacamole into won ton cups and top with crab.

Cooks' notes:
• Won ton cups can be made 2 days ahead and kept in an airtight container at cool room temperature.

• Guacamole may be made 4 hours ahead. Chill and cover surface with plastic wrap.

My note: This makes me so angry! I printed this out May of 2005 and I've been sitting on it for this long!! These are so good and great for make ahead and finishing at the last minute for a party.
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Nobuyuki Matsuhisa (Black Cod with Miso-Mirin) - oh this was another great mix of flavors. The fish is supposed to marinate for 2-3 days, but the Capt. didn't get here til the morning of, so didn't get much flavor. BUT, I had some white fish in the freezer ( ) with no label, think it might have been ahi or mahi mahi... so I marinated it for 24 hours. This is wonderful!!!!

Black Cod With Miso

Black cod is steeped in sweet miso before being baked in the oven. The sweetness of Nobu-style Saikyo Miso is an excellent match with the plumpness of the fish.
Makes 4 servings.

Nobuyuki Matsuhisa

For Nobu-style Saikyo Miso
1/2 cup saké
3/4 cup (150 ml) mirin
2 cups (450 g) white miso paste
1 1/4 cups (225 g) granulated sugar
For cod
4 black cod fillets, about 1/2 pound (230 g) each
3 cups (800 g) Nobu-style Saikyo Miso
1 stalk hajikami per serving (is this ginger?? - as you can tell, I did not use this..)

Make Nobu-style Saikyo Miso:
1.Bring the saké and the mirin to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Boil for 20 seconds to evaporate the alcohol.

2. Turn the heat down to low and add the miso paste, mixing with a wooden spoon. When the miso has dissolved completely, turn the heat up to high again and add the sugar, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon to ensure that the bottom of the pan doesn’t burn. Remove from heat once the sugar is fully dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

Yield: 3 cups (800 g).

Make cod:
1. Pat fillets thoroughly dry with paper towels. Slather the fish with Nobu-style Saikyo Miso and place in a non-reactive dish or bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave to steep in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.

2 Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C, gas 6). Preheat a grill or broiler. Lightly wipe off any excess miso clinging to the fillets but don't rinse it off. Place the fish on the grill, or in a broiler pan, and grill or broil until the surface of the fish turns brown. Then bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Arrange the black cod fillets on individual plates and garnish with hajikami. Add a few extra drops of Nobu-style Saikyo Miso to each plate.

my note: we did all the cooking on the grill - this is a wonderful fish, but one of the richest I've ever tasted - can't eat much at one time. But the other white fish that I used the marinade on, all of us could not stop picking at it. This is really good also.

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Double-Corn Fritters with Dungeness Crab Creme Fraiche - another repeat!! What a great combination of flavors.

Double-Corn Fritters with Dungeness Crab Creme Fraiche
Bon Appétit | October 2005

What to drink: Try these with a lightly chilled Oregon Pinot Gris. Makes 8 servings.

Fritters:
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
2/3 cup fresh corn kernels
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
Corn oil (for frying)

Crème fraîche (I made mine - does anyone want the recipe?)
6 ounces Dungeness crabmeat, picked over, patted dry, flaked
1/2 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives plus additional chives for garnish
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper

For fritters:
Mix first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk and egg in small bowl to blend. Stir egg mixture into dry ingredients, then stir in corn kernels, onion, and bell pepper (do not overmix).
Pour enough oil into large skillet to coat bottom.

Heat oil over medium heat. Working in batches, drop 1 scant tablespoon batter for each fritter into hot skillet; spread each to 2-inch round. Fry until golden, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to baking sheet. (Can be made ahead. Let stand at room temperature up to 2 hours or cover and chill overnight. Bake uncovered in 350°F oven until heated through, 6 to 8 minutes.)
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And for dessert - can you believe we all ate dessert after all this????

Blackberry Cobbler (think I've posted this recipe before)
Some kind of spicy muffins - from a neighbor
Cookies made in mini-muffin cups with a p.nut butter cups pushed in the center after it's out of the oven - tasty!)

What a fun food day it was -

[luvnit]

That all sounds (and looks) spectacular! What great neighbors you have.

Is he a fisherman/captain? Were these all his catch of the day?

[cjs]

Yes, he captains a boat that goes up to Alaska for months at a time - he left last nite to be gone until about March -
I'm not sure where all this seafood came from - the cook on his boat did the smoked salmon and it was wonderful!

[Harborwitch]

My goodness that looks and sounds wonderful. Yum!

[Old Bay]

If I lived closer to you, you would be my close friend!!! You attract the best people with the best stuff!!!

[Lorraine]

Wow. What a great sounding meal!

[cjs]

"You attract the best people with the best stuff!!! " - did we luck out with this neighborhood or what!!

[Lorraine]

You're lucky, my neighbourhood is very different. What are "Black Cod Collars"? I've never had black cod. What would it be comparable to?

That's a million dollar sink you have there, Jean! Did you save all the shells?

[cjs]

That's funny, Lorraine, I had just made a batch of seafood stock and here I am with all these shells - NO, I'm finally getting my freezer cleaned out!!

Black Cod is one of the richest, oiliest fish I've ever tasted. It's very good, but you sure can't eat much at a time. The collar of it is the strip behind the head. I guess that is the delicacy of this fish.

O.K., I didn't have any luck when I was looking for recipes to use this fish (Jay let me know ahead of time he was bringing it), but I just found in one of my books why!

"Sablefish - better known as 'black cod,' the sablefish is not a cod but belongs to the family Anoplopomatidae, which is a group of fishes confined to the North Pacific Ocean.

Sablefish are caught in deep cold water as far down as 2,400 to 3,000 feet with pots and sunken gill nets. A large sablefish is about 3 ft. in length and 40 lbs. in weight. Its white flesh has a high oil content and does not lend itself to cod recipes.

Smoked Canadian Black Cod, one of the hallmarks of discerning Pacific northwest seafood restaurants, is sablefish at its best. It can also be bbq'd with excellent results."

I've heard of Sablefish, but sure didn't know much about black cod - Jay could only tell me he had had it grilled, so that's what I did with it - it's really good.

Now, I have 10-12 of these goodies in the freezer, so I'll try smoking some of them.

In the book I quoted from (above)there is a recipe for Smoked Sablefish Nuggets which sounds very good. Mixed with mashed potatoes, onions, egg rolled in corn flakes...

[Lorraine]

"NO, I'm finally getting my freezer cleaned out!! "

Sooo, if we go to visit, there won't be any food???????

Sable fish I've heard of from our friend in Victoria, but I've never had it. I'm thinking the "collars" would be a delicacy similar to "pickerel cheeks". Good stuff! the nuggets sound tasty.

As an aside, one person in the house loves fish. Strange that we've eaten more of it, and done lots of experimenting, in the last year when she's been working in foreign countries.