Baked Cod Parmesan

Alaskan cod was on sale yesterday ... so what to make ... I was thinking of a homemade pasta dish. I made lasanga last week when Travis and Sarah came along with another young couple to stay a couple days and dye Ukrainian/Pyasanky eggs (check it out at my overflow blog). We made homemade lasanga pasta and it was THE BEST lasanga I have ever tasted - and they agreed. We were all rather silent savoring our first bites! UmmUmmGood!!!! I am going to make another homemade pasta lasanga this weekend, so I'll take pics and post.

I could have googled cod recipes, but looked at the few fish cookbooks I have instead. Several Fall's ago Monte and me visited Boston before heading up to New Hampshire. We walked all over Boston for several days and loved it. We were told, besides the historic trail, to visit the Legal Sea Food restaurant - we bought their cookbook. This cod recipe sounded good. I'm eating leftovers now as I'm posting this ... still good.

BAKED COD PARMESAN

2 lbs cod fillets
1 C fresh chopped tomato or Marinara Sauce
2 Tb chopped fresh basil
3 Tb freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1 Tb olive oil

Preheat oven to 425. Place fillets in baking dish and cover with the sauce and basil and bake about 8 minutes. Add the grated cheese and dots of olive oil and bake another 5 minutes, or till the cheese melts.

The fish smelled rather fishy when I opened the wrapping. Unless I have fresh fish I always soak most store bought fish in some salt/ sugar/ and milk water. I'd read those will rid the fishiness of fish. After about an hour Monte thought it still smelled fishy so rinsed it well and soaked it longer in ice water with lots of lemon slices. I cooked it a bit longer - 10 and 10 minutes and never added the olive oil. This winter I've had fresh herbs in my greenhouse - so I had fresh basil. I'm guessing I added more marinara sauce and cheese, but don't know, I didn't measure - just put enough to cover all the fish.

The cookbook suggested serving it with rice and broccoli. I usually like a rice mixture with wild rice and needed to pressure cook it since it takes longer to cook. Broccoli grows very well here and I usually freeze at least 20 pounds every year - in 1/2 pound bags, now that it's just Monte and me. The cookbook also suggested that mushrooms and chopped peppers could be added to the fish topping. That sounds good too. I usually always stock lemons/limes, mushrooms, peppers, and marinara sauce.

I like recipes that have menu suggestions.

Salmon, or Tuna, or Crab Cakes

Monte made salmon patties for supper. He often cooks fish patties for a quick meal. For years I've made tuna patties (it's in my cookbook) - very simple:

Simple tuna patties (or other canned fish)
6 oz can tuna
1 egg
some grated onion
season with dried parsley or herbs of your choice
Drop by large spoonful into heated oiled skillet
Cook on both sides till browned and done - about 4-6 minutes

Monte likes to add a bit of bread crumbs and mayonnaise to the above, using canned salmon. Here's what Monte did last night -

SALMON (CRAB) CAKES

2 6oz cans wild salmon
4 green onions, chopped fine
2 Tb bread crumbs (I always have these in a ziplock in the freezer from my homemade bread)
About 1 Tb fresh herbs like cilantro, basil, parsley, dill
Since we didn't have any Old Bay Seasoning - use 1 1/2 tsp - I googled the ingredients and sat them all on the counter and Monte took bits of each, grinding in the mortar&pestle: bay leaves, celery seeds, mustard seeds, paprika, pepper, nutmeg, cloves, red pepper flakes, and cardamom, and salt
1 egg
1/4 C mayonnaise
Mix this all together well and form into 4 flat, round, patties about 3" across. This time he lightly covered them with 1/4 C flour and browned them in olive oil in the skillet. This time too, he finished cooking them in the oven rather in the skillet - he was afraid the flour would burn.

Then he made a sauce which he's calling -

MONTE'S MOUNTAIN RANCH DRESSING

1/2 C mayo
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 lime squeezed to taste
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced cilantro
1/2 tsp ground chipotle seeds
1/2 tsp dill

The fresh herbs are in my greenhouse. When I buy fresh herbs from the grocery store I cut a bit off the bottom of the bunch and put them in a glass of water, leaving them on the counter. Like basil often turns brown in the refrigerator - they'll last awhile this way. If not using soon, freeze herbs in ice cubes.

After eating the above sauce, Monte's convinced it's close to a salad dressing he's raved about for years from Texas Red's in Red River, New Mexico - he did geology there right before we got married. So we had his sauce with the fish patties and on our salad.

Baked Cod with a Cream Sauce over Whole Grain Rice

I'd gotten cod and didn't know what I was going to do with it, so I googled cod recipes and liked the idea of this dish, at that moment (meaning my emotions and cravings vary ... duh!). This turned out to be a "comfort food" - which means it's a definite keeper I'll be making again.

I have a chapter in my cookbook called "Cooking Tips & Pantry Stocking". Cooking tips are favorite sections of books for me. I've always looked at lots of recipes when deciding what to make. I've learned a lot from this process. When you know your ingredients, you know what you can mess around with and formulate your own recipes.

I wish I could create a consistent weekly or monthly menu - I know someone who does. It could simplify life, but I'm so motivated (or I should say "mood-ivated") by creative impulse. One of my impulses or motivations is to eat as well at home as some gourmet restaurants.

All that said ... doesn't really apply here, other than introducing how I cooked the rice according to my cooking tip from my cookbook. I have rice in my pantry that'll cook in 15-20 minutes, but it's not our favorite, and Monte has asked me to just cook the whole grain or wild rice. That takes time, so forethought or planning. Here's what's from my cookbook and the easiest way to cook rice -

Oven cooking Whole Grain &/or Wild Rice

Place 3 C tap water in an oven-proof dish with
1 tsp salt and
1 C rice
(could add some olive oil or pat of butter if you want)
Bake in a 250 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours
If I've not thought ahead, I'll pressure cook it for 10 minutes.

Looking at what I wrote in my cookbook, I'm reminded of something we like: keeping already cooked rice and already cooked black beans in the refrigerator for a quick dish - mix the two together and sprinkle with parmesan. Monte likes to heat rice with milk and cinnamon for a snack.

Following this oven cooking rice idea in my book is how to make a white sauce, which is pretty much what I did for this cod sauce. A lot of recipes call for "cream of ... chicken or mushroom soup". I don't buy canned soup, so I needed to learn how to substitute this ingredient in recipes. Basically heat  1/4-1/3C oil or butter, adding the same amount of flour. Let this "roux" brown a bit and add 2C of chicken broth with seasoning to be the equivalent of the canned soup (add some cream or milk powder for the 'cream'). That flour/fat amount will thicken 3-4 Cups of liquid too, if not wanting something so thick. I make up this sauce a lot, adding canned tuna for eating over toast with some grated cheese - a family quick meal favorite. It's also a sauce for macaroni and cheese, or chicken divan, or scalloped potatoes ...

BAKED COD WITH CREAM SAUCE OVER RICE

Cook rice
In skillet saute a chopped onion,
1 C sliced fresh mushrooms,
and then some minced garlic in
2 Tb olive oil or butter till golden
Sprinkle in 2 Tb flour and stir in
Add 2 C of a cream and milk mixture
Sprinkle in some salt and pepper, and a pinch of dill
Then add 1/2# of shrimp, peeled and deveined
Pour this mixture over 1# cod arranged in baking dish
Sprinkle with some grated parmesan
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
Serve over the rice

Garden Seeds Ordered

I've ordered my seeds for this coming year's gardening, have you? The seed catalogs start coming in for the new year and every January I love planning my garden. I evaluate past years' gardening. With my short, cool growing conditions, Johnny's Seeds, in Maine, develops seeds that produce well for me. I have garden drawings and notes going back over many years (this is the longest I've ever, in my lifetime, lived in one home - wow ... twenty-six years!). Every year there's things I tell myself to never waste my time on again!

Speaking of Johnny's Seeds ... In Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Johnny's is mentioned amongst many others as having seeds from Monsanto. When you do the research you find that Johnny's is owned by the employees and any seeds that had been used from a source that got sold to Monsanto are being phased out.

I'll be starting seeds in the greenhouse pretty soon. This winter I've successfully got lettuces, green onions, and herbs still growing. A fig tree is looking beautiful and tomatoes are setting fruit! I'm going to have to vacuum the brown grapevine leaves, as it'll be putting out new growth soon. We froze most of the grapes, but left some to dry as raisins, and guests love finding them and eating!

Speaking of guests, it's been another week of men underfoot! - geology related. Rick's an investor, owning coffee shops in California, but I'm not letting him make me coffee any more! He uses three to four times more coffee grounds than me - I buy them freshly roasted at my local store - I thought I had enough for a month! His coffee keeps me awake all night!!! No wonder he's a bundle of energy!

They all left for the airport an hour ago. One to Virginia, another on to Vancouver, and Rick back to California. We had Italian Monday night with spreading pesto on chicken breasts and rolling them with prosciutto - I thought them too dry and salty. Tuesday lunch was a potato leek soup with Kielbasa; supper, lasagna. Sourdough pancakes were served for a breakfast with raspberries from our garden (in the freezer) and homemade yogurt, - and since I make extra, liking them as a snack with almond butter and raspberry jam, they ended up sticking them in the toaster for another breakfast. Then of course there's always my homemade bread. I wasn't going to be around, and them doing other things off and on for two days, so the lasanga and soup were great for them to have leftover. Today's lunch was fish tacos. I marinated mahi-mahi in 1/2 cup each Tequila and lime juice with some chili powder, sugar and salt - then smoked/grilled it.

My food and our hospitality is greatly appreciated and even with winter's garden dormancy, the beautiful rock garden walls, fencing, bamboo ornamentation and dried stalks all add to our home's wonderful retreat atmosphere where people like to hang-out. Again, our wonderful Velveteen House!

Grilled Smoked Salmon (&/or Chicken)

I often grill and smoke, with wood chips, a large salmon fillet. When Monte is out of town, I always grill either salmon or chicken breasts to have leftover cold on salads. I could eat this way all the time - simple, and GOOD!

After preheating the grill and getting the soaked wood chips going, I like to grill the flesh side of fish quickly on the hot grill. Then I turn it over with the skin side down, sprinkle with pepper seasoning and spread with mayonnaise. Then turn the heat down and let slow cook with the smoke flavoring it. The skin protects the fish from burning and it gets crispy.

If the fish isn't very fresh (which is most often since we don't live near fishing areas), I always do a presoak in the sink with some salt and milk and sometimes some sugar. It seems to help draw out anything 'fishy'. Then rinse (pull out any bones with needle-nose pliers, if any) and dry.

When grilling chicken breasts, I cut them in fairly thin pieces and marinate them in an Italian salad dressing for a bit (like at least an hour, or all day, or even overnight) before grilling. And brush them with the marinade while grilling, so they don't dry out.

Like I said, I will often do this just for me, but have also done it when we've got visiting scientists here for many meals. This will be one of the lunches along with bread and sandwich makings and a large bowl of salad. We usually have most of our meals buffet style with everything around the kitchen island for people to create their own plate's meal.

Pan-Roasting Halibut; & the Humble Sardine

This recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated 2002 book. Yes, book. I have every Cook's Illustrated Magazine published, but not as magazines. I wait till the end of each year's bound editions come out. It's easier this way. They are all indexed, thus easier to find things.

I mentioned in my old blog about packing up all my many cookbooks, and they were boxed for a year. We redid our great-room space and the wall of cookbook shelves came out. I also, with Google's ease in finding things, wanted to see if I missed my books. Like when I got my sourdough starter going again I wanted a sourdough pancake recipe. I Googled it and the recipe in my boxed cookbook was the first recipe to come up! BUT my Cook's Illustrated bound books, back to 1993, amongst a few other books, I did not pack up.

I consult Cook's Illustrated and my Rodale Press cookbooks all the time. I still alter the recipes often, but not this fish one. Growing up, I disliked fish. Monte changed that. He's the best fish cooker. We have a favorite fishing stream we'd take kids, cuz just about every cast caught fish. They're mountain trout - not big. But we'd have enough for a meal every time. My step-dad gives us extra fish too. One year Monte and a friend got some whoppers - they were probably pike. We froze one whole and he just kept sawing slices to cook for a meal, till he got to the head and made a fish broth/soup. In Wisconsin Monte goes for walleye, pike and bass (he's going to probably read this and tell me more). And then I pick up wild salmon often.

Cook's Illustrated solved my dislike for halibut. Rarely have I had good halibut (not that I tried it alot). It's a lean fish, so is usually too dry for my taste. This recipe works every time!

PAN-ROASTED HALIBUT

2Tb olive oil
2 Halibut steaks about 1 1/4" thick

(Locally, we don't have a fish market and so far, the best halibut I've found is at Costco. I never buy farmed fish. With all my bought fish, I put salt and sugar in a container, stirring to dilute it with some warm water, add some milk, put the fish in, add water to cover, and let it soak at least 30 minutes. Rinse and cook.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees with the rack in the middle position. When the oven reaches 425, in a heavy ovenproof skillet that holds the size of fish, heat on high until the oil just begins to smoke.

Sprinkly the fish with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to med-high, swirl pan to distribute the oil, and carefully put in fish to sear without moving them, until spotty brown - about 4 minutes. Off heat flip fish and transfer the pan to the oven. Roast until 140 degrees, flakes when forked - about 9 minutes. I just put my timer on for 9 minutes, cuz it's just the right time every time. These times, of course, are for the certain thickness. Serve immediately with dollop of a flavored butter.

Flavored Butters

I've tried 2 of the suggested 3 and like them both- chipotle or anchovy.
Both use 4 Tb butter, a minced garlic clove, and 1/2 tsp salt (which I used only a pinch of)

The chipotle uses 1 chipotle chile en adobo (once I open a can, I store it in a jar in the refrigerator so I always have it on hand), seeded and minced with 1 tsp of the adobo.
1 tsp honey
1 tsp lime zest
2 tsp minced fresh cilantro


The anchovy one uses one anchovy, minced to a paste (I get anchovies in a little jar I store in the refrigerator)
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 Tb minced fresh parsley


I use less butter, softening it in the microwave a bit, mixing everything.

The 3rd suggestion is not a butter but a cherry tomato-basil vinaigrette I'll have to try.

Speaking of fish, a magazine article spoke about the seafood choices we should be making. Large fish-eating fish like shark and tuna are the most contaminated fish. Tho "troll or pole-caught" in the US or British Columbia albacore tuna is considered an ok green fish. Why? Where caught and size are keys. Alaskan waters are very well managed, and northern Pacific is the choice over the Atlantic. The fish they say we should be eating every week? The humble sardine! It's naturally packed with more omega-3s and vitamin D than just about any other food.

Smaller fish are lower on the food chain, abundant, and fast-reproducing. Thus there's less build up of contaminants and less fishing pressure. Many fish in the herring family are commonly called sardines. We'll open a tin of sardines or herring quite often for a meal. They're great on crackers, bread, and with salads.

Try mixing SMOKED SARDINES with some mint. Toast some bread or baguette slices and serve the sardine mixture on the bread along with a slice of tomato. Maybe some thin sliced onion or some chives.

There's many sites for checking on best fish choices, and apps for phones. Look for Seafood Watch, and The Blue Ocean Institute, and go to eatingwell.com/go/fish.

My cookbooks are unboxed now. Monte built shelves in the garage over the freezers. Tho I still get recipes off the internet, I do like having access to my many cookbooks.