A little tomato, a little wine, a little seafood.  That’s really all it takes to make me happy, at least in this instance.  The fact that my oldest son helped me devour the dish shown above is nothing short or a five-star bonus.  I would have eaten it myself had he not enjoyed it.

(I may have secretly hoped that he didn’t…)

All I can really say about this is that it was sublime.  I’ve spent days staring at the screen trying to find a way to describe it, but words have failed me this time, so I’m just going to get straight to the recipe before I waste any more time.  You guys deserve to have this in your card index, database or PDA.  It’s good.

Really good.

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I can’t get enough seafood lately.  I’m not sure why, but something about fish keeps me coming back time-and-time again. Even though it is the beginning of fall and I should be craving heavier dishes, I find I just want seafood, fish in particular.  I can’t shake the craving.

Luckily I still had some Tilapia in the freezer.  A little foraging in the pantry and I decided that I was looking for some richer flavors than the last few dishes I’ve made, but not so heavy as to leave me tired at the end.  This was the result.

I can’t stress how well this turned out.  I also don’t want to waste any more time getting to the meat of the issue.  I want you to try this and tell me if I’m crazy, because I think I may have just found the perfect Tilapia recipe.  No joke.  It’s that good.  try it and let me know what you think.

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If you’re looking for ways to put more fish on your weekly menu at something like a reasonable price, you’ve probably considered Tilapia. It’s a good choice.  Tilapia is a mild fish, fairly firm and easy to deal with when cooking.  It is farmed around the world and can be bought for less than your first-born child, even if you have plans to feed an small army. And let’s face it, if cooked properly it’s just plain good.

Unfortunately, most of my kids very much dislike fish that hasn’t been through a processing plant and turned into a stick of some kind. To this I say to bad for them!  I can still get my fish fix at lunchtime when they are at school. It also allows me to be more creative in trying to find other things they might like.

I think this relish (or perhaps it’s more of a hot salsa?) is something I might be able to get them to eat on the side. It’s phenomenal in both flavor and simplicity, definitely something I recommend giving a shot and applying your own twists to.

In all I’d give this dish about a 6 out of 10. I have another Tilapia recipe that might have gone better with the relish.  I’ll be trying that one out soon.

What’s your favorite Tilapia recipe?  We’d love to know.

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One of my goals while my wife is away is to perfect my skills with fish.  It’s one of two banes of my culinary existence, the other being duck. It seems no matter how hard I try, it is always too overcooked, undercooked or incorrectly paired for my wife to enjoy it.  since we should be eating more lean proteins, I’ve charged myself with mastering this deficet in my culinary skills when I am the only one who needs to tolerate my mistakes.

In this case, I wish my wife could have been here.  This dish was nearly perfect.  The fish was flaky, moist and incredibly light.  The salad brought a fullness to the dish that the Sole could not have managed on its own and the sauce was wonderfully savory and tangy at the same time.  In short, aside from being a little plain in presentation, it was heaven on a plate.

This success has bolstered my drive to perfect my skills with fish.  I’m hoping that by the time my wife returns from Turkey we can make fish a once-a-week part of our diet.  not only is it healthy, but it’s quick, tasty and light.  Something we both need every few days or so.

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The year’s focus on eating healthier continues right along with a renewed focus on fusion cooking, my favorite means of taking flavors and textures to new heights.  Our weather has been unseasonably warm and the market had the most beautiful baby bok choy, so I had to find something that would go well with it and salmon just seemed to fit the bill.  Add some pan fried noodles and not only do you have yourself a wonderfully healthy and filling meal, but one you can feel good about eating.  no compromises here!

The inspiration for the salmon came from an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s F-Word, but only loosely, as I couldn’t remember exactly what he’d done to his salmon, just that he’d used soy to glaze the fish, which sounded wonderful.  The rest of the dish was whipped up on a whim with ingredients I had on hand, but the combination was perfect for a firly warm evening and a lovely meal with my wife.

The recipe may sound complicated, but in actuality it doesn’t get much simpler than this.  There are only three primary ingredients and a few accompaniments that can be found at nearly any supermarket in the Asian section, so even if all you have access to is a BigScaryMegaMart, you should be able to get everything needed for this recipe in a single trip and for just a few dollars.  It really is worth it, trust me.

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After two months of heavy braises, rich sauces and gravys it’s nice to be eating on the lighter side again.  My palate had almost forgotten the joys of great ingredients cooked and served simply.  With just a few ingredients and a very short cooking time, this dish was an homage to simplicity and the preservation of the flavors that the ingredients bring to the party.

Fish should be served simply.  It’s far too easy to mask the delicate flavor of the fish itself with any type of sauce or glaze, and in the case of tuna this is especially true.  For this dish I took inspiration from both Western and Asian cuisine with striking results.  The flavors were subtle, pleasing and a perfect match from start to finish.  Plating could be done in any manner you choose, as all of the components are far better eated together than they are seperately in this case.

The best part is that this is a complete meal that carries absolutely no guilt.  The entire plate is low in everything that you want it to be low in and high i the things you need, like fiber, Omega 3’s and vitamins.  Quick, simple, healthy and Weight Watcher’s friendly as well at only 9 points for the entire plate!

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Seafood and noodles is something that I just love together. The combination is simple, tasty, filling and has more than enough flavor to satisfy any seafood lover. Add in some lime, a bit of cilantro and a touch of heat and you have what I consider to be one of the best summertime lunch dishes I can think up, especially when the thermometer reads over 100 degrees.

I usually make shrimp when my wife is going to have to stay at the office during lunch, since it’s not her idea of a mid afternoon meal on most occasions.  The plus side is that I can have the shrimp working in the marinade while I’m feeding our son and getting him down for his nap.  That way Dad gets to eat as soon as clean up is completed and we’ve finished the ritual of “I just want a cookie!”.  A little peace, a little Bourdain and a great bowl of flavor makes for a much nicer afternoon.  Don’t you think?
(Note: When mom is home for lunch, we all eat together.)

If you’re not a huge fan of ramen noodles (though I don’t know why you wouldn’t be!), somen or soba noodles work just fine for this as well.  If you’re not fond of cilantro, use parsley, mint or Thai basil.  You won’t break my heart.  Not a fan of chili paste?  A good roasted pepper puree with a bit of garlic added would work just as well.  Have fun with it!

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Welcome to the very first installment of Frugal Fridays, where I (and hopefully other bloggers) aim to prove that you can eat very well and still manage to keep a few dollars in your pocket book for good measure.  The Challenge of Frugal Fridays is to create a meal that will feed a family of four for $10.00 or less.  While I’m not expecting gourmet fare for this amount, I know that if anyone can whip up a meal on a budget that still tastes phenomenal, it’s a bunch of food bloggers.

This dish was a flash of inspiration from a conversation I had with my wife a few days ago.  She mentioned that her favorite seafood was crab and I had an immediate burst of inspiration on what to make. The dish itself is simple, promised great flavor and was planned to make my wife smile. What I didn’t know was if I could do it for under $10.00. It sounded like the perfect Frugal Friday challenge.

My first thought was to use lump crab meat.  Unfortunately, in this part of Texas a pound of decent looking lump crab would have used up my entire $10.00 budget.  I was stuck with using the best canned crab I could find.  Don’t get me wrong, I would have preferred the lump crab meat, but we’re going for a filling meal here, and I didn’t think 2 oz. of crab would do it.

The rest of the ingredients were straightforward and very inexpensive, including the shallot wich I admit took me by surprise.  As I’ve said, for a $10.00 the assumtion has to be made that there are some basic cooking ingredients available, such as oil, butter, salt, spices, etc. so that’s the premise I ran on. In the end I came in well under budget and made a remarkably tasty dish that would easily feed 4 to 6 people to the point of comortably full.

Just to prove that this came in under budget, here’s the complete list of what was purchased:

• Linguine – $1.09
• Crab Meat: – $4.17
• Mini French Loaf – $0.75
• Lemon – $0.59
• Shallot – $0.51
• Garlic – $0.30
• Parsley – $0.49
• ————————
• Store Surcharge – $0.40
• ————————
• Grand Total – $8.30

Not too bad for a seafood dinner for four with bread, eh?  I could have sprung for a salad, but I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

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This dish is something I’ve been planning for some time, but just couldn’t figure out how to execute until yesterday. I love scallops, but the lovely Mrs. Seat of her Pants had only ever experienced them at the local Chinese Buffet. I tried their version a few weeks ago and realized why she thought less than fondly of these wonderful little bivalves. The buffet version was rubbery, flavorless and coated in a completely generic and entirely greasy breading mixture. They were, in a word, nasty.

I immediately decided that I had to show her what a well prepared scallop tasted like. I ran out to the store the next day and purchased a bag of tiny frozen scallops (Fresh is not an option in this part of the world!). I knew I wanted to show her several different variations of these tiny oceanic gems. The focus would be to highlight the flavor of the scallops in three ways, sweet, savory and tart. But how? I also knew I didn’t want to start with full sized bay scallops, just in case she really wasn’t fond of the flavor after all.

Believe it or not, the inspiration for this appetizer-style dish came from a completely unrelated side dish. I was zoning out watching Food Network one day and Paula Deen was making asparagus bundles tied with green onions. Out of nowhere my mind started racing and a resounding “That’s It!” rolled through the house, waking up my napping son and terrifying my dog in the process. (Inspiration can be embarrassing!)

The next day found me in the kitchen whipping these little guys out. Preparation is a bit intensive and if you want to make these for a party, I suggest going with a slightly larger scallop, as wrapping these tiny ones was no mean feat, and requires not only a razor sharp boning knife, but some pretty mean knife skills.

The flavor however, was more than worth the effort! As a matter of fact just thinking about it is making me hungry!

What did the Mrs. Think? Well, we’re having scallops for dinner next week, so I suppose I did pretty good!

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Matt Armendarez recently posted about his love of sardines on his incredible food blog Matt Bites. In that post, titled An Open Letter, Matt’s outlook on the situation is satirical, light and downright hilarious but as he put it, he just couldn’t keep his love of tinned fish a secret any longer.

I have a confession of my own to make. While I agree with Matt that tinned fish are a tasty snack, in fact one I would happily sit back in a public venue and enjoy right along with him, I have a much deeper love for another tinned seafood product, namely smoked oysters.

Wow! You should have seen the look on your face!

Right now a whole slew of people are thinking thoughts along the lines of “Wait a minute! I thought this was the food snob guy! You mean he actually eats those little eraser looking things? …From a CAN?”

Yes, I do. I absolutely adore the smokey-and-ever-so-slightly-briny flavor of a good smoked oyster, especially paired with just the tiniest bit of good sea salt. They work perfectly as both a quick snack on a cracker right out of the tin, but serve equally well as a fairly upscale appetizer if they are presented properly. The flavors are complex and the texture is surreal.

Yup, I just waxed poetic about a little mollusk in a tin can, packed in cottonseed or olive oil (I prefer the latter.)

Please don’t hate me for this!

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