My Fishy, My Whole Fishy

My blog is a bit behind the times, considering I'm going to talk about my dinner from a whole week ago. But, school takes up a lot of time. Last Saturday, I bought myself a whole rainbow trout for dinner because I like to eat whole animals, so I quite like to cook myself a whole fish. I tried to make one once before, and I think I overcooked it a bit and didn't quite make the most of it. This time, I looked around a bit to find a recipe, not so I could follow it, but so I could get a good cooking time and method. I think I did a pretty decent job, so I'll tell you what I did and show you what a real fish with a head and tail looks like.

I decided to go with a baking method. So, I preheated my oven to 400 degrees F.

I seasoned the inside of the fish with salt and pepper (or actually I should have but I almost forgot until the fish was stuffed so I sprinkled some on then). I stuffed the fish with thin slices of lemon, a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley, one or two chopped green onions and some capers.

Then I put the fish on an oiled baking sheet. Here's the fishy before he went in the oven:
I baked the fish for 20 minutes at 400 F. It came out pretty nicely cooked, at least it wasn't dry and overcooked. The fish flaked nicely and went well with the tartness of lemon juice I squeezed on it. The sea-like briny capers really complement fish, although I guess this is a freshwater fish (maybe it's not right for it to be briny). There were some presentation problems, though. I guess I didn't use enough oil on the pan because the fish skin stuck a little, not that that's a huge problem when I'm serving myself. But, it could be embarrassing when serving guests. If you want to be sure your fish won't stick, oil generously.

The cooked fish found his way to my plate and looked different and more eatable than the raw fish:
I had a great time tearing the fish apart getting out the good edible parts while removing the head, tail, bones, and skin. I really like the way fish flakes. I think it makes it more fun to eat than meat, sometimes. Is that a weird thing to say? Does anyone else think eating fish is fun?

Magical Salmon, Where Are You?

It's finally that fleeting time of year when wild Pacific salmon is available fresh at the grocery store. It excited me, so I bought a couple of good sized steaks of fresh Sockeye Salmon. And I cooked both the next day. Salmon for lunch and salmon for dinner.

For lunch I improvised a salad topped with noodles and the salmon. The salad was cucumber and mixed lettuce with rice wine vinegar, soy, and sesame dressing. It tasted fine. The rice noodles had some soy sauce and vinegar as well as sauteed garlic and green onion. They tasted okay, but once again clumped together. Clearly, I don't really know how to handle them. But, "noodle cake" is not so bad although I did accidentally dump in a bunch of pepper. I need a new pepper shaker. The salmon was cooked in a skillet after seasoning with salt and pepper. I thought the magic of sockeye salmon would shine through. Here's my salad:
Alas, the salmon was much milder in flavour than I'd anticipated and could have used more. . . added flavour. But, the awesome thing was when I peeled the skin off the cooked steak and late crisped it up in a hot skillet. It was a crispy, fatty, fishy snack of great deliciousness to end the meal. Salmon skin really is a treat.

For dinner I went with a "real recipe" and I followed it pretty closely. Really, I did. And I think it's a winner. The recipe is "Baked Sockeye Salmon with Bell Peppers and Capers" by Marcella Hazan and is available here on Epicurious.

This is how it looked out of the oven and just short of being fully cooked:
I made about 1/4 of the recipe. I roasted and peeled one small red bell pepper, used a few spoonfuls of capers, and put one whole clove of garlic in the olive oiled dish with a salmon steak. I found that the recommended baking time of 16 minutes was woefully inadequate for my thick steak. It actually took closer to 25 minutes (I think), but should you make the recipe you should check on your unique piece of fish. The recipe is actually recommended for a long skin on fillet.

Anyways, let's talk about the flavours. I really think that the sweet, sightly smokey roasted bell pepper and the salty, slightly tart capers gave the salmon the flavour kick it needed. Actually, I really like roasted pepper and caper anyways. I also paired some bites of salmon with a bit of the garlic, which was also good. I don't think I ever would have thought to pair roasted bell pepper with salmon, but it's a great idea and I'm glad I found this recipe. It's a great on for baked salmon.

But, I am a bit sad that I couldn't have grilled salmon like we usually did at home because I don't have a barbecue. One of my favourite meals at home was a whole salmon (usually a wild pink salmon) stuffed with lemons and herbs and grilled wrapped in foil. If you have a barbecue and enough companions to warrant a whole salmon, I recommend trying that.

And finally, an update on a recipe that I posted previously here for some excellent blueberry muffins. I modified the recipe to make blueberry-maple-oatmeal muffins by omitting the lemon zest, reducing the oil to 2 tablespoons, using 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup maple syrup for the sweetening, and adding a trace more baking soda. The results look pretty good:

They tasted pretty damn good too and had excellent muffin texture. However, I found the maple flavour to be pretty subtle. I don't think I could be sure it was there. Maybe, considering the expense of maple syrup lemon zest is a better flavouring option.

Rice: Risotto and Sushi

That's right, the last two things I want to talk about from Albert's visit have something in common: rice. Therefore, it is not a stretch to put them in one post. I've already talked about both so let's call these updates.

Update #1: Risotto with Prosciutto and Peas

I said that I wanted to make risotto with/for another person. I fulfilled that desire when Albert and I recreated risotto with prosciutto and peas. He was very useful for stirring it. . . I really didn't do any of that. A risotto stirring slave. . . or assistant is a good thing. He's the risotto stirring pro modelling the finished product:
This risotto improved on my original by actually using the lemon zest and dry white wine. The "stock" I used was not so nice though since it was from bullion (naughty me). The prosciutto Albert obtained was sliced thicker than the stuff I got before. This might have actually been better in the risotto for the chunkiness, which might be better with slightly cooked prosciutto. In addition, the cheese I added for this risotto was indeed Parmesan.

We ate it with a simple salad of fresh organic greens straight out of the garden. It was ready for its close up:

Update #2: Sushi

Albert hadn't had sushi in quite some time. So, on his last night in Edmonton we went for sushi at Kyoto Japanese Cuisine on 109th. I've talked about it before and once again it was good, although we were not served water to drink although it was a hot day. The server was way too busy, so I guess it's excusable.

I had a spicy seaweed salad that was really spicy. I didn't quite expect that from Japanese food. It was a refreshing contrast to the sushi though in its texture and flavour. The texture is hard to describe. It was somewhat firm and not exactly crisp. I also had a raw oyster on the half shell, which I think was my first raw oyster. It tasted all right. I drizzled it with lemon juice but passed on the Tabasco sauce provided. I figured it would mask subtle flavours. Albert started with tofu, which he ate so I guess it was good.

For the main meal we had sushi. The salmon was fresh, rich, and good. Albert ordered a beef sushi that was just slightly seared and definitely blue-rare. It was kind of chewy and could not be bitten in half (the meat anyways). I thought it was a decent Alberta sushi. I also had surf clam sushi, which was really tougher than I would have thought. It was more like octopus than scallop. Mmmm, I love scallops but I didn't have any that night. I also had salmon roe, which I'd had before at other places. This salmon roe however was a bit of a revelation. I loved how each orange ball burst to reveal an intense taste of the sea, quite salty. Albert also had unagi, which I didn't try any of. The final sushi Albert ordered was a salmon skin roll. It seemed to contain fried tofu and salmon skin with a bit of a sweet and salty seasoning. It seemed richest of all the sushi and was quite tasty. We also received some small spicy rolls complementary that we didn't order. I honestly don't know what was in them, but they may have triggered a touch (and just a touch) of Albert's shellfish allergy.

Conclusion: Kyoto is still my preferred Edmonton sushi restaurant, not that I've tried many. But, one thing I do wonder about is why so many sushi pieces are so large but nearly impossible to eat in multiple bites.

Long Time No See, Sorry It Was a Food Adventure

I haven't written in a while because I went to Calgary with Albert last weekend and his visit continued until Thursday. Then, I was busy preparing for a bit of a dinner party tonight. First, I'll talk about Calgary. (I actually forgot to take photos at the party, so I will take some of the leftovers. . . I'm a bad blogger).

I was really hungry (and crabby) when I got to Calgary. I'd read some good things about the Cafe in the McNally Robinson Bookstore on Chowhound. It was nearby, so I decided to go there. . . at about 5 o'clock. I ordered the pear and blue cheese salad for about $10. It came with a slice of multi grain bread, which I ate along with the entire salad. A large, late snack don't you think? Anyways, the bread was good, blue cheese is always good, the greens were fresh, and the berry vinaigrette was tasty (but I had to ask for it). The pears, well, they seemed like canned pears. That was a bit disappointing. . . of course I could be wrong. Albert had some sort of chocolaty, boozy dessert coffee while we were there. He found it too sickly sweet to finish, but should have known better perhaps.

That night, we ate at PiqNiq Bistro above the BeatNiq jazz bar. It was the fanciest meal we had. It started off with a couple of tasty little rolls with butter. They had an intriguing flavour that we argued over the source of. I was reminded slightly of winter squash. Caraway was brought up as a possibility. We moved straight to mains after that. I had the catch of the day, which was seared Ahi tuna. It came with really tasty baby potatoes, julienned vegetables, and fennel that may have been pickled. The fish though was underwhelming for the price. I heard the waitress describing it as blue rare. That would have been great. What I got was a shade under well-done in my books and many bites tasted dry. I was too timid to complain since I've never actually had seared tuna before. . . maybe I should have. Albert had
"Truffled Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Ravioli, Fresh Tomato Coulis." It included some asparagus spears as well. He said it was a playful dish and seemed to enjoy it. The best part of our meal came last with a chocolate cheesecake that we split for dessert. It was rich and creamy, chocolaty, and not too sweet. It was very, very good. Down in the jazz bar afterward, I enjoyed a most excellent Caesar in honour of Canada Day and Albert had a pint of the local brew on tap.

There's still more to talk about (and it gets better) . . . but that's all I'm going to say for now.

Fine Dining: Quarry Bistro and Wine Bar

In Canmore with my family this weekend I was looking to indulge in what makes for a good vacation in our family: physical activity followed by a lot of delicious food, because we work up an appetite. It rained on Saturday, so my "physical activity" was wandering around Canmore and through some shops before the previously mentioned pizza.

But on Sunday, we got lucky and there was some sunshine and plenty of "not raining" to go around. We hiked about 15 km at Lake Minnewanka (or Lake Willy Wonka if you're eating chocolate, which I was). Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich, an orange, and some chocolate along the trail. I took some pictures of the scenery, so here's one since I didn't take pictures of restaurant food:

Okay, so I saw some pretty mountains and worked up a monster appetite for dinner. As a result, I was the only member of my family to complete three courses.

We went to a really nice local restaurant called Quarry Bistro. It features local and organic ingredients much like the pizza place, except more formal and upscale. Of course, it never gets too formal in the mountains. Anyways, they say they specialize in French and Italian cooking, which I'd agree with.

To start with, we all shared PEI Mussels and Frites. The mussels were huge and tasty in their white wine, butter and capers. The frites were cut thin and featured some sweet potato fries, which I thought was a nice touch. I've never really discussed my love of sweet potatoes, but I really like them. The fries were topped with aioli, I'm pretty sure. That was rich and tasty and perfect for my very hungry stomach. My sister started with the soup of the day, which I think was tomato and bread. She loved the tomatoes and thought the bread was good. She also claimed the soup filled her up so she could barely eat her pasta entree. The soup did appear very thick to me.

After the mussels, we were brought some foccacia bread. I only ate a little, wanting to save room for other things, but it was really tasty with plenty of olive oil and salt on top. Anyways, they have good bread, which really I would expect.

Next up were the entrees. Before they arrived, I noticed the spectacular red Mohawk of one of the cooks through the pass. It was pretty sweet. My mom had the special which was lobster, duck confit, and (white?) beans. She ate it all I think, so it must have been good. My father and sister had Penne all'Amatriciana. It was penne with a spicy tomato sauce and bacon. My sister once again loved the tomatoes. I tried a piece of pasta and a bit of bacon and it was indeed quite tasty. Neither of them could finish the pasta, I would have expected more from my dad.

My entree gets its own paragraph, because I'm important, kidding. I had the Sooke Hills Rainbow Trout served with almond risotto and green beans. I was trying to branch out and I believe it was my first risotto and my first trout. The green beans were lightly cooked so they were still crisp and sprinkled with balsamic vinegar. The vinegar was a nice touch and I would have been sorely disappointed if the beans were overcooked. The trout, was served with the skin and was seasoned with plenty of pepper and some butter. It was really tender and tasty. I wouldn't hesitate to have rainbow trout again. The best part of my entree was the risotto. It was really soft and creamy. . . I thought it was supposed to have a bit, but like I said I've never had it before. Anyways, it was really delicious and creamy and had plenty of delicious almonds mixed in. It will not be my last risotto.

I had a glass of Italian red wine that my parents ordered with my food. It was drinkable and good and apparently from grapes grown of vineyards sloping towards the sea in Abruzzo. Anyways, as a result I was slightly drunk by the end of the meal, lightweight that I am.

So, after devouring my entire entree, I wanted a sweet treat. I knew that there was a single scoop of homemade semifreddo (ice cream) available. So I ordered that in chocolate, for a little something. This is the course I was alone in eating. Anyways, texture-wise it wasn't too spectacular. It was good but nothing like the smooth creaminess of gelato. Where it really shone was in the flavour, which was given a twist with some cinnamon. Of course I ate the whole scoop, loving it all. They're really smart to have such a small dessert on offer. I wouldn't have gone for anything larger.

Anyways, the Quarry Bistro has good food and a nice atmosphere right on Main Street in Canmore. Incidentally, I found this video on You Tube of Chef David Wyse from Quarry telling Kelly Hrudey how to make carbonara. It's kind of fun, maybe you should watch it.

Too Much Sushi

I've been to Japan, but Japanese food is not an obsession of mine, although I like it once in a while. I find it a bit. . . lacking in spice and strong flavours compared to other Asian cuisines. Anyways, I've eaten Japanese food probably 3 times in the last six weeks, thanks to my new favourite sushi restaurant.

Kyoto Japanese Cuisine on 109th Street near the University was recommended by an old friend who evidently loves sushi. My first visit was with my sister, for sushi. I had sake . . . big mistake as it was nasty stuff. To me, it was floral plus alcohol equals nail polish remover. . . or maybe hairspray. I was really impressed with the diverse dinner menu of sushi and other Japanese things. I had toro, spicy tuna, unagi, and scallop sushi. I enjoyed all of them. I especially liked the scallop, which I could not remember having before. It was very tender and I really liked the texture. The flavour was characteristically mild. I also tried the jellyfish salad, which was very tasty with a lot of sesame flavour. My sister and I split some fried squid to start with. It seemed okay.

On my second visit, I was pretty disappointed with the tempura in my tempura udon. I ordered it because my throat was sore. The broth and noodles hit the spot, but the tempura were too greasy. . . I know they're fried but still. They weren't fried well.

So, on my third visit with my mom, we avoided fried foods. We also ordered way too much. The yakitori (grilled chicken skewers), were unremarkable as the sauce lacked flavour. We both agreed that this was the element that should have been left out of the order. We also had meat gyoza (dumplings). To me, they were a bit bland. But my mom liked them as she's a dumpling fan and I still ate three even though I was stuffed. We tried some special salads. I had the Kyoto one and she had the seafood one. I enjoyed the presence of salad greens in an otherwise nearly vegetable matter free meal. My salad had four large pieces of barely seared (ie nearly raw) fish and some black fish roe. For sushi, I had scallop, salmon, and baby tako (baby octopus). Scallop and salmon were good as expected. The baby tako was quite striking in appearance with two reddish purple baby tako on each roll. They were difficult to eat delicately due to their size. However, the tako was very tender and not too chewy. All in all, it was a very good meal. My mom seemed to enjoy her spicy tuna rolls and unagi. I challenge anyone not to like unagi. Seriously, barbecued eel is good. Now I definitely know where to go for sushi, if not for Japanese fried food.

In Japan, I went to one sushi restaurant of the rotating-sushi-track variety. I don't remember what I ate except for some rolls topped with clear, colourless worm-like things with black eyes that I was told were baby eels. I ate them even though it was a roll that my Japanese host family wouldn't touch. I was a crazy eater even at 15.