Adult Thumb Print Cookies

With dinner there must be dessert. I've been craving thumb print cookies lately so I decided to make Dorie Greenspan's adult thumb print cookies. Let's just say the cookies were such a hit that he could have eaten them all in one sitting. This is a keeper and I'd definitely make it again. Finely ground hazelnuts in the dough really help to give that extra "oomph"

Thai Style Fish Stew

With all the fish I had I had to figure out how to eat it all. I decided to make a Thai Style Fish stew. It may not have been completely authentic but it sure was really tasty and it helped to use up many of the items in the fridge. The fish stew was spicy and sour at the same time, yet also savory.

Fish Stock
Head, Tail, bones from fish
3 stalks of celery
8 qt of water
1 whole onion, chopped
1 T whole peppercorns
3 bay leaves

Fish Stew
1 fillet of firm white fish
2 stalks of lemon grass
1 lime
1/3 can of coconut milk
cherry tomatoes
zucchini
1 T fish sauce
3 jalapenos, chopped

Begin by making the fish sauce. Boil all of the ingredients for the fish stock together for 45 minutes. Strain the mixture through a cheese cloth.

Boil 3 quarts of the fish stock in a separate pot. Add the juice of the lime and the jalapenos. Bruise the lemon grass stocks, chop them in half, and add to the fish stock mixture. Next add in the zucchini and bring to a boil. Add the coconut milk and cherry tomatoes. Salt and cut the fish fillet into pieces. Once the fish stock soup has come to a boil, add the fish fillet pieces and simmer for 3 minutes or until fish has cooked.

Voila, a satisfying meal that can be served with rice or noodles. I opted for noodles.

A Monster Fish

Yesterday I blogged about filleting my own fish for the first time. What I failed to mention is that I also bought an 8 lb fish that I cleaned too. Here's a picture of what an 8 lb fish looks like:

Adventures with Fish

This past weekend I decided to take on a new challenge: fish. I've bought fish pre-cleaned for me or simply the fillets. What I have never done is cleaned a fish on my own or done anything with it that requries me to actually cut the fish (other than scoring it.) I watched a YouTube video on how to fillet a fish and looked really easy. The guy said all I needed was a sharp filleting knife and I'd be all set. Check. Filleting knife is one of the many knives that I have in my knife block so all I needed to do was practice on a fish.

I bought a whole fish that was previously live, squirming and all. I did ask the fish monger to kill it since that is one part that I'm still a bit squeamish about -- it's a 6lb fish flapping around and a bit intimidating to do in my small kitchen.

I was able to successfully fillet the fish and, in the end, I got to be pretty good about it. I got faster since I started to know what to expect and I ended up being really proud of myself. I filleted a 6 lb ling cod and cooked it up for dinner. Mmm.. I put a miso glaze on it and it was quickly consumed during the meal.

My lesson is that filleting a fish isn't that hard and is something anyone could do. It's no harder than cutting up some beef for a stir fry. I even went so far as to clean the fish's guts so that I could use it to make fish stock. Tomorrow's dinner will be fish stock-based. ^_^

Where's the beef?

Hamburgers are one of those sinful foods that you try not to eat too much of but, because it is the summer, we find ourselves eating more hamburgers than normal. Hamburgers taste great on the grill and are quick and easy to make. I love my beef hamburgers. You don't need to add too much seasonings to make it taste good. There really is no such thing as messing up on a beef hamburger.

Because the supermarket had turkey on sale, I decided to try to make a turkey burger. I've never been a fan of turkey except at Thanksgiving when I can have slices of the breast or thigh so I had some pretty dubious doubts about the turkey burger. I figured if the turkey burger turned out horrendous we could always make an impromptu trip to have some takeout for dinner.

To my surprise, the turkey burger turned out really well. I threw just about every single seasoning in the kitchen I could find into it and it was delicious. It was flavorful, moist, and left me craving more. I'll add the turkey burger to the repertoire of recipes and make it again.

Turkey Burger
20 oz ground turkey
2 T olive oil
minced cilantro
minced shallots
cayenne pepper
paprika
salt
pepper
seasoned salt
rosemary
thyme

Mix everything together, form patties, and cook the burgers for 7 minutes on each side.

There is no such thing as over seasoning a turkey burger because the turkey itself is pretty flavorless. Add in whatever seasonings you have in the pantry.