You asked for it "Grilled Lemon pepper Salmon"

Michele,who is a blogger pal for 4 years now had this to say to me recently “you can still take a picture of food and make it irresistible to the viewer. I’ll have to scroll and see if you have a fun and 'doable' recipe for Salmon. My kids are picky and I'm trying to get them to eat fish. So far, it's not working. But I keep trying because fish is so healthy!”

Thanks a ton Michele and not a problem at all :)I grew up eating a lot of fish and it’s an integral part of my diet.So a quick and doable salmon recipe is child's play for me. Some of you who are not into salmon ,must wonder ”what's the big deal??” Well,salmon is packed with Omega 3 fatty acids,amino acids and other minerals which make it perfect in every way.Lets talk some benefits, shall we?
•Muscles, Tissues, Enzymes, Hormones etc
•Cardio-Vascular Health
•Metabolism
•Eye Care
•Brain & Nerves. Read some more here.

Beauty benefits:(ladies do I have your attention now:)?
•helps improve the production of collagen, keratin and melanin.
•prevents dry skin patches
•prevents wrinkles :))Is that reason enough??
•boost's the skin's ability to retain water.
•improves skin texture and adds luster to eyes, skin, hair and nails. More here.

Are we still thinking ??? OK, in that case,lets go to a recipe ,that should surely convert you.Iam going to start with a easy-breezy recipe for salmon .I call it the Grilled Lemon-pepper salmon

You need
4 Alaskan salmon steaks
For marinade
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1.5 teaspoon lemon juice
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

This is how you make it
Mix all ingredients of the marinate and pour over the salmon steaks. Cover and let the steaks absorb the marinade for about 10-15 minutes. You are now ready to grill the fish. Place the marinated fish on the grill and let it cook(you could pan fry it, bake,broil it,cook it in foil,whichever technique works for you). If the steaks are thin you could do each side for about 2 minutes and if they are thick , let them cook for about 4 minutes each. Be careful not to move or turn the fish too much ,as it could becomes really soft on cooking and disintegrate.

Garnish with lemon wedges, a sprig of cilantro and serve with salad, steamed vegetables, with rice or as is. Check out another of my salmon recipes here.



Grilled Lemon Pepper Salmon

Hope you and your kids like this one, Michele :)

Tilapia with wild rice

Fish and rice are wonderful ...I love fish and always look to making fish in different ways -baked, broiled, poached, fried , cooked in foil ...different herbs, marinades etc .Ofcourse there's always so many different kinds of fish availabe to choose from-salmon, tilapia, sea bass, catfish, mahi mahi, snapper, cod ..the list goes on and on .

This time I chose Tilapia..which is a fresh water fish and takes on new flavors easily .Tilapia species are native to Africa and the Levant (for example the sea of Galilee, where according to legend Jesus used it to feed the 5000, resulting in the nickname St. Peter's fish).

Wild rice also called Indian Rice, Water Rice, or Water Oats is considered a delicacy, has long been an important food of North American Indians and wild rice is not related to, related to rice (Oryza sativa). I once ate cornish hen with wild rice and was inspired to cook it more often or atleast try it a couple of times . So without further ado , lets start cooking .

You need
2 tilapia fillets !
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil for marinade
Olive oil to pan fry
black pepper
salt to taste
chopped corriander

1 cup wild rice
3 cups water or chicken broth
salt to taste
seasoning to taste (Maggi Chicken Flavored Bouillon )

This is how you make it
Marinate the tilapia fillets in olive oil and lemon juice. Add salt ,black pepper , chopped corriander and set aside for 15-20 minutes.

Cooking the rice
Wash 1 cup uncooked wild rice thoroughly. Add to 3 cups boiling water or chicken stock(I use chicken stock for extra flavor) , salted and seasoned to taste(add maggi chicken seasoning according to taste), in a saucepan. Return water to boil and stir. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 50-60 minutes or just until kernals puff open. Uncover and fluff with table fork. This will give you 3-4 cups of cooked wild rice.

Now , heat some olive oil or any other oil in the pan and pan fry the fish so that the it turns brown on both sides and flaky .Take care not to move the fish in the pan or it will break .

Your tilapia is now ready. Serve it on top of a bed of fragrant wild rice. Add salsa for that extra zing and enjoy .

Pasta with catfish

I have found Pasta to be so versatile, there seems to be no end to the ways one can cook with pasta .And the types of pasta is a post or many by itself . On a busy work day with my fridge almost bare of anything , I found a couple of catfish fillets and some pasta and sundried tomotoes .After a minute or two of reflection this is what I came up with ...

You need
2 catfish fillets chopped into 1 inch cubes
1 tbsp lemon juice
olive oil to fry
salt to taste
red pepper to taste
3 tbsp julienned sun dried tomatoes
1/4 pound pasta (any shape will do)
1/2 a cup chicken stock
1/2 onion thinly sliced( we get big onions here)
1 tsp chopped garlic
Basil to garnish

This is how you make it
Marinate the catfish cubes in olive oil and lemon juice. Add salt and red pepper and set aside for 15-20 minutes. After that, fry the marinated pieces of fish in olive oil till they are brown and firm .take care not to burn them .Set aside
In the meantime cook pasta . On a seperate pan , fry the sliced onion with garlic , once the onion is soft add the chicken stock and let it boil and then turn the heat down .Now add the julienned tomatoes and toss the cooked pasta into the pan.Add salt and pepper to taste and now add the cooked peices of fish.

Mix everything thoroughly and garnish with basil leaves . Serve with white wine and salad and enjoy :-)

Grilled Salmon with steamed vegetables

yeah ..healthy ,yummy and fast to cook..loaded with omega 3 fatty acids...

the vegetables(mushrooms, carrots, spinach , zucchini ,onion and yellow bell paper) were steamed and the salmon was marinated in olive oil and seasoned with salt,pepper , lemon and some "special masala "I have :-)

Enjoy !!

Rock Fish fillet in Red Curry

Last evening I did'nt feel like eating fish grilled or the Indian way ,so I decided to go Thai.And cooked some Rock fish in thai red curry.

Cooking the curry :
This involves dicing rock fish fillets in medium sized cubes .Diced a large red onion into cubes and chopped soem baby carrots.Heated some sesame oil to which I added a couple of dried red chillies and then sauted the vegetables.When the veggies were a little soft added the fish cubes ,salt,red pepper flakes ,black pepper and some fish sauce .When the Veggies and fish were almost cooked ,added some thai red curry paste to which I had added coconut milk .Simmered the vegetables in sauce for a little while and there you go.

Cooking the Rice :
The rice that I cooked to accompany the fish curry was'nt the traditional jasmine rice but long grained basmati rice .For this ,I heated some ghee(clarified butter) and then added Nigella seeds(kalonji),whole red chillies and a couple of bay leaves .Added water and salt and then when the water was hot and bubbling , added the rice .And then cooked the rice on slow heat till it was done.



The fish in red curry



Fish curry and rice

Doi Maach

And so I continue with more "fishy" recipes.This one is called Doi maach ...and I love it .I do a quick version and sometimes a slow version.The slow version is obviously more labor intensive .One can use catfish, seabass, halibut fillets or any other that are available.

the recipe usually involves marinating the fish fillets in a mixture of ginger ,cumin,red pepper,salt, corriander powder,turmeric etc etc in yogurt..The rest can be discussed in any one wants to know(wink!!)

Enjoy:-)

Pyaaz Maach

I will continue to cover more items from bengali cuisine and then move to another region of India or perhaps the world .

Meanwhile , this is pyaaz maach( fish cooked in spicy onion gravy) .I enjoy this particularly because its hot and real spicy.I put a different spin on it sometimes by adding a little bit of tomato and that enhances the flavor .

Enjoy !!