Poached Halibut with Mornay Sauce

If you haven't noticed, I'm still working my way through all that fish I've got! This is another one from "Just for the Halibut," but I've taken a few liberties myself. It came out absolutely delicious!

Poached Halibut

Ingredients
3 c water
1/3 c white wine
1/3 c chicken stock
1 t rosemary
1 t sage
halibut fillet

Blend the first five ingredients in a pot or large skillet and bring to a boil. Simmer for about five minutes before adding the halibut. The broth should just cover the fillet. Return to a boil, then cover and lower heat to simmer for roughly 10 minutes per inch of thickness. Carefully remove with spatula.

Mornay Sauce

Ingredients
2 T butter
2 T flour
1/2 c chicken stock
1/2 c half and half
Worcestershire sauce
cayenne
1/4 c fresh grated Parmesan and asiago cheese
salt
pepper

Melt the butter in a saucepan until frothy. Stir in the flour until smooth and bubbly. Add the stock and simmer until thickened and smooth. Stir in the half and half and, continuing to stir constantly, add a dash of Worcestershire and cayenne. Blend in the cheese and once it has melted add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over fish.

Seafood Chowder

What's better on a cloudy day (or any day, really), than a cup of nice hot chowder? Thick and creamy, stuffed full of clam, crab, and halibut, this has finally satisfied my craving. Now all I need is bread bowls! Props to Circle of Food for providing the base for this chowder.

Ingredients
4 slices bacon
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 small onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 slice of jalapeno

6 small red potatoes, cubed

3 cans (6.5 oz) clams
4 oz crab meat
1/2 lb halibut, cut into chunks

2 T butter
1 1/2 T flour
2 cans clam juice*
2 c half and half

salt, pepper, cayenne

Preheat oven to 350. Wrap the potato cubes in tin foil and set in the oven. Saute the first 5 ingredients in a pot until the bacon begins to crisp. Remove and set aside. In the same pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and cook until bubbly. Add in the juice drained from one can of clams, stirring well. Once this has blended, stirring constantly, add the half and half and the juice from a second can of clams. Add the vegetable and bacon mix back to the pot, along with the seafood and potatoes from the oven. Season to taste and simmer at least 30 minutes longer. Remove the jalapeno before serving.

Halibut with Orange Sauce

I hadn't intended to blog this tonight. It was meant to just be an experiment, so I didn't pay much attention to plating. However, after the first bite just melted in my mouth, I knew I couldn't wait!

This recipe comes from the "Just for the Halibut" cookbook by Nanci A. Morris.

Ingredients

1/2 c orange juice
2 green onions, chopped
1 T lemon juice
1 T oil
1/4 t ground ginger
1/8 t salt
1 1/2 lbs halibut chunks
2 T oil
seasoned flour (flour, salt, pepper)

Combine first six ingredients. Marinate the halibut in this for 30 minutes. Gently coat the halibut in the seasoned flour. Saute in 2 T oil until cooked, approximately 10 minutes per inch of thickness. Remove halibut and keep warm. Add the marinade to the skillet and simmer until liquid is reduced by half. Pour over the halibut and serve!

White Wine Halibut and Risotto

I've had a friend visiting me here in Alaska and yesterday we took a halibut fishing charter. The sport catch limit is currently two per day - three of our four were smallish, but the other was pretty darned big! So I now have a freezer full of halibut. To celebrate, I made my signature white wine halibut, but jazzed it up with my first attempt at a risotto.

White Wine Halibut

Ingredients
1/4 c white wine
1 T oil
1 t oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 lb halibut, cut into two steaks
salt and pepper
zucchini, sliced
lemon, sliced

Preheat oven to 400. Mix the first four ingredients together. Set aside. Line a pan with foil. Rub the halibut gently with salt and pepper and place in this pan. Layer zucchini and lemon slices on top of the halibut, then pour the wine mix over the fish. Bake 15 minutes or until flaky.

White Wine Risotto

Ingredients
4 1/2 c chicken stock
1/4 c white wine (warm)
1 1/2 c rice
2 T oil
dash of garlic, onion, rosemary
1 T lemon juice

Set the stock to simmer in a pot. Meanwhile, saute the garlic, onion, and rosemary in the oil in a pan. Add rice and saute about 2 minutes or until translucent. Add one ladle of the stock to the rice, stirring constantly until absorbed. Continue to add the stock in ladle fulls, stirring. Once the stock is absorbed, add the wine and stir until absorbed. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

Peach Muffins

Yesterday was the first day of the weekend fair downtown. Of course I had to attend, if for nothing other than to get some corn fritters with honey butter. Eating corn fritters is very thirsty work though, so I let myself be talked into buying some very large, incredibly juicy white-meat peaches. After eating my fill, I realized that they were so ripe they'd go bad soon. The solution? Muffins!

Recipe based off of allrecipes.com


Ingredients
3 c flour
1 T ground cinnamon
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/4 c vegetable oil OR 1 c applesauce and 1/4 c oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 c sugar
3 large white peaches, peeled, pitted, and chopped
1/2 c dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 400 and line muffin tin with cups. Mix together flour, spices, soda, and salt. Stir in oil, eggs, and sugar. Gently fold in the peaches and cranberries. Spoon into muffin tin. Bake ~25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before turning onto tray to cool completely.

No-Knead Bread

I got this recipe from a great friend. Hands down, it is the easiest, best bread ever. I had to learn to make it to appease my husband - unfortunately, he was witness only to my early attempts (note: yeast can die), but armed with fresh yeast I have achieved success!

No-knead bread
From Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery via Magnifico!

Ingredients

3 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for dusting

¼ teaspoon instant yeast OR 1/3 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 5/8 cups water (aka 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons)

1¼ teaspoons salt
1/4 c Italian herb mix

If using active dry yeast, wake up the yeast by mixing it with 2 tablespoons warm (about 105 degrees) water and letting it stand for about 5 minutes. Combine flour, herbs and salt in a large bowl and add 1 1/2 cups of water and yeast mixture. If using instant yeast, combine flour, yeast, herbs and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water.

Stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.

Lightly flour parchment paper and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with and inverted bowl or plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Generously coat a dry cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Dump dough onto towel (using a bench scraper to help, if necessary). Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball by pulling the sides up to the top. Quickly roll the dough over so it is resting seam-side down on the towel and dust with more flour. Cover with another dry cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. If the lid has a handle, remove it. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

It's BBQ time!

It's summer... what's more perfect than BBQ? Now, I will preface this by saying THIS IS NOT REAL BBQ!!!!

That said, not all of us are fortunate enough to either live where real BBQ can be procured or to have the time and materials needed to create it ourselves. Seeing as I live in Alaska and work, I have none of these things. So I go the easy route - but it's a pretty good alternative!

Ingredients

Meat - chicken breasts or a nice piece of pork
BBQ sauce - your choice, two bottles
Bacon
Starch - either a good roll or a baked potato

Toss the meat and one bottle of sauce into the crock pot. Cook on low 4-6 hours or until the meat is tender enough to shred. Cut the bacon into small slices and saute in a skillet. Add the shredded meat and more sauce to taste. Saute meat and bacon together to caramelize the sauce, then serve over your choice of starch.