I simply love the site sardine society. It is fully dedicated to the noble, cheap and widely available canned sardine, and all-things canned-sardine related. What a great way to honor these humble, delicious and prolific fish.

patê de sardinha AKA sardine paté

Sardines have a wonderful flavor, are inexpensive and are a rich source of protein. Yet they always seem to struggle under the “canned fish” stigma: too smelly, too fishy, too unrefined, etc. Well, that’s too bad. And rather silly, too. I eat them straight from the can with pleasure all the time. Cooking with them is also marvelous. And don’t even get me started about fresh sardines! Out of this world!

Marcia, a friend of mine back when I lived in Brazil, used to make this patê de sardinha often. She and her husband bought a house and chunk of land in a remote, scenic area nearby a recently constructed damn in the State of São Paulo. They invited friends over to spend weekends and help with the up-keep of the place. In return we had a nice place to stay and a chance to escape from the city during the summer. Since we always got there late and hungry, Marcia always made her sardine paté to tide us over until dinner. We would enjoy it with French bread and lots of cold Brazilian beer. Delish.

patê de sardinha AKA sardine paté

1 can oil packed sardines, drained
4 tbsp finely chopped white onion
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp black pepper
Few drops of hot sauce (sriracha)
3 tbsp vegenaise
½ tsp French mustard
2 tbsp ketchup
Juice of ½ lime
Bread slices

Put all ingredients (except bread) in a bowl and mash with a fork until relatively smooth, cover and refrigerate for about half an hour. Transfer paté to a serving bowl. Eat with any bread of your preference.

Moqueca is a delicious fish stew traditional to the beautiful and sunny state of Bahia in Brazil. Seafood there is of excellent quality. In Bahia this dish is named moqueca but outside we call it moqueca baiana. I think I’ve actually been biased toward moqueca capixaba, a lighter version popular in the neighboring state of Espírito Santo, just to the south. Perhaps the reason is simply because I have a couple of dear friends who live in ES. In Bahia, one only eats moqueca Baiana; and in Espírito Santo, moqueca capixaba. Truly, both are delicious.

moqueca baiana AKA Bahian fish stew

Traditional moqueca baiana is made without paprika or shrimp paste. I decided to use these two alien ingredients for enhanced flavors and more color vibrancy. But this doesn’t make this a lesser a moqueca in any way. At times, Bahian foods remind me of South East Asian dishes or even things made in Louisiana. See here and here.

I purchased the dendê oil (palm oil) from the outrageously expensive Rainbow Foods Supermarket in San Francisco. It was Colombian, not Brazilian, but has an identical flavor. Actually, I had to go to several shops before I could locate it, so thank heavens for Rainbow. It was their last jar of the stuff.

I’ve had moqueca baiana many times but never actually made it at home, so this was a very exiting experience for me. I hope that you enjoy it as well.

some key ingredients for moqueca baiana AKA Bahian fish stew

my organic palm oil

moqueca baiana AKA Bahian fish stew

2½ lbs skinless thick pieces of wild caught ling cod, cut in ~6 inch steaks
½ lb medium sized wild caught shrimp; shelled, deveined and chopped
1 lb ripe heirloom tomatoes, skin removed, cut into chunks
½ bunch cilantro
4 scallions, green and white parts chopped
¼ cup coconut milk
2 tbsp dendê oil (palm oil)
¾ tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp shrimp paste (belakan)
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin rings
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin rings
1 white onion, diced small
2 limes
5 cloves garlic, crushed
Freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt to taste
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 red chili pepper, seeds and ribs removed, sliced thinly

Rinse fish in cold water; pat dry with paper towel. Place in a dish. Squeeze juice of 1 lime over it. Add equivalent of 3 cloves of garlic, followed by salt and a sprinkle of black pepper. Let it marinate for about ½ hour, in the fridge if too hot. In blustery San Francisco, I just let it chill on my kitchen counter.

Rinse shrimp in cold water; pat dry with paper towel. Place in a small bowl. Squeeze juice of second lime, add salt, black pepper, equivalent of one garlic clove, cover and let it marinate next to the cod fish.

Using a large and wide cooking pan, add dendê oil and onion. Bring temperature to high and cook for a few minutes just to sweat the onion, add remaining garlic, peppers, belakan, paprika, sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir everything together. Cover the pan and cook for about 3 minutes on high heat. Stir to avoid burning. Add tomatoes and cook until they collapse. Remove 1/3 of partially stewed vegetables to a bowl. Add fish steaks with juices to pan. Top with reserved stewed veggies. Cover and continue cooking vigorously on high heat for another 10 minutes. Carefully flip the fish half way through.

Uncover and scatter spring onion and ½ of the cilantro over fish followed by the shrimp with juices. Cook for another minute. Carefully mix in coconut milk and remaining cilantro. Adjust flavors with more salt and pepper if needed. Serve with white jasmine rice and extra wedges of lime.

One of the best things about visiting friends and family is… well, eating of course. Our recent holiday trip to Washington D. C. and Northern Virginia was no exception. Aside from a delightful lunch at the very chic Spanish style tapas place, Estadio, we were happily taken to an amazing seafood shop, literally floating off a pier in Washington: Main Avenue Fish Market.

Sea...

Main Avenue Fish Market, Washington, D. C.

Hegui had agreed to prepare paella with lobster for our Christmas Eve meal at his niece’s place. Wes and Juliana knew exactly where to go for the freshest fish. Plus Wes wanted live oysters as part of the holiday feast. So on our first day in the Nation’s Capital, jet-lag and all, we drove across the Potomac by the Pentagon (Wes and Juliana live in Virginia) to Main Avenue, under the Freeway.

Taylor Seafood and the Freeway overpass

the crew in front of Pruitt's Seafood. See the Freeway overpass?

crowds of seafood shoppers throng the pier

Wikipedia says that this popular local seafood market, all on barges, is the oldest of its kind in the entire U.S. It used to be housed in an actual building, but that was razed in the 1960’s as part of urban renewal. The vendors protested and through some legal wrangling, were able to move the market to the barges. There are numerous “shops” floating around the pier. I was particularly drawn to Captain White’s Seafood City probably because I thought their signage was the most visually stimulating.

Captain White’s Seafood City

busy at work cleaning crab

frisky blue crabs

conchs and oysters

numerous kinds of fish

Everyone seemed to have tons of blue crab on sale. I love that and daresay prefer it over Dungeness, the common variety available in San Francisco, though perhaps in the spirit of the season, I should write, “They’re just different.” There were lots of fish of various shapes and sizes, shrimp, unusual shellfish like live conch, and of course oysters by the bushel. Wes bought four dozen. Hegui got a four or five pound lobster plus clams and other things for the paella. We took a bunch of pics and trotted home for a nap then some holiday revelry.

Wes and Juliana

a happy holiday shopper heading for home

Now we're ready to go home

our holiday lobster paella

The lobster paella was a huge success! And I was amazed about the oyster shuck experience. Really they’re not hard to open—at least in theory. All you must do is hold the oyster firmly in one hand (with a thick glove of course, these babies are slippery) and using the pointy shucking tool, wedge it into the area where the shells hinge, then slowly and very firmly twist until the joint pops. That’s it. I think it takes practice, as I tired out after only a few. But Wes is a champ! He shucked two or three dozen right there and we had the rest the following afternoon at my parents for Christmas dinner. He even taught my sixteen year old nephew, Matt, the art.

Wes demonstrating his oyster shucking magic

this is the easy way to shuck an oyster

here I am trying to shuck some oyster

Last November when Devaki from the beautiful blog, Weave of a Thousand Flavors, came to San Francisco, we took her to one of our favorite restaurants in town, the Slated Door. That visit, we tried a dish that I had not had before: deep fried whole branzino served on a bed of a thick sweet-and-sour sauce. Thanks Chef Charles Phan! This fish was ultra fresh, fried to perfection, crisp on the outside with a yummy flesh inside. Mmmm!!! We (me) actually ate everything, bones and cheeks included, and wiped the sauce off the plate with our fingers. Delish!

fried red snapper with tamarind date sauce

my tamarind date sauce on the side

So this is my attempt to reproduce the dish at home. The branzino at Sun Fat was farm raised in Greece, so instead I bought wild caught red snapper from the Pacific. Much better.

The sauce from the restaurant, as I recall, was a simple combination of tamarind concentrate and spices. I think that my version’s close. I used a mix of tamarind concentrate and a tamarind-date chutney I found at a local Indian market. The list of chutney ingredients includes tamarind concentrate, dates, salt, sugar, chili and black peppers. Just the thought of it makes my mouth pucker happily lol

We served this for New Year’s Eve with fragrant herbed basmati polow.

tamarind concentrate and tamarind date chutney

fried red snapper with tamarind date sauce

2 red snappers weighing about 2½ lbs each, cleaned
rice flour for dusting
Kosher salt
black pepper
oil for frying
slices of cucumber
lime wedges

for tamarind date sauce:

4 tbsp tamarind paste
3 tbsp tamarind date chutney

Rinse and dry fish, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dust in rice flour and fry it in hot oil for about 8 minutes on each side or until crisp. Remove from pan to a dish covered with paper towels to drain any excess oil. I served the tamarind date sauce on the side after I got worried that the guests might not like it. My original idea was to drizzle the fish with the sauce. Silly me because we all loved it! This was another great tasting and satisfying meal.

sesame and onion seed crusted sword fish with buckwheat soba and chard sauté

I know eating swordfish is supposed to be naughty. But per our fish monger, this one was line caught off the coast of California. So that’s good. It looked super fresh with that beautiful seafood aroma and so after listening to his explanation he convinced me. I lost my guilt and purchased 3 steaks for our dinner party. The whole dinner had a Japanese, South East Asian flair to it. It is pretty easy to make and delicious.

sesame and onion seed crusted sword fish with buckwheat soba and chard sauté

for the fish:

3 swordfish steaks or other similar fish steaks of your preference
1 tbsp sesame seeds (or more)
¾ tbsp black onion seeds (or more)
Lime juice
Nori strips (edible seaweed strips)
Olive oil

the noodles:

buckwheat soba noodles for 4 people cooked per package instructions, rinsed and kept warm

for the veggies:

1 bunch Swiss chard, leaves roughly torn
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil

for the sauce:

1 clove garlic grated into paste
1 tsp fresh ginger grated into paste
1 tsp chile garlic paste
3 tbsp soy sauce (or more)
¾ tbsp rice vinegar
¼ tsp sugar
¾ tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 whole scallions, sliced

Prepare the sauce mixing all the ingredients together, except for the scallions. Taste it and adjust flavors. It should be bold a bit salty, tangy, smoky, sweet and spicy. Drop in scallions then set aside.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Put chard in and cook for about three minutes. Drain and squeeze as much water as possible from it. Add olive oil to a skillet, then garlic and cook until garlic is aromatic. Add chard and cook for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle with some salt and black pepper. Transfer to a bowl, keeping it warm.

Rinse and pat dry fish steaks with a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. Mix seeds together and sprinkle on both sides of steaks. Using the same skillet, add a tad of olive oil, bring temperature to medium high, add sword fish steaks and cook for 3 minutes on each side (if your pan is too small do it in batches). Remove from pan and let rest for a couple of minutes, keeping it warm. Cut into bit size strips. Squeeze a few drops of lime juice over the fish.

Place soba noodles on a serving platter. Toss with sauce. Top with sautéed chard, then the fish, nori and serve.

This is our recipe for the biryani cook-off that the delightful Heavenly was so good to sponsor. Though after making this marvelous, complex dish; I’m starting to think that she might have been misnamed, as it appears that a tiny bit of a devilish streak lies hidden among all that domestic goodness and glamour. Have you ever seen one of those cartoons with the good angel and the bad angel sitting on the main character’s shoulders, giving opposite confusing advice? Then you know where I’m coming from here.

fish biryani

Okay I always promise myself whenever I’m about to cook Indian that I’ll get the spices out first, so I don’t get mixed up or forget anything, then proceed to the actual cooking adventure. But no, I didn’t do that again! Perhaps that was my evil angel’s counsel. I got dizzy from relentlessly having to go back and forth to the pantry and spinning the lazy-susan over and over and over again to locate the next needed spice for this dish. How funny that now that we have a new kitchen with a dedicated place for spices, I still find myself unable to find anything. I hope that one day they add some computerized artificial intelligence with a soothing voice to kitchen cabinets that will both find anything that I want via verbal-command and will calm me with his/her flattery and encouragement as I freak out at the stovetop. Then no more getting lost in the aromatic black hole I call my spice cabinet.

spice chaos as I look for ingredients for fish biryani

I must confess I think I have never made a dish that was so complicated. Lots of steps! I quite liked the result, but this was an effort. I am going to test the recipe again using spices in different proportions. I feel sure each time it will come out tasting slightly differently, so I can mix it up some. I’m excited to read about everyone else’s versions in the cook-off. You should be too. Follow these links for the other “contestants’” biryani masterpieces.

Heavenly Housewife from donuts to delirium
Vanessa from sweet artichoke
Glamorous Glutton
moinetteTeczcape: An Escape to Food
Laura from healthyjalapeno

fish biryani

Make Masala powder first. See below for recipe.

toasting the spices for the Masala powder

for the rice:

2 cup basmati rice
1 bay leaf
2 inch piece of cinnamon stick
Few peppercorns
¼ tsp kosher salt

Soak rice in plenty of water for about one hour. Drain. Place rice in a saucepan with 5 cups of water. Drop in salt, bay leaf, pepper corn, and parboil the rice for about 10 minutes. Do not overcook it! Drain and set aside.

for the fish:

1 lb monkfish cut into individual pieces, or any other firm white fish
Juice of 1 lemon
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp Masala powder*
1tsp coriander powder
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tsp kosher salt

Make a paste by mixing lemon juice, garlic and ginger paste, salt and powders. Rub on fish pieces and marinate for about ½ hour. Keep it refrigerated if your kitchen gets too hot.

gently poaching the monkfish in the Masala sauce

for the Masala sauce:

1 large onion, cut into thin half moon slices
4 ripe tomatoes, peeled and cubed
2 Serrano peppers, minced, ribs and seeds partially removed
½ bunch cilantro, chopped
A few mint leaves, julienned
1 tsp Aleppo pepper
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp fresh garlic paste
1 tsp fresh ginger paste
2 tbsp Masala powder *
1 bay leaf
1 tsp ajwain seeds
1 tsp black peppercorn
½ tsp allspice powder
¼ tsp clove powder
¼ tsp onion seeds
1½ cups plain yogurt
2 tbsp canola oil
A few strands saffron
1 tsp sugar

Add oil to a large skillet followed by onion and minced Serrano pepper. Cook until onion becomes wilted and translucent. Push onion to the side of skillet. Add ginger and garlic pastes, ajwain seeds, bay leaf, black peppercorn, Aleppo pepper, Masala powder, turmeric, allspice and clove powder, saffron, onion seeds, sugar and cook until raw smells dissipate. Add tomato, stir everything together and cook until tomatoes begin to dissolve. Mix yogurt with half cup of water and fold into the sauce. Carefully lay fish pieces over the Masala sauce, cover pan and cook on medium heat for about 8 minutes. Mix in cilantro and mint leaves.

At this point heat up the oven to 450F.

ready to layer the baking dish with rice and fish

several layers of rice and fish to form my biryani

*for the Masala powder for fish

5 whole cloves
4 green cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks ~3 inch each
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin leaves
1 bay leaf
½ tsp grated nutmeg
1 tbsp ground coriander

Place cloves, cardamom, fennel and bay leaf in a saucepan; put it over burner over high heat. Dry roast spices for a few minutes until aromatic, being careful not to burn it. Transfer to a coffee grinder and pulverize. Mix in ground nutmeg and coriander. (My coriander was already ground, if you have seeds use them instead).

to assemble the fish biryani:

Using an oven-proof baking dish with a cover, assemble the biryani with one layer of rice, followed by a layer of fish masala, and finish with the remaining Masala sauce. Repeat so you end up with three or four layers of all ingredients. Cover and bake for about 30 minutes. The rice will finish cooking in the masala sauce without becoming overly cooked. Remove from oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

If you haven’t had enough fish biryani yet, look here, here and here for other related versions.

I was in a pancake mood the other day. For breakfast we dined on delicious buttermilk pancakes with syrup and the works. And come dinner-time, it was all about savory pancakes for a Korean inspired meal.

scallion and shrimp pancakes

Steven and I were chatting about the remarkable two-kinds-of-pancakes-in-one-day while I flipped these scallion and shrimp beauties for the last time before serving. It is so fun to make pancakes, don’t you think? What a great evening! I find cooking pancakes very relaxing. Plus it never hurts that they taste wonderfully fresh and good. I adapted the recipe from my new darling cookbook, The Kimchi Chronicles. See this link, and that one for more great ideas from the book.

Actually I’ve made scallion pancakes before using a Vietnamese recipe. The original version of this one calls for oysters, which I omitted in place of shrimp.

scallion and shrimp pancakes

2 cups unbleached flour
¼ cup rice flour
2 tsp coarse salt
2¼ cups cold water
1 cup scallions, roughly chopped
8 shrimp, peeled, veins removed, cut into bit size pieces
Canola oil

Place flours and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add water and whisk again until smooth and lumps dissolve. Fold in scallion and shrimp.

Place a couple of non stick pans over hot burners. Add ½ tbsp of oil to each, bring temperature to medium high. Swirl pans to coat. Add one ladle of batter to each pan, making sure scallion and shrimp are distributed evenly. Cook for about 6 minutes, flipping half way through. Pancakes will caramelize a bit on surface. Serve it as it or with a soy pepper based dipping sauce, or perhaps a Vietnamese dipping sauce.

This yummy recipe comes from The Kimchi Chronicles by Marja Vongerichten, a marvelous and very accessible Korean cookbook. Marja writes that she learned this recipe from her husband, who apparently first discovered it on a visit to a small island off the southern coast of Korea, called Jeju.

Korean kimchi seafood bouillabaisse AKA haemul jeongol

I love bouillabaisse-style seafood soups with flavorful clear broths, though this is not your typical one at all. This turned out lively with a powerful spicy and sour flavor. Somewhat reminiscent of Thai bouillabaisse this one does not use the aromatic herbs, galangal root, lemon grass and kafir lime leaves. But the umma paste gives it wonderful flavor.

I used store-bought kimchi this time but for the next, I want to make my own.

store-bought kimchi

Korean kimchi seafood bouillabaisse AKA haemul jeogol

3 cups chopped kimichi with juices
8 cups water
1 small onion, cut into large cubes
6 Korean radish (moo) or daikon root sliced thin, ~ 2 cups
1 bunch watercress
3 tbsp umma paste
2 tbsp fish sauce
½ tsp sugar
Salt
10 clams
10 mussels
6 shrimp
1 piece red snapper

Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan, add chopped kimichi and boil for about 5 minutes. Add moo, umma paste, fish sauce, sugar and salt and cook for 8-10 minutes. Adjust flavor with more salt, fish sauce or even umma paste. Add fish and cook for about 3 minutes. Remove fish and keep warm. Add clams and mussels and let them cook until they open. Discard unopened shells. Turn temperature to low, add shrimp, fish and watercress. Turn heat off, keep it covered until watercress has wilted and shrimp turn pink. Serve and enjoy!

umma paste ingredients

I fell in love with this Korean cookbook, The Kimchi Chronicles by Marja Vongerichten, while perusing a book shop at The Japan Center in SF recently. I adore kimchi and the book has a whole variety of recipes for them, and for banchans, those tapas style Korean side dishes. I can’t wait to try them all. I’ve made a couple delicious vegetarian kimchis before: look here, and here.

The Kimchi Chronicles has other great recipes too, including amazing sauces and pastes, many perfectly adaptable to our pescatarian diet, just like this umma paste.

Umma is a Korean style chili garlic paste. The word, “umma” is the phonetic equivalent of “mother” in Korean. So umma paste translates into mother paste. She uses this paste ubiquitously and liberally on her dishes. I made a large batch and used it in several things: first in her Korean Bouillabaisse, then on sushi rolls and finally as a flavorful spread on toast topped with a fried egg. All were delicious.

Umma paste has a uniquely bold earthy, salty, sweet, sour, spicy, umami, garlicky, funky (in a good way) flavor, which I think defines a lot of what Korean cuisine is about. This is a new addition to my top favorite hot sauces: chili garlic sauce, sriracha and harissa.

I forgot to take a decent picture of the umma paste!  Darn it.  The one that I do have is so blurry that it looks like an abstract painting in a moving car.  As such, it is bound to make you dizzy so I’ve left it out of the article.  Instead, I put a pic of the ingredients, which are quite colorful. The paste is a very deep red color and was quite thick.    

umma paste

4 large garlic cloves
3 tbsp gochugaru (Korean red pepper powder)
3 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
3 tbsp sake

Throw everything in the food processor and whiz it until all turns into a smooth puree. Scoop it out into a bowl. Use as needed.

We got the Korean ingredients at Kukje Supermarket.

Hegui and I first tried tostones in Miami Beach. This was at least ten years ago! Too long. We’ve a friend in Florida who was dating this lovely Cuban man at the time. Aside from being marvelously good-natured and pleasant company, Luis also happened to be an incredible chef. He cooked for us our entire visit, and every dish was astounding. I was most amazed by his fried plantain appetizer, tostones. He served them with two toppings: one a thick green salsa with cilantro and avocado chunks; the second, some kind of tomato-based red sauce with shrimp. I was so enchanted with this dish on our visit, that I actually bought the little wooden implement to press the plantain pieces into shape for tostones.

tostones with shrimp, poblano pepper and heirloom tomato salsa

Of course, this was the first time I ever used the device, more than a decade later. Better late than never, I guess.

I think that the plantains are supposed to be fairly green to get the crisp potato-like texture and flavor. Ours were relatively ripe. They turned a lovely golden color and became quite sweet, but didn’t crisp up at all. Not like I recall from Luis’ kitchen though very tasty nevertheless.

tostones with shrimp, poblano pepper and heirloom tomato salsa

two plantains
1 cup large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cups chopped heirloom tomatoes
½ onion, finely chopped
½ poblano, ribs and seeds removed, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp cilantro, roughly chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for frying
Lime wedges for garnish

my plantains

Peel plantains and cut into about one inch long rounds. Fry on medium high heat until they begin to color, about five minutes. Remove to a plate covered in paper towels. Let cool then gently press into round disks.

first round of frying the plantains

plantains after the first frying

Return to oil and fry on higher heat to crisp them. Remove from oil to plate covered with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt.

pressing the plantains into the right shape for the second frying

To make sauce, add olive oil to a skillet on high heat. Once it starts to smoke, add onion and poblano. Sauté until onions become translucent. Add garlic. Sauté for about a minute more. Add shrimp and cook until they just turn pink. Add tomato, salt and black pepper to taste. Toss in cilantro and remove from heat. You just want the tomatoes to warm up, but not lose their shape.

To serve, place tostones on a large platter. Top with shrimp, poblano, tomato salsa. Garnish with lime wedges.