BBQ Seafood Kabobs

Ingredients
1 lb halibut, cut into 1 to 1 1/4 inch cubes
16 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
16 large scallops
16 pearl onions, peeled
1/4 cup garlic flavored olive oil
1 teaspoon herbes de provence
salt and pepper to taste

Arrange seafood, onion and peppers on skewers. season with salt and pepper. Mix olive oil and herbs. brush kabobs with olive oil mixture. Place kabobs on a well oiled grill. cook, basting frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes per side for a total of 6 to 7 minutes. Serve on a bed of wild rice with herbed butter. Makes 7 to 8 servings.

Herbed Butter
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon herbes de provence

Melt butter, add lemon juice and peel, blending well. add seasonings, if desired. Keep warm.

Inspired by a dinner my parents cooked us last weekend.

Salade Nicoise

Guest contributor and fellow francophile, Nadaly K., was inspired after a visit to http://www.epicurious.com to develop her very own Salade Nicoise:

Use any of the below ingredients as you please.

Ingredients for dressing:

- olive oil
- vinegar (cider or red wine)
- fresh tarragon, finely chopped
- salt/pepper to taste
- fresh chervil, finely chopped
- flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- dijon mustard
- 1 small white or yellow onion, very thinly sliced

Ingredients for salad:

- fresh green and/or yellow beans
- boiled eggs
- canned tuna, in olive oil or water
- canned anchovies, fillets
- red and/or yellow tomatoes, wedged
- butter lettuce
- small new potatoes
- colorful sweet peppers, sliced
- nicoise olives
- artichoke hearts

For the dressing:

Use about a 3:1 ratio of olive oil to vinegar. (I used 1 cup of olive oil.) Whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

For the salad:

Boil the eggs and refrigerate. Drain the tuna, place in a bowl and refrigerate. Scrub the potatoes and boil them for 15 minutes. (be sure not to overboil.) Cut the potatoes into quarters or halves, depending on their size. Refrigerate the potatoes.

Steam the green/yellow beans for about 6 minutes or less (until they are cooked but still firm).drain and refrigerate the beans.

In a large salad bowl, toss the butter lettuce, peppers, green beans, tomatoes, tuna, potatoes, olives and artichoke hearts together with the dressing. Serve the eggs and anchovies on the side. This way, the eggs don't get smashed and not everyone likes anchovies!

Serve with a fresh baguette... bon appetit!!

A piece of cod, not a codpiece

Ranked number one in a recent "Top 25 Restaurants" article in Los Angeles Magazine, Beacon is one of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles. Their miso marinated black cod is absolutely divine. You can imagine my delight when the recipe was printed in the Los Angeles Times. Accompany the fish with sesame-tossed green beans or asparagus and white rice. (Also tastes great with Chilean Sea Bass or Salmon.)

Beacon Miso Cod
Total time: 35 minutes plus marinating time
Servings: 6

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup white miso
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup sake
6 tablespoons mirin
6 (5-to 6-ounce) fresh black cod fillets, skinned and boned
Rice vinegar to taste

1. In a double boiler over simmering water, combine the miso, sugar, sake and mirin and whisk until the sugar dissolves, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool. Refrigerate until the marinade is cold, about 20 minutes. Place the marinade in a baking dish and add the black cod pieces, turning to coat thoroughly with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours.

2. Remove the cod from the marinade and scrape off most of the marinade.

3. Heat the broiler. Place the cod on a greased foil-lined baking sheet. Place the baking sheet approximately 6 inches below the broiler unit. Broil 7 to 10 minutes, depending upon the thickness of the fish, until evenly brown. The fish should flake easily. If not, broil a little longer. Sprinkle with a touch of rice vinegar and serve immediately.

Each serving: 126 calories; 18 grams protein; 9 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 1 gram fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 41 mg. cholesterol; 371 mg. sodium.

Tuna Salad: Think Outside the Can

If the idea of combining canned fish, mayonnaise and pickles sends you running for dry land, think again. Tuna salad can be a quick, nutritious and tasty meal.

The following is not so much a recipe as it is a list of ingredients that I've used to create some pretty yummy tuna salad. Go forth and experiment!

extra-virgin olive oil
sour cream
goat cheese
red wine vinegar
chimichurri sauce
Asian chili sauce

crisp, sweet apples (like Fuji or Gala)
cucumbers
green onions
cilantro
parsley
basil
black sesame seeds
garlic
red onion
red cabbage
red bell pepper (notice a pattern?)
spanish olives
capers

curry powder
garam masala
sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper.....

I'm the sure the list could go on.

For example, last night I made some Chimichurri Tuna Salad. Just the mention of tuna salad makes my s.o.'s* eyes light up.

Ingredients

1 can {packed in water} tuna, drained
extra-virgin olive oil
goat cheese
homemade chimichurri sauce (essentially flat-leaf parsley, olive oil, red wine vinegar and garlic)
1/4 Gala apple, cubed
1" thick slice cucumber, cubed
sea salt
Asian chili sauce

Add ingredients to taste. Mmm mmm.

*significant other

Maguro Sashimi and Goat Cheese

I think if Ian and I were ever back in Austin and someone asked where we planned to eat in town, our reply would be Uchi, Uchi, Uchi! Ian especially loved the Maguro Sashimi and Goat Cheese, so much so that he couldn't stop talking about it. Here's my knock off version which is a close replica, but I'm definitely no Tyson Cole.

Hint: The success of this dish is all in the quality of the Maguro Tuna

"Ian's Catnip" --N.Du.Kay
Serves 2

INGREDIENTS
1/2 lb Maguro Tuna Sashimi
2 Tablespoons Goat Cheese
1/2 Fuji Apple, thinly sliced
2 Teaspoons Pumpkin Seed Oil
2 Teaspoons Balsamic Vinegar
Freshly Cracked Pepper to taste

Divide Sashimi and Apple slices between two plates. Arrange in a spiral presentation. Crumble 1 Tablespoon of Goat Cheese on each plate. Drizzle on each plate, 1 Teaspoon of the Pumpkin Seed Oil and 1 Teaspoon of Balsamic Vinegar. Season to taste with freshly cracked pepper.

Also tastes great with thinly sliced avocado instead of Fuji Apples.

Ceviche

Ceviche, which is often spelled seviche or cebiche, depending on which part of South America it comes from, is seafood prepared in a centuries old method of cooking by contact with the acidic juice of citrus juice instead of heat. Eat it when it's hot out and you'll understand why I ate this everyday for lunch while in Costa Rica.

INGREDIENTS
2 lbs of firm, fresh red snapper fillets, cut into 1/2 inch pieces,
completely deboned
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 purple onion, finely diced
1 cup of fresh peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes
1 serrano chili, seeded and finely diced
2 teaspoons of salt
dash of ground oregano
dash of Tabasco or a few grains of cayenne pepper

ACCOMPANIMENTS
Cilantro
Avocado
Tortillas or tortilla chips

In a non-reactive casserole dish, either Pyrex or ceramic, place the fish,
onion, tomatoes, chili, salt, Tabasco, and oregano. Cover with lime and
lemon juice. Let sit covered in the refrigerator for an hour, then stir,
making sure more of the fish gets exposed to the acidic lime and lemon
juices. Let sit for at least 6 hours, giving time for the flavors to blend.

Serve with chopped cilantro and slices of avocado with heated tortillas for
ceviche tacos or with tortilla chips.

Seaweed Soup

Wakame seaweed can be found at most Korean and Japanese markets. It has a decent amount of calcium and works well in soup.

See-wee Soup, as I called it growing up, is the ultimate comfort food. When it was cold outside, I'd ask my mom to make some. We'd eat it with leftover rice and homemade kim chee. My version is a little different from my mom's as I use seafood and store-bought chicken stock. The key is to use a stock that is not full of seasonings but mostly just chicken and water.

The resulting broth may seem a little bland but the kim chee should take care of that!



Ingredients

2 qt. low sodium, preferrably organic, chicken stock
2 qt. filtered water
1.5 lb. chicken parts: meat, bones and skin. Rinsed well.
1/3 oz. wakame seaweed, cut into smaller pieces, soaked and drained
1/2 c. brown and/or white rice
2 T. fish sauce
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 t. sesame oil
8-12 lrg. shrimp, peeled and de-veined
4 oz. firm tofu, cubed
2" piece fishcake, thinly sliced

Accompaniments

Kim chee and other Asian pickles
Chopped green onion
Sliced hard-boiled egg



Add chicken stock and water to a large stock pot. Bring to a boil. Add chicken parts and bring to a boil again, then turn down to medium low. Do not cover. Skim off foam. Cook until chicken in done. Remove chicken to cool.

Add rice, fish sauce, garlic and sesame oil to the broth. Cover pot. Cook until rice grains start to open up/break apart. Meanwhile, when chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat and discard bones and skin. Shred chicken into bite-size pieces.

Into the broth add shredded chicken, seaweed, tofu, shrimp and fishcake. Cook for five minutes. Ladle into bowls. Serve with accompaniments. Serves 6-8.