Skillet Salmon with Tomato Jam

This recipe is a long time in the making. I love Salmon baked, grilled on the BBQ or fried in an iron skillet. For several years I owned a Gourmet Jam Business. I preserved some of the best jam in Ventura County if I do say so myself. To make this recipe we added our Tomato Spread to the Salmon and yummy addition. I think the most work you will have with this recipe is deciding what side dishes you want. 

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) wild caught fillets
• Olive Oil
• 1 8 ounce jar of tomato jam or spread
• 2 shallots
• roasted garlic or one freshly chopped garlic clove
• Seasoning of your choice

Let us get started. 

Slice thinly your shallots. Good to have them ready. Clean your fish and pat dry. Season your fish on both sides.  Have an iron skillet or frying pan ready. I use iron skillets for 90 %of my frying. The skillet gets good and hot and cooks evenly. 

Put a bit of olive oil into your skillet. Next place the shallots in the hot pan. Let them cook for about 5 minutes so they seperate. 

Now push the scallions to the rim and place the fish in the center of the skillet skin side down. The fish only takes minutes because the skillet is so hot and remains that way. 

Don't let your shallots burn keep them moving or take them out for now and set them aside. After about 5 minutes turn your fish over. Use a fish spatula or a spatula that will turn and flip without sticking. Now pour the tomato spread over the fish and cook on that side an additional 5 minutes.

Ok one more turn of the salmon and you will be done. This lets the fish sit in the sauce a few more minutes. Once it has cooked about 2 more minutes take the fish out and place it on a serving platter. 

Take the shallots and juices the salmon cooked in a drizzle it over the fish. 

This was heavenly ! 

Panko Crusted Salmon

This is something that I have wanted to make for a long time. Sunday at our home is family night and this is the perfect time to get opinions  on different dishes. Plus it gives Red (Apron strings fiance)  new dishes to learn and try. This fish when pan seared right comes out with a nice crust on the bottom. 

Everyone loved the taste and when you sit down for dinner and everyone starts to guess the ingredients it makes for such fun at chow time. Only you know how simple this was.

Panko Crusted Salmon

Ingredients

3/4 cup of plain panko crumbs
2 tbsp of fresh parsley, minced
Zest of one lemon
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
4  salmon filets
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp canola oil
Lemon wedges, for serving

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Have all your stuff ready tools to ingredients

Combine the panko crumbs with the parsley, lemon zest, minced garlic, olive oil, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Combine with your fingers until evenly mixed.

Spoon the Dijon mustard on top of the salmon and spread evenly. Season the fish with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. Press the panko mixture thickly on to the mustard. The mustard will help the panko adhere. And it does! I added every last panko to the top and was extra careful when I transferred them to the iron skillet.

Heat the vegetable oil in an iron skillet or OVEN PROOF skillet. When the oil is very hot, add the salmon fillet, skin side down, and sear for 3-4 minutes, without turning, to brown the skin. My salmon fillets did not have skin so I put them flat side down.

Transfer the pan to the hot oven for 15-20 minute or until an internal temperature of the thickest part of the salmon reads 125-130 degrees. I sprayed my salmon with a little cooking oil to moisten the top that will help the crispy top. Remove from the oven and cover with a tin foil tent for 5-10 minutes. Serve the salmon hot or at room temperature with lemon wedges.

Sorry I go so into this recipe I forgot once it hit the oven to continue t take pictures. Bad me but Good Dinner! 

Manhattan Fish Chowder

This had to be one of the best Red Manhattan Chowder I have done in quite a while. Ok ok I never did it before. SO there. I found a few sites with recipes and gathered from them all. But the best site I found and simple because I love simple (Of course because it is by a fisherman) it came from their website Regular Guy Charters. It went so well with the Fresh Baked Bread.

 

 

 

Ingredients

3 strips of bacon fried keep the dripping
1 white onion chopped
3 chopped carrot
3 garlic cloves  finely chopped
¼ cup tomato paste
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
4 to 6 small red potatoes chopped
1 cups of water
3 cup vegetable broth
2 tbsp fresh parsley

Any ingredient you do not have fresh use canned, dried or what ever is available. I use fresh because in the last year I have learned to make my own and store it for later. You can do it !

1 tsp salt
½ tsp grnd pepper
1 tbs Old Bay Seasoning  -optional
1 bay leaf
2 fresh chopped Roma tomatoes
2 lbs firm white fish. I used Cod
A dozen or so fresh large shrimp peeled and cleaned
Garnish ideas for the side
Parmesan cheese
Tabasco sauce
Red crushed pepper
Parsley


Fry your bacon in the stock pot you will be making your soup in. Once the bacon is done remove the bacon let it cool and chop it up and return it to the stock pot . Add your onions and carrot and saute for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic for the last 2 minutes you do not want it to brown or burn. Euu.




Add the tomato paste, Roma tomato's, lemon stir until it is mixed well then add your water and broth.






Stir until everything is mixed and simmering then add your potatoes. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until the potato is fork tender. If you need more liquid then go ahead and add more. Now add your white fish and shrimp and cook for about 10 minutes until the fish is flaky. Add your seasoning to taste.

Take out the bay leaf prior to serving.

Shrimp has the habit of getting rubbery when it is cooked to long. Personally I do not like it BUT my mama and pa said keep it in because it adds to the taste of the soup. So make that yet another personal choice.

Fish and Chips

 Fish and Chips for another Sunday Family dinner. This Sunday it is Fish and Chips. I was going to go and purchase a little deep fryer but I thought about it and I have a ton of iron skillets. One is actually a dutch oven. I have a small one and a large one. This will work great because they hold the heat so well.






So I grabbed some fish at the fish monger. Some delicious cod. The perfect fish for fish and chips. It is thick and does not loose its texture also it does not have that fishy smell. Well no fresh fish should have the fishy smell if so throw it out. I took the fillets and cut them into about 4 by 1 to 2 inch strips. I cleaned them and washed them. After I put them onto paper towels to get the water out. It took about three rounds of paper towels soaking to get them dry.

 Then I made the batter

Batter
 
1 cup of all purpose flour
1 cup of corn starch
5 teaspoons of pepper
1 teaspoon of paprika
1/ teaspoon of cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 3/4 cups of cold water
and
To fry 3 quarts of peanut oil
 Dutch Kettle

 Mix your batter together and put it into the refrigerator for one hour


 You want to keep your oil at 139 degrees when you start to fry it will drop but it will re gain momentum. When you fry anything that need to be a specific temperature once you put the ingredients in the oil the temperature goes down by a few notches. Have your dutch oven with the oil ready at the right temperature. Put your batter and fish right by it so you can make less mess an get it right into the oil.



 I did my fries first. I cut standard Baking Potato's into sticks and fried them.













 Now take your fish battered pieces and add to the same oil. Make use your temperature is back up to 139. After the fish has been in the oil for about 3 minutes flip it over and fry the fish an additional 3 minutes. I keep a cookie sheet with a cooling rack on it to put the fish on when they have done being in the oil. They drain on the rack. The minute I put the fish on the rack they are at it like they have not eaten in a month. You think they may want to wait for a plate? Must be good!