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Hey all :D Been a while since my last blog. . .this time my focus will be (if you haven't guessed yet) SEAFOOD! I've always been a bit hesitant to try cooking with it but I finally got down and dirty with various types of seafood in the past week.
Dish 1: Grilled Lobster Tail on Fettucini; Lemon-Tomato Vinaigrette
In hindsight it feels kinda strange to have lobster since it seems like a really strong start for someone who has never cooked raw seafood in his life (frozen, already cooked shrimp don't count QQ). I tried to do that fancy technique where you set the tail above the lobster shell but it came out a little strange in shape 
Didn't help that the lobster tail was frozen (raw though) and the base of the shell was already cleaved in half, which made it even more difficult to put the meat over the shell. I read several recipes where people would poach the lobster first before grilling, but personally I thought that would definitely overdo the tail, so I only pan grilled it :D
I topped it off with a simple fettucini (didn't have linguini on hand unfortunately) and used a tomato/lemon/olive oil vinaigrette. I really wanted to have that fresh, summer-seaside flavour so I decided against really strong and heavy ingredients.
Looking at the photos now, it kinda reminds me of a reaver LOL
Pics:
![[image loading]](http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab171/_fOrQQ/P1000084.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab171/_fOrQQ/P1000085.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab171/_fOrQQ/P1000088.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab171/_fOrQQ/P1000090.jpg)
Dish 2: Pan-seared Scallops over Tomato Salsa
First: Scallops are AWESOME. I always wanted to make them but was intimidated by many people saying how it was very difficult and you either got them overdone to hell (rubber) or practically raw. Still, I was lucky enough to have it done just right and they were fcking delicious :D:D:D
Served over a basic cherry tomato and lemon juice salsa, again I wanted that flavour of summer that is often associated with fresh seafood. I honestly would make this again and again...too bad fresh seafood is rather expensive ><
Pics:
![[image loading]](http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab171/_fOrQQ/P1000092.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab171/_fOrQQ/P1000091.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab171/_fOrQQ/P1000093.jpg)
Dish 3: Crispy Salmon with Sauteed Mushrooms
The return of the mushrooms! Kind of... Anyways, always been a big fan of salmon, whether it was smoked, sashimi-ed or grilled. I wanted a bit of a challenge as well, so I set about cooking it with a crispy skin. A lot of people I find don't like the skin much (myself included), but after today I definitely don't mind having it if it is made in this style.
I served it over sauteed mushrooms (garlic, onions) and just a little bit of white wine sauce. It looks quite burnt in the pictures, but it tasted fine to me. Hopefully I won't get too many carcinogens from it
Pics:
![[image loading]](http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab171/_fOrQQ/P1000105.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab171/_fOrQQ/P1000109.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab171/_fOrQQ/P1000112.jpg)
I think I may foray into French cuisine soon, and hopefully get a good handle on European food by the end of this summer If anyone has any suggestions on fine European dishes, I would love to try them out! Enjoy!
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Can you do some kind of perogies dish?
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WOW, amazing work man! My mouth is watering so much right now its crazy 
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Philadelphia, PA10406 Posts
Ah, that's excellent. I love scallops, I'd order that off of your menu.
It's a toss up between mussels and scallops for me next week, and I think you've convinced me. I love cooking blogs, I should try one.
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this would be great if you removed the seafood from the dish
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the salmon and scallops look amazing. The lobster looks good too. If you're only using tails you get them frozen instead of fresh??
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you gotta love to hate food blogs
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So amazing, look so good, ALL OF THEM!
You should open up a restaurant, I bet it will be packed everyday.
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Netherlands19140 Posts
I just ate and this instantly made me wanna eat again XD. Cheers, nice pics! If it tastes as good as it looks.. hmm XD.
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yeah, next thing i'm gonna learn how to cook is scallops. cuz they are awesome.
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Those all look so tasty... Too bad I'm only having a sandwich for lunch 
Scallops are one of the tastiest things on earth when done right.
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Nice blog !
You should try to cook scallops with a more neutral sauce. Imho, the taste of scallops is delicious but subtle and should not be covered by a tomato sauce. A very easy way to cook it is pan sear them in butter (not margarine for god's sake, but you seems to have a good culinary culture, so I guess you know what I'm talking about ). You need the pan to be very hot. Don't forget to add a spoon of oil in the butter to prevent it to burn (most useful cooking tip ever !) as burnt butter is very unhealthy and distasteful. You only need to cook them around 1 or 1.30 minute on each side. Add a dash of lime in the butter once you have taken off the scallops. Use the mix of butter and lime as a sauce to coat the scallops in the plate. You might need to add some salt depending on how your scallops are naturally salty.
A little variant of this recipe is to add some fresh ginger juice at the same time as the lime. Ginger is one of the few spices that can interact very well with seafood without hiding the seafood taste. Avoid ginger powder.
All the light creamy sauces are fine too.
If you are looking for simple french or mediterranean recipes, PM me. I am french, I love cooking and would be glad to share with someone interested.
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NeverGG
United Kingdom5399 Posts
I don't even like seafood, and I'd like to eat these :D
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Thanks guys, appreciate all the comments :D Wish I could open a restaurant but I'm just a newb at the moment Wonder why I went into comsci instead of culinary school XD
On July 28 2010 10:46 SubtleArt wrote:
Can you do some kind of perogies dish?
That's a Polish dish am I right? I could try that, though I'm not a big fan of loads of onions or sour cream.
On July 28 2010 11:04 JohnColtrane wrote:
this would be great if you removed the seafood from the dish
Don't get what you mean, do you not eat seafood?
On July 28 2010 11:22 Hawk wrote:
the salmon and scallops look amazing. The lobster looks good too. If you're only using tails you get them frozen instead of fresh??
Thanks! Nah, the market I frequent doesn't have fresh lobster, whole or tail. They only have frozen tails.
On July 28 2010 12:06 endy wrote:Nice blog ! You should try to cook scallops with a more neutral sauce. Imho, the taste of scallops is delicious but subtle and should not be covered by a tomato sauce. A very easy way to cook it is pan sear them in butter (not margarine for god's sake, but you seems to have a good culinary culture, so I guess you know what I'm talking about ). You need the pan to be very hot. Don't forget to add a spoon of oil in the butter to prevent it to burn (most useful cooking tip ever !) as burnt butter is very unhealthy and distasteful. You only need to cook them around 1 or 1.30 minute on each side. Add a dash of lime in the butter once you have taken off the scallops. Use the mix of butter and lime as a sauce to coat the scallops in the plate. You might need to add some salt depending on how your scallops are naturally salty. A little variant of this recipe is to add some fresh ginger juice at the same time as the lime. Ginger is one of the few spices that can interact very well with seafood without hiding the seafood taste. Avoid ginger powder. All the light creamy sauces are fine too. If you are looking for simple french or mediterranean recipes, PM me. I am french, I love cooking and would be glad to share with someone interested.
Wow, thanks for the tips! I'm not a huge fan of ginger myself, but I can give it a try. The tomato salsa wasn't actually very overpowering (didn't use premade paste, just lightly sauteed some diced cherry tomatos and added a hint of lemon juice and zest) but I understand what you mean.
I actually burnt butter before, not a good experience. But yeah, I mostly use butter instead of margarine now.
I'm actually really interested in European cooking, especially French (Mediterranean is fine too!). I actually wanted to try Coq au Vin and Beef Bourgignon before but I realized you need a lot of time to make it (marinade a whole day before QQ)
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You should be banned for posting amazingly delicious-looking food! >:|
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On July 28 2010 12:10 fOrQQ wrote:Thanks guys, appreciate all the comments :D Wish I could open a restaurant but I'm just a newb at the moment Wonder why I went into comsci instead of culinary school XD Show nested quote +On July 28 2010 10:46 SubtleArt wrote:
Can you do some kind of perogies dish? That's a Polish dish am I right? I could try that, though I'm not a big fan of loads of onions or sour cream. Show nested quote +On July 28 2010 11:04 JohnColtrane wrote:
this would be great if you removed the seafood from the dish Don't get what you mean, do you not eat seafood? Show nested quote +On July 28 2010 11:22 Hawk wrote:
the salmon and scallops look amazing. The lobster looks good too. If you're only using tails you get them frozen instead of fresh?? Thanks! Nah, the market I frequent doesn't have fresh lobster, whole or tail. They only have frozen tails. Show nested quote +On July 28 2010 12:06 endy wrote:Nice blog ! You should try to cook scallops with a more neutral sauce. Imho, the taste of scallops is delicious but subtle and should not be covered by a tomato sauce. A very easy way to cook it is pan sear them in butter (not margarine for god's sake, but you seems to have a good culinary culture, so I guess you know what I'm talking about ). You need the pan to be very hot. Don't forget to add a spoon of oil in the butter to prevent it to burn (most useful cooking tip ever !) as burnt butter is very unhealthy and distasteful. You only need to cook them around 1 or 1.30 minute on each side. Add a dash of lime in the butter once you have taken off the scallops. Use the mix of butter and lime as a sauce to coat the scallops in the plate. You might need to add some salt depending on how your scallops are naturally salty. A little variant of this recipe is to add some fresh ginger juice at the same time as the lime. Ginger is one of the few spices that can interact very well with seafood without hiding the seafood taste. Avoid ginger powder. All the light creamy sauces are fine too. If you are looking for simple french or mediterranean recipes, PM me. I am french, I love cooking and would be glad to share with someone interested. Wow, thanks for the tips! I'm not a huge fan of ginger myself, but I can give it a try. The tomato salsa wasn't actually very overpowering (didn't use premade paste, just lightly sauteed some diced cherry tomatos and added a hint of lemon juice and zest) but I understand what you mean. I actually burnt butter before, not a good experience. But yeah, I mostly use butter instead of margarine now. I'm actually really interested in European cooking, especially French (Mediterranean is fine too!). I actually wanted to try Coq au Vin and Beef Bourgignon before but I realized you need a lot of time to make it (marinade a whole day before QQ)
i hate it lol, seafood smells like man juice
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What do you know, I'm on a seafood diet right now! I see food and I eat it!!! This looks delicious!
+ Show Spoiler +sorry for the recycled joke XD
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great googly moogly that looks sooo goooooooooood i love your blogs !!!!!!!!!!!!
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On July 28 2010 12:10 fOrQQ wrote:Thanks guys, appreciate all the comments :D Wish I could open a restaurant but I'm just a newb at the moment Wonder why I went into comsci instead of culinary school XD Show nested quote +On July 28 2010 10:46 SubtleArt wrote:
Can you do some kind of perogies dish? That's a Polish dish am I right? I could try that, though I'm not a big fan of loads of onions or sour cream.
Yea, it is. I usually have it with bits of bacon on sour cream. There are several meat perogie recipes that can still work without sour cream though.
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How much cooking experience do you have?? The salmon one doesn't seem particularly hard. Lobster seems like something that's easy to screw up.
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On July 28 2010 22:42 Hawk wrote:
How much cooking experience do you have?? The salmon one doesn't seem particularly hard. Lobster seems like something that's easy to screw up.
I mentioned in my previous blogs, I have no cooking experience at all (no culinary classes, never worked part/full time at a kitchen, never cooked anything beyond rice, ramyun and mac n cheese). I started learning to cook about 3 weeks ago? (since my first food blog)
Salmon was a bit more difficult due to the way I wanted (skin on and crispy). Lobster was pretty fun to do though; the most important thing with seafood was I didn't want anything raw, but I didn't really know how long to cook it for. Luckily I managed to get it just right which is really fortunate ^^
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On July 29 2010 07:39 fOrQQ wrote:Show nested quote +On July 28 2010 22:42 Hawk wrote:
How much cooking experience do you have?? The salmon one doesn't seem particularly hard. Lobster seems like something that's easy to screw up. I mentioned in my previous blogs, I have no cooking experience at all (no culinary classes, never worked part/full time at a kitchen, never cooked anything beyond rice, ramyun and mac n cheese). I started learning to cook about 3 weeks ago? (since my first food blog) Salmon was a bit more difficult due to the way I wanted (skin on and crispy). Lobster was pretty fun to do though; the most important thing with seafood was I didn't want anything raw, but I didn't really know how long to cook it for. Luckily I managed to get it just right which is really fortunate ^^
Just wondering, do you use cooking oil, butter, or olive oil? Or does it depend on the dish?
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On July 29 2010 08:37 SubtleArt wrote:Show nested quote +On July 29 2010 07:39 fOrQQ wrote:On July 28 2010 22:42 Hawk wrote:
How much cooking experience do you have?? The salmon one doesn't seem particularly hard. Lobster seems like something that's easy to screw up. I mentioned in my previous blogs, I have no cooking experience at all (no culinary classes, never worked part/full time at a kitchen, never cooked anything beyond rice, ramyun and mac n cheese). I started learning to cook about 3 weeks ago? (since my first food blog) Salmon was a bit more difficult due to the way I wanted (skin on and crispy). Lobster was pretty fun to do though; the most important thing with seafood was I didn't want anything raw, but I didn't really know how long to cook it for. Luckily I managed to get it just right which is really fortunate ^^ Just wondering, do you use cooking oil, butter, or olive oil? Or does it depend on the dish?
I use extra virgin olive oil for mostly everything. For some reason its hard to find regular or virgin olive oil (lot of people say extra virgin is delicate and expensive so you should use use regular/virgin for frying, etc). Butter I usually use to base steak, chicken, etc. or to make a sauce.
A dish where I would use both would be a mushroom risotto- olive oil to saute the mushrooms and glaze the pan; butter at the end to get that rich, creamy texture.
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EPT
