Tuna Loaf

I had this wonderful salmon loaf in the equally wonderful luncheon at our church this past Thursday.  I really enjoyed this salmon loaf as well as the rest of the other dishes and glorious desserts during this lunch. We all had a wonderful (I am running out of adjectives) time eating, talking and discussing some unplanned important topics of life realities.

I obtained the recipe for this salmon loaf from Jean Farr (shown below) in order to make it as soon as possible.  She happened to have it with her in her wallet.  She is very organized, I tell you.

I however did not have any salmon nor the Caesar salad croutons and I did not want to go to the store either.  I was determined to make something close so I opened two cans of tuna which gave me a total amount close to a large can around 12 oz.  I also used herb seasoned bread stuffing for the croutons.  I also searched for recipes in the web that did not have any cream of mushroom soup in the list of ingredients.  This is what I came up with.  I served it to my husband for dinner last night and he ate almost one mini pan full of it.  He just said it needed more oomph so I am adding cumin and cayenne pepper to the recipe as optional ingredients.  It is good without them but they will give this wonderful (again this adjective. I need a Thesaurus) kick my husband was looking for and I did not want to add salt however.

Tuna Loaf

• 10-12 oz can tuna, drained 
• 2 cups herb seasoned bread stuffing
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin (optional)
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Place the mixture in two mini loaf pans or one large loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake for 30 minutes or till top is browned and the center cooked.

 

Fish with Sweet Peas

The peas lend that sweetness in this dish that goes well with the tomatoes, peppers and potatoes.  Perfect topping for panfried fish.

It is an easy, quick, delicious and healthy family fare.

Fish with Sweet Peas 

• 3 swai fish fillets, cut into 2 inch pieces
• Flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder for dredging fish
• 1 tbsp oil or use cooking spray
• 1 small can diced tomatoes
• 1 red pepper, cut into pieces
• 1 yellow pepper, cut into pieces
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 can sweet peas, drained
• 2 potatoes, cut into large cubes and cooked in the microwave
• salt and pepper to taste

Dredge fish in flour mixture.  Saute in heated oil or cooking spray in pan. Cook till fish is flaky and coating golden.  Put aside covered with foil.

Saute the pepper and onions, add the tomatoes, sweet peas and cooked potatoes and heat the mixture through.

Arrange fish on a platter and pour the vegetable mixture on top.

Simple Easy Braised Fish Fillet

In case you are wracking your brain as to what to do with the frozen fish fillets you have, here is a simple recipe with four ingredients.  Though salt is not usually counted I did in this case since I used seasoned salt.

The seasoned salt removes the guesswork as to what flavoring to use to enhance the taste of the fish. The garlic and onion flakes give that extra zing to this dish without any tedious peeling and chopping involved. This combo of seasoning flakes upon being cooked also serves as an attractive and delicious topping to the dish.

A quick and easy dinner. A potential reliable crowd pleaser.  How do I know that? My picky taster, my husband, gave it two thumbs up.  If he likes something then a crowd would.

This was what I served my husband for our anniversary dinner last night with mac and cheese and steamed mixed vegetables. I figured after having steak at Applebees the day before he would want something lighter but good.  This dinner did not fail. Sssh. This is also a healthy dinner. No deep frying. No pan frying either. Yes just embrace braising. No pun intended.

Simple Easy Braised Fish Fillet

• 2 pieces fish fillet (used frozen swai)
• water
• seasoned salt and black pepper to taste
• 1/2 tbsp dry onion flakes
• 1/2 tbsp dry garlic flakes

In a saute pan, place the fish and add just enough water to reach below the surface of the fish. Sprinkle the seasoned salt and pepper to the surface of the fish.

Allow to boil and then add the dry onions and garlic. Let it simmer till fish is half done, then flip the fish and season this other side with seasoned salt and black pepper.

Continue to cook the fish, allowing most of the liquid to evaporate leaving a bit on the pan as sauce. Delicious!

Grilled Salmon over Spinach and Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Citrus Dressing

Are you running of ideas for a meatless meal to serve this Lenten Friday? Here is an easy, delicious and healthy alternative to the boxed frozen fish options you have been resorting to.

The grilled salmon has been flavored with the Turkish spice rub I have published previously transforming it to a tasty and a not so overwhelmingly spicy dish. In the picture above, it is served over spinach and roasted butternut salad with citrus dressing, the recipe of which I posted recently.  You can however use any salad you like.

This beautiful meal will surely kick your Lenten Friday meatless meal a notch.

Grilled Salmon over Spinach and Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Citrus Dressing

(Inspired by this recipe) 

4 pieces of salmon
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp turkey spice rub (recipe here)
1 tbsp oil

Place salt and pepper on each salmon.  Coat each salmon with the turkey spice rub.  Heat the oil in a saute pan at medium heat.  Pan fry the salmon in the heated pan.  Serve over the Spinach and Roasted Squash Salad with Citrus Dressing or your favorite salad.

Salmon Cooked in Tamarind (Sinigang na Salmon)

Asians love sour soups.  The Chinese people have Hot and Sour Soup, the Thais, Tom Yum Soup while the Vietnamese, Pineapple Lemon Grass Soup.  The Filipinos have their Sinigang.  

Sinigang is a popular and well loved Filipino dish featuring meat or seafood cooked with tamarind (sampaloc)  to give the dish its distinct and characteristic sour taste.  One can use pork (baboy), beef (baka) or combination of pork and beef.   Fish, the most popular of which is milkfish (bangus) is also commonly used as well as large shrimps (sugpo).  Typical vegetables that are added to complete the dish are kangkong (water spinach), labanos (daikon radish), tomato, onions, string beans, okra and taro tuber (gabe). Banana peppers can also be added whole which I love to do. 

During the despedida party given by our classmate Boy Garcia and his wife Girlie for the Class '65 of St. James Academy, (it will be in a future post) they served Sinigang na Bangus sa Bayabas (guava).  They used milkfish (bangus) and added guava (bayabas), a tropical fruit for additional flavor.

I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where we have some of the major sports teams in the US, namely the Steelers (football), the Penguins (hockey) and the Pirates (baseball).  And yes we are also famous for having three rivers.  Yeah.  All these but we do not have fresh bangus or milkfish available here like in California.  Only frozen ones from the Asian stores.  But I want my Sinigang using fish that is more readily available.  How do I satisfy my craving for this dish then?  Use salmon.  Yes that fish that is in every menu in America. 

How about the tamarind?  Well I succumbed to convenience.  Instead of using tamarind paste or powder readily available in Asian stores here, I used a packet of Knorr brand Tamarind Soup Mix.  (I have also used the other brand, Mama Sita).  It does have a flavor enhancer (MSG) in its list of ingredients.  Please do use the tamarind paste or powder if you are allergic to MSG or monosodium glutamate the manifestation of which is a headache.

I like this recipe because it is fast.  It took only 8 minutes to cook and you practically just need to cut some ingredients in big chunks or as is to prepare the ingredients.  The key here is not to overcook the fish.  Five minutes into cooking time, try using a fork to test if the fish is done.   If you overcook the fish in the broth, it will lose its succulence.

There is an advantage to using salmon also.  I can eat the skin which I love rather than discard it without my worrying about scales.  The frozen bangus that I can buy have scales which I either remove (too much work for me) or live with it but my husband will not.

As for vegetables, I have a lot of kale in the fridge when I prepared this dish so I used it and it turned out to be a good leafy vegetable to go with the sourness of the broth.  It is also convenient to use.  Since it is hardy unlike spinach I can add it at the very beginning and not worry about it being overcooked.

Here is the recipe of my now favorite fish dish, Sinigang na Salmon.  Move over bangus.

Salmon Cooked in Tamarind (Sinigang na Salmon)

Ingredients

• 1 lb salmon
• 1 tomato, sliced into wedges
• 1 onion, sliced in wedges
• 4 cups fresh kale leaves, cut into bite size pieces and stems removed
• 1 banana pepper, whole
• 1/2  of a packet Knorr Tamarind Soup Mix (available at Asian Stores) 
• 3-4 cups water

In a large pot, add the water and then whisk in the tamarind soup mix into it till the mix all dissolve.  Add the rest of the ingredients with the salmon last.  Boil for around 8 minutes or until the fish is done.  You can eat this with rice and a side of fish sauce (patis) for additional saltiness.  This dish can be eaten as a main dish or it can be the soup to be served with grilled pork chops.  Try it.  It is heaven on earth.


Notes:

1.  As mentioned in the introduction,  guava (bayabas) has been used as an added flavor to the sinigang.  Danny, a classmate from Class '65 at St. James, suggested to add miso paste for added depth to the taste of the sinigang.

2.  If you are using tamarind paste or powder, you would need to add salt or fish sauce.  The Knorr Tamarind Soup Mix is already salted thus I did not list salt in the list of ingredients. 

3.  Another option from Paeng Robles, another classmate from Class '65, is to add rice flour (glutinous rice) dissolved in water to make the broth of the soup cloudy and a little thicker.  We customarily add to the water the washings of raw rice (hugas-bigas) so this rice flour takes the place of that.