Cilantro-Lime Tilapia

• 2 bunch green onion,
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/2 cup veggie or chicken stock
• oil
• flour (about 1 cup)
• cumin (about 2 Tbsp.)
• salt (2 tsp.)
• 4 tilapia fillets
• avocado
• Cooked white rice

Dice the green onion bunches and the cilantro (reserve half of each for later) and put half of each in a pan with the lime juice and stock. Simmer till reduced by half. Add in the butter, when melted, pour into a bowl or cup and use an immersion blender (or regular blender) to process till smooth. 

Heat oil in a large skillet till hot and sizzles when anything is put in (you can test with a piece of green onion). Mix flour, salt and cumin. Dredge the fish in the flour mixture and fry until just starting to brown on edges, flip and cook that side for about 1 minute. Remove and place on a paper towel. 

Serve fish over the rice, top with sauce and sprinkle fresh green onion and cilantro. Put 2-3 slices of avocado on side.

Shrimp Scampi

• minced garlic
• butter
• white wine
• raw shrimp-peeled
• lemon

Start with the garlic and butter in a pan. Sautee until just starting to brown. Add in the white wine and reduce. Add in the shrimp and cook till just done through. Take off the heat and squeeze lemon juice in. 

Served over pasta with Parmesan, as a side, or just eat it like this. 

Salmon Risotto

• 1 onion-diced
• 1 pepper-diced
• 1 tbs. butter plus some oil
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 1/2 bottle white wine
• 6 cups stock*
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup Parmesan
• 1 cup flaked salmon meat (cooked)

Cook the onion and pepper in the oil over medium heat till soft and starting to brown. 

Add in the butter and rice and a bit more oil- just coat the grains of rice. Sate until just before the grains brown then add in the wine slowly, stirring.

Cook at a gentle low simmer adding liquid in when the pan the liquid is almost gone. Stir often. After about half an hour and most of the liquid, your rice should be cooked. Use more or less liquid as necessary.

While there is still a little liquid left in the pan, add in the butter, Parmesan, and salmon and stir until incorporated. Serve immediately. 

*I made salmon stock using the bones and head of a salmon that I filleted for salmon steaks the day before. I put the bones and head in a pot with water, lemon, carrot, onion, and celery. Simmered for an hour, and then strained out all the liquid for stock. Then i picked through the bones and head and got about 1.5 cups of flaked meat.



 Here is a picture of a chicken and white wine risotto. Instead of salmon stock and meat I used chicken and I didn't put in the peppers.

Lemon Garlic salmon with Hollandaise sauce

• 2 salmon fillets
• 1 lemon
• 4 tbs butter
• 1 tbs garlic
• Hollandaise sauce

Melt the butter and mix in the garlic and juice from half the lemon. Slice the other half of the lemon. Place the salmon filets on parchment paper on a baking pan with sides. spoon the butter mixture over the salmon and top with slices of lemon. Bake at 450 for  12 minutes and top with hollandaise.

Creamy Clam Chowder

• 4 red or gold potatoes-diced into small bite size pieces
• 1 potato minced in a food processor until very fine
• 1 onion, minced finely
• 2 cans clams with the juice
• 1/2 package bacon, cut into small pieces plus half a slice
• 1/2 pint of cream

Start by sauteing the onion to  in your medium pot with a little bit of oil. Once they have just started to brown, add in the potatoes, clams and juice, and enough water that everything floats a bit. 

Simmer on low for at least 1 hour or until the potatoes are cooked through and the liquid has thickened. Stir often. The finely minced potatoes help thicken the soup without using a flour base. Place the half a slice of bacon in the soup to help give the soup a bacon flavor without letting the bacon you will eat get soggy. 

While the soup is simmering, cook the bacon until crispy and set it to dry out of the oil on a paper towel off to the side. 

Discard the piece of bacon that has been simmering in the soup. Then add in the half pint of cream and stir until the soup is heated through again. 

Serve the soup and top with bacon. Butter crackers or rolls make a great addition.

Lobster Bisque

Lobster Bisque

This recipe was inspired by the soup from Montana Coffee Trader’s which I reviewed in my post Kalispell Trip. Like theirs, this bisque does not have any tomato paste. This version turned out a little thinner and it doesn’t quite have as much lobster meat in it but the flavor is very rich. If you want more lobster meat, it will only take more lobster tails. 4 would give the soup a lot of meat but 2 gives it plenty of flavor and is a little better on the budget. This soup makes about 6 servings.

2 rock lobster tails

1 onions

1 carrot

2 sticks celery

2 green onions

1 can veggie broth

½ lemon sliced

2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup sherry

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 Tablespoons Butter

6 tablespoons flour

1.5 cups cream

Half onion

Dice half the veggies (onion, carrot, celery and white part of green onion) and place to the side.

Slice the green part of the green onion and place in a separate dish to top the bisque at the end.

Chunk up the other half and put in a large stockpot with the water, salt, and veggie broth and sliced lemon. Bring it to a boil and reduce the heat till it just simmers. In a steamer pot, place the lobster shell side down and steam for 3 minutes.

Then remove the meat and dice the tail meat and keep it in the fridge till later. The easiest way to remove the meat is to crack top of the tail and peel the shell off. That way you can get the tail out intact. If it falls apart for this, no big deal. Place the shells in the stock pot and simmer this all together with the lid off for about ½ an hour. Then strain all the veggies and shells out and reserve the stock. 

Place 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the now empty pot on medium heat. When the oil is heated, add the diced veggies from before. Cook until they have started to brown and soften, stirring occasionally. Then add in the butter, once it is melted, add in the flour and whisk until it is all incorporated and the flour starts to cook (about 3 minutes).Then slowly add in 3 cups of the stock from before whisking as you pour it in. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, whisking often. This is where the bisque will reduce and thicken.  Add in the lobster tail meat, juice from the half lemon, and the cream then heat through. If you like a thicker soup, add less cream or simmer longer before adding in the cream and meat. Top with the sliced green onions. Serve with rolls or toast.