Food and Crafts for All Occasions

Smoked Trout Dip

This dip is another delicious use of smoked trout. My husband raves about it every time I make it.

Have it on warm toasted bread. Some thinly sliced radishes on top will give a nice touch.

Green Salad with Smoked Trout, Poached Eggs, Potatoes and Asparagus

This has been one of my favorite salads lately. Sort of a version of Niçoise salad with smoked trout instead of tuna and poached eggs instead of boiled ones. My greens choice for this salad is a mix of frisee (I love ’em bitter!) and Asian greens mix (not to be confused with Asian salad mix!) which includes mizuna, pak choi, baby tat soi and other fancy and very tasty herbs.  If you cannot find Asian mix in stores, go for Spring Salad Mix or something like it.

As for the trout, you can smoke it yourself or buy it in a store. Trader Joe’s carries quite delicious and inexpensive smoked trout. If you want to smoke trout yourself and are a happy owner of a Green egg grill, follow the instructions given here for salmon. The only difference with trout would be that you would need much less salt and shorter time to cure it in the fridge since trout fillets are much smaller and thinner than salmon. For the same reason, the cooking time will be shorter too. Shoot for 45-50 min.

Japanese Style Spicy Baked Prawns

Have you ever tried baked spicy mussels in sushi bars? They use Sriracha infused mayo and garnish the mussels with flying fish roe and sesame seeds. I’m a sucker for these things. And I like the recipe even better with prawns on a half shell. Not your traditional Dynamite prawns, but super delicious and cute looking, too.

Roasted Potatoes

This is such an easy and super simple recipe that I never actually thought of putting it on my blog. But then everybody who tried these potatoes at my house loved them a lot and asked me for the recipe, so I decided to finally post it here.

Roasted Garlic Spears

Late spring and early summer are the season of all sorts of green scapes and spears: onions, leeks, chives etc. They are considered a super healthy food and also are quite delicious. I came across them in many stores this year- Asian supermarkets, Metropolitan Market, QFC.

My current favorites are garlic spears. When raw, their flavor reminds me that of ramps, wild leeks (in Russia we call it ‘cheremsha’ with a stress on the last syllable), fresh, sharp and very garlic like. We like to dip the raw stems in salt and use a chaser to a shot of vodka along with a crusty rye bread.

When cooked, their sharp flavor mellows down significantly and is reminiscent of that of roasted garlic cloves. Roasted garlic spears are an awesome side for grilled or roasted fish or poultry. Better than asparagus, to my taste!

Brined Mackerel (or Herring if you're lucky to get it!)

This is not exactly a summer dish for me (it was 90 in Seattle this afternoon!), but I was asked to post this recipe, so here it is. Elli, thank you for reading my blog!

Salted herring, especially salted in brine, is a popular Russian dish. Skinned, filleted, thoroughly deboned, then sliced into bite-size pieces, layered with sliced sweet onions and drizzled with aromatic unrefined sunflower oil and several drops of table vinegar or lemon juice, it makes a nice dinner along with boiled potatoes and some vegetable salad. 

Grilled Radicchio and Belgian Endive

Whenever we grill fish, meat or poultry, we also grill some vegetables to go as a side. Halved tomatoes, whole mildly spicy peppers like Poblano, Anaheim or sweet Korean; asparagus, mushrooms, and basically whatever vegetable we find appropriate for a certain dish. Our recent favorite to go with a whole grilled fish are radicchio and Belgian endive.

Miso Marinated Black Cod

To my taste, this is hands down the best preparation of black cod. Its natural fattiness combines so well with the sweet and salty sauce. They serve it at high end-ish Japanese restaurants, but you can easily make it at home.

Grilled Whole Trout

Grilled whole fish has become one of our most favorite casual dinners. As I have mentioned before, we’re happy owners of a Green Egg, a ceramic charcoal grill, that is perfect for grilling, smoking and even pizza baking.

When grilled right, a whole fish has a beautiful thin, crispy skin and tender and moist flesh.

Best Ever Simmered Corn with Chipotle & Cumin Butter, Cotija Cheese, and Green Onions

Even though the local corn season will only start somewhere in mid-July, devoted corn fans in Seattle should be happy right now since most of the supermarkets offer quite nice Mexican corn. And for a reasonable price, about 50 cents per cob or so. So if you missed this somehow, it would be a good time to run to the store and grab some.

The secret to a great simmered corn on a cob lies in seasoning the water you cook it in. Two ingredients go in there, salt and sugar in equal amounts.

Sautéed Chard with Kalamata Olives, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Basil

Sautéed chard makes a flavorful side dish to serve along with roasted or grilled fish or poultry. It’s also perfect as a stuffing for pies and quiches, as a pizza topping or as a sauce for pasta. The earthiness of chard plays wonderfully with sweetness of sun dried tomatoes, saltiness and tartness of Kalamata olives, sharpness of garlic and strong, fresh scent of basil.

Cuban Sandwich Style Puff Pastry Pie

My husband is a big fan of sandwiches. Huge. I always laugh how he can turn any meal into a sandwich, even a soup!

Since currently he works from home most of the time, I try to make his lunch – usually a sandwich and salad – more fun. Like, for instance, turning his favorite Cuban sandwich into a Cuban puff pastry pie.

Tuna Poke

Poke (POH-kay) is a Hawaiian chopped raw fish dish that is usually served on top of boiled rice. When on Hawaii, we can live on poke only (well, add fresh fruits, too!). Poke is ubiquitous there – you can find it in restaurants, in supermarkets, in special poke cafes.

Dinner: Pan Seared Duck Breast with Balsamic Pearl Onions, Sauteed Fennel and Pureed Cannellini Beans

As a rule, I serve our dinners family style so that everyone can help themselves to what they like and in the amounts they like. This way, nobody is compelled to eat what they don’t want to; food doesn’t get wasted and guests don’t have to feel embarrassed if they didn’t finish something on their plates or took 2

But once in a while, when there’s just two of us, we like to play restaurant and have our meals thoughtfully matched and plated. Like the other night, when I served pureed cannellini beans and sautéed fennel with a pan-seared duck breast with pearl onions in balsamic sauce and crispy fried sage.

Pearl Onions in Balsamic Vinegar

Let me tell you that these onions are seriously addictive (ask my neighbor Maren!). I prefer to always have them in my fridge as they make a great snack for an impromptu party. Serve them cold or at room temperature with soft goat cheese on a piece of crusty rustic baguette or ciabatta. Blue cheese will work as well. They also make quite a terrific topping for steaks, lamb roast and pan seared duck breast.