Spicy Butter Rum Pan Seared Tilapia

Spicy butter rum pan seared tilapia...that's a long name ain't it!? Whew!
It is long but it accurately describes the entire dish. Tilapia is a pretty new fish to the pink room kitchen. I only started to cook with with it regularly a few months ago after having a bad experience with it as a teenager. The short version of the story is that one time my mom brought home tilapia fillets from one of our local supermarkets and when we put the fish to cook it reeked of BLEACH!!!! This isn't something unheard of in fish markets and you really have to get your fish from a reputable fishmonger. I have a good rapport with my local fish market and they always suggest really good fish. One day the fish I was looking for wasn't available and they suggested I try tilapia so I went for it. I've been in love with it since.  So far I have only been pan searing it but ill venture into new cooking techniques with tilapia eventually. Today's recipe only uses a few ingredients and its pretty quick which makes it perfect for weeknights. I have mentioned my love for Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar before but if you don't want to go all the way to TJ's you can just use red/white wine vinegar that should be available in most supermarkets.

I love this stuff!

 I made this recipe twice using two different dark rums from my family's island of Trinidad. I first use Angostura 1919 and then I used the very newly available(only in Trinidad) Angostura Single Barrel rum. I personally like the recipe using the single barrel more but only by a very little bit. You don't have to limit yourself to these rums that I mentioned(granted I would like you to and to support the Trinidadian products) you can use any dark rum you have on hand. I ate this fish with brown rice and sauteed greens but you can serve this your favorite green salad to keep things light. Oh..and why not use the extra rum to mix up a Caribbean cocktail to accompany this awesome dish. Enjoy!

Spicy Butter Rum Pan Seared Tilapia

Serves 2

2 Tilapia fillets

juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup orange champagne muscat vinegar(or other kind)

3 tbsp green seasoning

2 tbsp red pepper flakes

1 tbsp sea salt

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp canola oil

1 large tomato chopped

2 tbsp rum

- marinate tilapia fillets in lime juice, vinegar, green seasoning, red pepper flakes, and salt for a half hour to an hour.

- heat butter and oil in  nonstick skillet over high heat until butter starts to turn slightly brown.

- add in fish fillets immediately along with marinade liquid.

- cook fish for 3 minutes on the first side and then flip to finish the fish.

- tomatoes can be added in now

- cook fish for another 3 minutes or until fully opaque and turn off the stove.

- immediately pour the 2 tablespoons of rum over the fish.

- serve as soon as possible

Fish Tacos with Tomato Pepper Salsa

This one didn't have any lettuce..yummy none the less.

Growing up my dad loved making tacos for dinner...along with sloppy joes and spaghetti it was one of the easiest things he could make outside of barbecue season to satisfy the picky palette of three little kids. Back then the tacos of choice were either ground beef or chicken but now after going pescetarian ill stick to fish, shrimp, or veggie tacos. I usually buy my fish tacos from a local Mexican spot called Chavella's for $3.50 a pop! They do taste great but being on a budget $3.50 for a small taco can add up to a big bill when trying to feed a few people so I decided its about time that I attempt my own. I did look over a few recipes to get a general idea of what I needed to do but decided that I would create my very own recipe. This isn't the quickest recipe and require a considerable amount of time for prep but it is so worth it. This recipe makes enough to fill six large soft tortillas.

Tomato Pepper Salsa

1 large carrot cut julienne

3 tbsp champagne vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1tbsp granulated sugar

salt and pepper to taste

6 jalapeños cut small dice

1 small red onion small dice

1 bulb garlic, peeled and cut small dice

1 tsp olive oil

1 yellow pepper cut medium dice

2 large tomatoes cut medium dice

3 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

1 tbsp lime juice

-Place a small pot of water on the stove under high heat, when it comes to a boil, place carrots in the water for 1 minute, remove and place strained carrots in ice water to cool.

- When carrots are cooled strain and set aside.

- In large bowl pour in vinegar and 1/4 cup olive oil, whisk until emulsified, continue to whisk and add in sugar, then finally add salt and pepper to taste (this is your dressing for the veggies).

- Put dressing to the side and place a large saute pan under medium/high heat and place 1 tsp olive oil in pan.

- When the oil is shimmering add in onions, garlic, and jalapenos. Saute until onions turn clear.

- Toss in yellow peppers and cook for one minute more and then turn off the stove.

- While you allow the onion mix to cool, take carrots, tomatoes and parsley and toss into vinegar dressing. 

- Now add in onion mixture to dressing, toss, and finish with 1 tbsp lime juice. Set aside.

Fish Tacos

1/2 small head of lettuce, washed and chopped

6 soft flour tortillas

6 boneless fillets of white fish such as tilapia

juice of 2 limes

2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning

1 tsp chili powder

2 tsp red pepper flakes

3 tbsp Green Seasoning

1 tsp of your favorite taco seasoning (optional)

1 tbsp golden ray cooking butter (if available)

2-3 tbsp canola/vegetable oil

- Heat oven to 350 degrees.

- Take tilapia fillets and toss in mixture of lime juice, lemon pepper seasoning, chili powder, red pepper flakes, green seasoning, and taco seasoning.

- Heat large skillet under high heat with golden ray(if using) and canola/vegetable oil.

- When oil is slightly smoking add in fish fillets.

- While fish is cooking spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and place tortillas on it and place in the oven to warm.

- Fillets should be opaque by now, so begin to break fish into pieces.

- If fish pieces are fully opaque turn off the stove.

- Remove tortillas from the oven.

- Fill tortillas with fish mixture and top with chopped lettuce, tomato pepper salsa, and a lil sour cream...Voila!!! Dinner is served

** Many persons of Caribbean/West Indian background like to soak their seafood and meats in a lemon juice/salt/vinegar mixture to "cut the freshness" of the meat/fish. Its not a necessary step for this recipe but you can do prior to cooking it if you need to or if its just habit.

Fish Pasta

Fish Pasta..Deelish!

You ever overcooked and had leftovers for days on end? Well sometimes that happens in the Pink Room kitchen...we get all hot and bothered with a recipe, make tons of it, then cant finish all before we get sick of it. Sometime after Christmas we fried some king fish but never got to finish it all and I couldn't bear to eat it the same way that I had been for the past few days so I wanted to make a completely new dish out of it. I know some of you are looking at the screen like "did she just say she had that fish for a few days??" I can assure you there wasn't anything wrong with the fish and if you buy fish on the regular you know how expensive it is, so letting it go to waste wasn't an option. I decided that making some kind of sauce and boiling some pasta would be the tastiest option for the fish. I wasn't really to sure how it would taste since I was using king fish which is a fish with a very outstanding flavor but you can use any thick cut fish that you have on hand. Also if you would like to make this recipe healthier just substitute regular pasta for whole grain pasta. This recipe wasn't hard to make and was ready in about half an hour and it was such a delicious meal. I recommend serving with a light salad and your favorite wine. Enjoy!

Fish Pasta

16oz linguine or spaghetti, cooked, with 1/4 cup pasta water reserved

3 large tomatoes, cut medium dice

1 medium onion, small dice

8 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp Italian herb blend

2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

3 tbsp olive or grapeseed oil

2 tbsp tomato paste

 1lb fish, cooked and broken into chunks

- When pasta is finished boiling make sure to toss pasta with a little olive oil to prevent sticking.
- Place large saute pan on top of medium heat, add in oil and proceed to saute garlic and onions until no longer opaque.
- Add in tomato paste and herbs, stir vigorously
- Add in tomatoes, fish, red pepper flakes, and pasta water, stir
- Lower heat and cover your pot and let it simmer for about 7-10 minutes
- When sauce reaches desired thickness, toss in your noodles and turn off the stove
- Adjust the flavor with salt and pepper, top with fresh parsley, and grated Parmesan cheese if desired
- Serve immediately

Lemon Pappardelle and pan seared snapper.

I go to school downtown Brooklyn not far from the only trader joes for the borough. Its not uncommon for me to take a cool walk down court street to visit my favorite markets...Sahadi's, A Cooks Companion, and Trader Joes. When I visited Trader Joes a couple weeks ago I picked up their lemon pepper pappardelle pasta to try out. The day that I thought of cooking it I had no idea how to prepare it but the packaging said its so flavorful that it just needed a little olive oil and salt so I decided to work around that. I chopped up some shallots, garlic and fresh herbs from my garden such as basil, parsley, and oregano and placed them to the side. After I put the pasta to boil I strained it and ran it under some cold water to shock it and placed it to the side as well. I also had some fish defrosting that was seasoned with green seasoning so I planned to let that accompany my pasta. I wasn't entirely sure how this would all come out but I was just hoping for a yummy filling meal.  I heated my saute pan and made all my herbs and aromatics sizzle and tossed in the pasta with some olive oil and Voila!!...the pasta was a palatable success! The fish I decided to keep simple and sear in grapeseed oil and that was another success. Lunch was ready in about a half hour and my tummy was thankful. If your ever in trader joes check out that lemon pappardelle in the pasta aisle and I can promise that you wont be disappointed.

Lemon Pepper Pappardelle with Pan Seared Snapper

Half package of pappardelle, about 4oz, boiled and shocked

1 shallot, small diced

4 cloves garlic, small diced

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp fresh basil, chopped

1tsp fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp oregano, chopped

2 pieces snapper, steak cut

2 tbsp green seasoning, fresh or store bought

1 1/2 tbsp grapseed oil

salt and pepper to taste

- Place large saute pan under medium/high heat, add 1tbsp of olive oil 

- When oil is hot but not smoking add in garlic and shallots and saute until clear

- Add in pasta to garlic and shallots, toss for 1 minute

- Add in fresh herbs and remaining olive oil and cook until hot.

- Add salt and pepper to taste, cover and set aside

- In a next saute pan under medium/high heat add in grapeseed oil. 

- Rub in green seasoning to fish steaks

- By this time oil should be extremely hot so proceed to add steaks to the pan carefully to avoid getting burned.

- Leave steaks to brown on one side about 2-3 minutes then flip them and let the other side brown for the same time.

- Turn off heat from under fish.

- Serve immediately

Saltfish Buljol

Saltfish buljol is one of those dishes that I have come to love after I gave up meat. I have always had it in some form throughout my life but mostly in the form of fishcakes or accra's. From the stories I heard growing up Saltfish, smoked herring, and other smoked or salted forms of meat and fish were perceived to be food for the poor. They were considered so because they were relatively cheap and able to be stored outside of an icebox. I guess this would be similar to traditional black southern foods like chitterlings and collard greens which were entrails and weeds given to the slaves to eat.  I am no historian so I cannot say this is the absolute truth but it doesn't seem far fetched at all but either way to me I find it extremely tasty. Every household has their own method for making saltfish some people boil it some soak it, some serve it with rice, some like it with ground provision but anyway you get some it shouldn't be anything less than satisfying. I like to boil my saltfish twice to remove the majority of the salt but not too much that I need to add salt in the final cooking, and then I like to cook it with lots of onion, garlic, some carrot, and fresh tomatoes. In my home I serve my saltfish with anything from fry bake to pasta...to me its all good. Depending on the area you live satfish or salted cod can be bought in an Asian market or the Caribbean/Latin section of your supermarket. Before I go I want to leave you with one last tip for frying up your saltfish...if you have any leftover oil from frying fish its a great way to get the most out of your oil and it adds some extra fishy flavor to your saltfish and when you serve it everyone will be saying "how yuh hand sweet so!!" Enjoy!

Saltfish Buljol

1lb Salted cod

1 medium onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, diced

1 small carrot, diced

1 small hot pepper(I used a habenero)

4 Tbsp oil

1 medium tomato, diced

- Boil saltfish to remove enough salt until its your taste

- when saltfish is ready, drain, and set aside.

- Put a large saucepan on the stove with oil under medium to high heat.

- when the oil is hot place onion, garlic, carrot, and hot pepper in the pot, saute for 2 minutes.

- Add in saltfish to the pot and saute for 5 minutes

- After 5 minutes add in tomato's and saute for 1-2 minutes more, turn off the stove and add salt or more pepper to taste. 

- Serve with rice, fried bake, or ground provision

Trinidad Smoked Herring

Growing up in a half Trinidadian household I guess it would be considered weird that I actually never ate smoked herring until I was about 19 while on an extended vacation in Trinidad. My mom says she never cooked to many her traditional dishes because she wasn't sure if we would like it, she pretty much stuck to the traditional Sunday lunch and roti. When I was staying in Trinidad for 6 months with my aunt she introduced me to this wonderful dish. Many Trinidadians consider smoked herring, saltfish, dhal, and the like to be "poor people" food...but many of the most satisfying dishes in the world come out of impoverished situations. In the US collard greens, chitterlings, and ham hocks were weeds and entrails given to the slaves to eat and now its considered a southern delicacy. Anyway back to the smoked herring...so my aunt use to always offer me smoked herring while I stayed with them but it was unfamiliar to me and I wasn't brave enough to try it. One Sunday after she cooked it she insisted that I try it so I finally took a spoonful and guess what...I LOVED IT! It was like a spicy, fishy stew, And I took a plate to eat immediately. Before I left Trinidad to come back home to NY, my aunt made sure to teach me how to make it and even gave me some of her special ingredients to bring back home. I can definitely say this is now one of my favorite dishes, and I try to enjoy it at regular intervals throughout the year. I really need to thank my aunt and cousins for encouraging me to taste so many good things and teaching me to cook numerous Trinidadian dishes during my stay. Here is the recipe for Trinidad style smoked herring. Smoked herring should be available at Asian or other ethnic markets in your area that may stock Caribbean foods. One ingredient I use is called "rookoo", it is the red coloring that comes from boiling fresh annatto seed. Some Trinidadians are not familiar with rookoo and to my knowledge it is not something that is mass produced to export so you may have to go without it unless you can make your own, but don't worry it wont change the taste of the dish if you don't have it.

Trinidad Smoked Herring

makes 4 servings

2lbs smoked herring

1 medium to large onion, cut medium dice

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 hot pepper, seeds removed, and minced

2 tomato's, cut to large  dice

3 tbsp rookoo, if using

- remove smoke herring from package and soak for 45 minutes in boiling water

- while fish is soaking begin to prepare your other ingredients.

- drain smoked herring and search through smoked herring for excess bones and remove ( you will not get all the bones out, but they are small an thin enough to swallow)

- in frying pan put two tbsp of oil or any fat you prefer

- when oil becomes very hot throw in onion, garlic, and pepper. Saute for one minute

- Add in smoked herrings pieces and saute for 3-5 minutes till onions become translucent

- add in tomatoes and rookoo if using, continue to cook for another 3-5 minutes.

- All finished, enjoy with dhal and rice or just rice alone.

** if the smoked herring is too hot a little brown sugar added in will help cool the fire.

Tuna Tarts with Olive Oil Infused Panko Crust

Keeping with  yesterdays theme I decided to make more tarts but instead of sweet I went for savory. I had tuna on hand so I decide to use that as my filling. So I cooked up my tuna filling with my aromatics and set it aside. Then while thinking about my presentation I decided that something would need to go on  top to 1. add some pizazz and 2. stop the tuna from browning too much. I was drawing a blank for a couple minutes and  then thought of my panko crumbs sitting in the cabinet and knew that would make a nice crust.  While looking at food magazines or coking blogs I seen chefs use panko to top items and it would get a nice golden color so I decided that I could do the same thing for my tarts. I rolled out my pastry and filled it with fish and then topped it with my panko crumbs mixed with olive oil.  After I pulled the first batch of  tarts out of the oven they looked delish but I still thought they could use something more. For the second batch I mixed chopped fresh parsley into the bred crumb mixture to  add color.

When this second batch came out the oven  they looked perfect! I really couldn't wait to eat one. After I couple minutes to cool and let the flavors settle I finally bit in and guess what...they tasted FABULOUS! This is a dish that I am really proud of not only for the taste but for the presentation. Decorating and finishing has never been my strong point to when something I make looks as great as it taste it makes me exceptionally proud. To make this follow the same steps from the Almond Tartlets  and use the flaky pastry recipe for you shell, this recipe makes 25. Here are the recipes for the tuna filling and panko crust:

Tuna Filling

25 ounces of tuna (5 cans)

1 hot pepper

1/2 small onion

5 garlic cloves

3 tbsp olive oil

juice of one lemon

salt to taste

- Open and drain cans of tuna, set aside

- mince hot pepper, onion, and garlic, set aside

- Heat saucepan with oil

- saute onion, pepper, garlic, tuna all together 

- add in lemon juice and salt

 - Cook for 3-5 minutes

- Set aside

**Typically warm filling shouldn't go into a pie crust but it works fine for this recipe.

Panko Crust

1 cup panko crumbs

2 tsp olive oil

a couple fresh sprigs of parsley

- Mix all ingredients together and set aside to top tarts

- 1 tsp per tart should do.