Blackened Tuna (or Salmon) with Roasted Ginger-Orange Green Beans

In yesterday's post, I mentioned the recipe I made that incorporated the flavors of the soaps (click here if you need to refresh your memory or enter the giveaway). I chose citrus and ginger since that is the soap I'm currently using, and because I like cooking with both those ingredients.

I started by tossing fresh green beans with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Fresh ginger gets grated on top and mixed in, then slices of orange are placed on top of the green beans while it roasts. The ginger isn't overwhelming and the flavors taste pretty good. I was nibbling on them while the fish cooked.

As for the fish, I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to prepare it. It wasn't until I was getting a coffee at Victorian Pantry that I got an idea. I've mentioned before that Steve, the owner, has started selling specialty blended teas, which I once used in cupcakes. I saw a Tangerine Rooibos this time and figured it would taste pretty good as a seasoning for the fish, and keeping with the citrus theme. Rooibos tea leaves aren't as strong as black tea, so I didn't have to worry about the tea overpowering the taste of the tuna and salmon. Eventually, I settled on blackened fish, a dish I haven't made before.

Both tuna and salmon were on sale at the local store. I got some of each since I knew some of my eaters wouldn't feel comfortable eating seared tuna. The salmon was wild, and the tuna was sushi grade yellowfin.

So blackened fish. What is it? I looked up some recipes online and I found that it's just a paprika-based seasoning that completely coats both sides of the fish. The fish is then seared in a hot skillet, long enough for each side to develop a crispy coating that looks almost blackened, but isn't. You either finish cooking it in the oven, under the broiler, or in the case of tuna, you don't keep cooking it.

My seasoning mix consisted of the tangerine rooibos tea, paprika, oregano, onion and garlic powder, coarse salt, pepper, and a bit of sugar.

To prepare the fish, I melted butter in a skillet on low heat. Both sides of the salmon and tuna were dipped into the butter, then into the tea seasoning until completely coated. I seared the salmon on both sides for two minutes, then finished baking it in the oven for about seven minutes.

The tuna was given a two minute sear on either side, after which I sliced them up and plated it. Is there a proper way to slice tuna, like cutting steak against the grain? When I sliced the tuna, it either began to fall apart or looked flaky. Perhaps my knife wasn't sharp enough.

And that's how it went down. This was my first time eating tuna (aside from sushi), and I decided I liked it. It has a very meaty, rich taste different from other fishes. I like it, I want some more of it, but it's too expensive.

The tangerine rooibos coating was incredible. It was faintly floral and citrusy and was a good compliment to the light taste of both the fish. I didn't taste any of the salmon, but I think they liked it. (I hope?) If you made this, you could use any citrus rooibos tea available to you or any citrus-flavored herbal tea you enjoy drinking.

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Citrus Rooibos-Blackened Tuna
Recipe by Christina Provo

Serves 4

Ingredients -
2 tablespoons tangerine rooibos tea leaves, or another type of herbal tea
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 3-4 ounce sushi-grade yellowfin tuna pieces
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
A starchy side dish

Directions -

1. In a pie dish, mix together the tea, paprika, oregano, garlic and onion powders, salt, sugar, and pepper. In a large skillet, melt the butter over low heat. Working with one piece of tuna at a time, dip both sides in butter, then in the coating, making sure each side is completely coated. Place on a platter while you prepare the rest of the tuna.


2. Raise the heat to medium high. Add the tuna and sear for 2 minutes. Don't move the pieces or else you won't get a good coating. Using a spatula, flip the tuna over and sear for another 2 minutes. The tuna should still be pink in the middle. Remove to a cutting board.


3. Slice a piece of tuna and fan it out on the plate.

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Roasted Ginger-Garlic Green Beans
Recipe by Christina Provo

Serves 4

Ingredients -

1 1/2 pounds green beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon coarse salt
black pepper
1/2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 an orange, thinly sliced

Directions -

• Preheat oven to 400°. In a 12x9-inch baking dish or a rimmed baking sheet, toss the green beans with olive oil, salt, pepper, and grated ginger. Place the orange slices on top and bake until green beans are tender, about 25 minutes.

Macadamia-Lime Crusted Ocean Perch & Oh Nuts! Product Review

I was contacted by Sam from Oh Nuts!, who generously offered me some products to review on here. I took up the offer, and in a few days I received a bag of raw macadamia nuts and dried red sour cherries. Of course I couldn't wait to try them, so I opened the bag and tested a few of each. Macadamias have a rich, round flavor that's rather neutral whilst imparting a subtle nuttiness to recipes. The cherries were delicious and slightly tart, though I will need to plump them if I use it in baking since they weren't really plump to begin with (I'll be using these in a different recipe later).

For now, I decided to use a portion of the macadamias as a coating for fish. When ground, the macadamias resemble panko bread crumbs, which is great considering that's what mixed with them, along with a few herbs, spices, and lime zest.

The process went like this: Fish dipped in flour, beaten eggs, then the macadamia coating. Afterwards, the coated fillets took a rest on a baking sheet with a cooling rack on top to dry out a bit. This makes it easier to pan fry the fish as the coating will remain intact.

The coating crisped up nicely and the subtle heat from the cayenne pepper contrasted nicely with the flavor of the lime zest. Ocean perch is a good fish to cook with since it's a bit heartier than many other white fishes with a neutral flavor that won't overpower the rest of the meal.

Since I made these for sandwiches, I made a lime aioli (omitting the sweeteners, subbing lime juice for lemon, and tripling the garlic). For the greenery, I wanted a simple slaw and used up napa cabbage I had with jalapenos and red onion, which was drizzled and tossed with some of the aioli, additional olive oil, and white vinegar, plus a sprinkling of salt. Delicious on its own, but even better as a sandwich topping.

Thanks again to Sam for sending me these products. Oh Nuts! has a great variety of nuts, dried fruit, and loads of other goodies to check out. Head on over to see what they have that you might need!

Recipe after the jump.

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macadamia-lime crusted ocean perch
Recipe by Christina Provo

ingredients ~

1 cup raw macadamia nuts, ground to the consistency of panko bread crumbs
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
grated zest of two limes
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
8 frozen ocean perch fillets, thawed
3 cups thinly shredded napa cabbage
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 recipe lime aioli
Olive oil
White vinegar
Coarse salt
Oil for frying

directions ~

1. In a wide, shallow dish (such as a pie plate) mix together ground macadamia nuts, panko, oregano, salt, cayenne pepper, and lime zest. Place the flour in a separate pie plate, and the beaten eggs in a bowl wide and deep enough to dip the fish in.


2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a cooling rack and place next to where you'll prep the fish. To coat the fish, coat lightly in flour. Dip in beaten eggs, then coat completely in the nut-panko mixture. Place on lined baking sheet; repeat with remaining fish. Set aside to dry for 15-20 minutes.


3. Toss cabbage with jalapenos and red onion in a medium sized bowl. Coat with 1/4 cup aioli and a drizzle of olive oil and white vinegar, tossing to mix thoroughly. Season with salt if needed.


4. Preheat an oven to 200 degrees. Heat a skillet over medium heat with enough oil to lightly coat the bottom. When hot, add 3 fish fillets and cook until the coating is crispy and golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip over and continue to cook for another 3 minutes; remove to another sheet baking sheet lined with a cooling rack and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining fish, adding more oil as needed.


5. Serve with salad and additional aioli sauce between hamburger buns.

grilled beer battered shrimp

Holidays and some birthdays around here usually mean grilling stuff, like fish, chicken, or other grillables. We've been playing around with battered fish for a while, though after this we've decided that grilling food with a battered coating wasn't the best method. (I still say the grills needed to be greased. *cough cough*)

Last time we used a tempura-ish batter with beer and it didn't quite stick to the shrimp. After reading around, we realized it we weren't patting the shrimp dry enough for the batter to stick. Also, some methods tossed the fish with either corn starch or flour, further ensuring the fish to be thoroughly coated with bater. We used cornstarch.

This beer batter was one of the better recipes I've tried, and coming from Alton Brown, it all makes sense. The batter includes baking powder for lightness, I'm guessing, and the carbonation from the beer would definitely aid in that aspect along with giving the batter flavor. There's also a bit of cayenne pepper that lends a noticeable spicy note, and I also added a teaspoon of fish seasoning I have. (He uses Old Bay, and this is probably the equivalent, though he only uses a "dash".) The batter then gets a brief rest of 15 minutes in the fridge before being used, though the recipe states that it can rest for up to an hour.

The shrimp skewers were then placed on the grill and left for a few minutes until the batter set.

So far, everything seemed good. My dad was concerned that the batter would rip off like a scab and stick to the grills instead of the shrimp. (He didn't use those exact words.) The first few skewers didn't stick to the grill, which wasn't oiled.

Then some of the coating just wouldn't stick to the shrimp. I think this could have been because the outside cooked quicker than the inside, so it didn't have a chance to stick to the shrimp. However, nothing went to waste as I scraped off the coating that stuck to the grills. Gotta get my daily dose of carcinogen in! The batter was incredibly tasty, and years of purposely burning marshmallows enables me to enjoy the flavor of overly charred food. It adds an interesting aspect.

So, for the most part, it wasn't a failure, though it wasn't necessarily easy. The sad part is that you don't get the flavor of charcoal when you fry food.

P.S. I left out the obvious joke of "shrimp on the barbie", which I will mention now that this post is over.

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Alton Brown's Beer Batter for Fish
From Alton's Chips and Fish recipe

ingredients ~

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash Old Bay Seasoning
1 bottle brown beer, cold
1 1/2 pounds firm-fleshed whitefish (tilapia, pollock, cod), cut into 1-ounce strips
Cornstarch, for dredging

directions ~

1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper, and Old Bay seasoning. Whisk in the beer until the batter is completely smooth and free of any lumps. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Note: The batter can be made up to 1 hour ahead of time.


2. Lightly dredge fish strips in cornstarch. In small batches, dip fish in batter and cook as desired.

Full cooking methods are described if you click on the link above. Instead of deep frying, you could probably pan fry the fish in a cast iron skillet with a decent amount of oil in it.

Foodbuzz Family Bites: Tuna Patty with Broiled Mayo Topping and Glazed Carrots

I believe this was either the last dinner recipe created for Family Bites, with the help of my mom because I was at a loss. Using a variation of a salmon patty recipe, we decided to replace the salmon with tuna fish (basically coming up with a different way to use tuna outside of the traditional sandwich way) and adjust the flavorings other ingredients to suit our preference.

Using Newman's Own Oil & Vinegar dressing, she also thought that a broiled topping would add a unique twist to the patties. Whipping egg whites and adding mayonnaise, yogurt, the dressing, and lemon pepper seasoning, you then dollop the mixture on top of the cooked patties and broil until browned.

There's also a simple side dish of glazed carrots, also using the oil and vinegar dressing, as well as honey, salt, and pepper.

Recipe after jump

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Tuna Patties with Broiled Topping and Glazed Carrots
Recipe by Christina Provo

These moist, flavorful tuna patties are topped with a special broiled egg white-mayonnaise topping. Served with glazed carrots on the side.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4-8 servings

Ingredients -

Glazed carrots:

4 cups carrots, diced
3 tablespoons Newman's Own Oil & Vinegar dressing
3 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Tuna burgers:

4 can tuna, drained
1 1/4 cup bread crumbs, plus 1/4 cup
1/4 cup cornmeal, plus 1/4 cup
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 teaspoons jarred ground horseradish
1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning (with salt)
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Broiled topping:

2 egg whites, reserve egg yolks
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons Newman's Own Oil & Vinegar dressing
1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning (with salt)

Directions -

1. Heat oil and vinegar dressing over medium heat and add carrots, black pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt.. Cook until tender, tossing occasionally. Add honey and cook for 3 minutes, or until liquid has slightly thickened. Check for seasonings.


2. In large bowl, combine tuna, 1 1/4 cup bread crumbs and 1/4 cup cornmeal, eggs, mustard, horseradish, seasonings, and onion and parsley. Add reserved egg yolks from egg white topping if mixture is too dry. Shape into 8 patties. Mix remaining bread crumbs and cornmeal together and coat patties. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in skillet on medium. Fry patties until golden, about 3-4 minutes on each side, adding additional oil as needed. When cooked, place patties on rimmed baking sheet.


3. While patties cook, mix together mayonnaise, yogurt, oil and vinegar dressing, and seasoning. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and fold in mayo mixture. After patties have cooked, dollop with egg white mixture and broil on medium high until golden. Serve patties with carrots.