San Diego Fish Tacos

Makes 6 tacos

While they are no hard rules for an authentic SD fish taco - I believe a few things are key. A nicely battered & crispy outside, a moist & tender inside served with a simple white sauce and of course shredded cabbage for crunch. Most any whitefish will do, but we made ours using sculpin from Tommy at Catalina Offshore.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup Tempura Flour
• 3/4 soda water
• 1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 1/4 pounds white fish, skinned, deboned and patted dry - sliced into 1" x 3" pieces
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup green salsa
• 6 corn tortillas, warmed
• 1 1/2 cups green cabbage, shredded
• Hot sauce & lime wedges  for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk flour, soda water and Old Bay in a large bowl until smooth
2. Heat a couple inches of oil to 360 degrees in a deep sided pan or pot
3. Combine sour cream & salsa in a small bowl, mix well and set aside.  
4. Dip fish into batter until well coated and gently shake off excess
5. Carefully slide into the oil and cook a couple minutes on each side or until golden brown
6. Remove with a slotted spoon and dry on paper towels
7. Put sour cream sauce on a tortilla, add some cabbage, the fish and top with some hot sauce and a squeeze of lime 
    

Shrimp & BBQ Sauce

Makes about 2 dozen large shrimp

My great friend 'Tommy the Fishmonger'  whips this up in seconds and clearly it's as easy and delicious as it gets.  

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound large shrimp (21/25's would be ideal), shelled, deveined and butterflied
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup Hungry Chef Original BBQ Sauce or whatever bbq sauce you like
• Fresh rice for serving
• Lemon wedges
• Green onions, diced for garnish

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat cast iron skillet or wok on high add butter and shrimp and cook until shrimp are almost done, 2 to 3 minutes
2. Add bbq sauce to shrimp and heat until sauce is bubbly about a minute
3. Serve shrimp on rice, with a squeeze of lemon and garnished with green onions

Grilled Polenta with Crab

Serves 4 as appetizer

Perfect summer appetizer – totally delicious & simple crab salad on grilled polenta, you can have this on the table n 20 minutes, easy! 

INGREDIENTS

• Makes about 20 rounds
• 1 polenta chub
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 green onion chopped
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1 tablespoon chili sauce
• Juice from 1/2 lime
• Kosher salt & pepper
• 1  1/2 cups fresh crab meat
• 1/2 avocado, sliced
• 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

DIRECTIONS

• Pre-heat grill pan to medium/high
• Slice polenta into 1/4 inch thick rounds
• Lightly drizzle with olive oil, season with Kosher salt and pepper & cook on grill pan until crispy and well marked, 5-7 minutes on each side
• In a bowl mix diced green onions, red pepper, chili sauce, lime juice, pinch salt and crab meat
• Spoon some crab mixture on each round, top with a slice of avocado and wee bit of cilantro. 

Lobster Pasta

Serves 3-4

Yum

Ingredients

• 2 lobster tails, uncooked
• 1/2 large yellow or white onion, diced
• 1 small green pepper, diced
• 1/2 pound shell type pasta
• 1 large clove, or 2 small cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons butter
• Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper
• 1/3 cup cup parsley, minced
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Extra virgin olive oil, for finishing

Directions

1. Steam lobster tails about 12 minutes or until done, let cool slightly, remove meat and cut into bite size pieces
2. Cook pasta until done
3. While the lobster steams, cook onion and green pepper in a little oil until softened
4. Put in garlic, and cook about 1 minute
5. Add red pepper, butter, lobster and season with salt & pepper
6. Stir well then put in parsley & lemon zest
7. Combine and heat through, then finish with a drizzle of olive oil

Ahi Slider

Makes 2 sliders

It's a small burger with giant flavor.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

• 2 tablespoons Kewpie (Japanese mayo) or Miracle Whip

• 1 tablespoon Chili Paste

• 1/4 cup Jicama, cut into matchsticks

• 3 green onions, white & light green parts shredded lengthwise

• Approx 6 ounces fresh ahi - cut into 2 small fillets

• 2 King's Hawaiian Rolls

• Kosher salt

• Fresh black pepper

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• Half an avocado, in thin slices

Directions

1. In a medium bowl combine hoisin, mayo & chili paste - mix well and set aside

2. Mix jicama and green onion - set aside

3. Pre-heat a griddle or non-stick pan or fire up the grill outside to medium

4. Lightly oil ahi, season with Kosher salt and pepper, cook or grill until 1/4 of the way done up the side, then flip and repeat – this will keep it rare in the middle

5. While it cooks, slice Hawaiian rolls, lightly oil and grill until brown on both sides

6. Build: grilled bun, hoisin mix, avocado slices, ahi, jicama slaw and top bun, enjoy!

Creamy Chipotle Tequila Shrimp

Serves 2-3

So good, creamy & wonderful. Positively dreamy. 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon each butter & olive oil
• 1 pound, raw peeled & deveined shrimp
• Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup tequila, silver would be most appropriate here
• 1/3 cup Mexican crema
• 1-2 chipotle chiles, minced
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Directions

1. Heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat and add butter, oil & shrimp
2. Season with salt & pepper and cook until about 1/2 way done
3. Pull pan off heat and add tequila - slowly slide back as it will likely flame (you want this)
4. Let the flame burn down - it will only take a few seconds and put in garlic
5. Stir well about 30 seconds and add crema and chipotle - stir well to combine
6. Let thicken, add cilantro.
7. Serve this on rice, pasta or by itself.

Chris' Sand Bass Bacon Tacos

Makes 8

Named for my friend Chris, but not because he cooks - because he can't...or doesn't (same thing really). But he can fish so that partially makes up for it.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup green salsa
• 1 lime, cut in half (one half left whole and the other into wedges)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ cup yellow onion, diced
• 1 pound Sand Bass fillet, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 8 corn tortillas
• 3/4 cup green cabbage, shredded
• 12 strips bacon, cooked until just crispy & crumbled
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Mix sour cream, salsa & juice from ½ the lime, set aside
2. Heat non-stick pan to medium high, and add oil, onions and bass
3. Cook until the onion has softened and the bass is just evenly cooked – about 5 minutes
4. While fish cooks, warm tortillas until just starting to get a little crispy
5. Build the tacos: tortilla, salsa cream, cabbage, fish, avocado slices, bacon and finally add a squeeze of fresh lime juice

Gochujang Salmon

Serves 2

Gochujang is Korean red chili paste and easily accessible at any Asian market. Think of it as Sriracha's older, wiser, more mature cousin. And this recipe goes from nothing to the table in under 15 minutes. 

Ingredients

• 2 - 6 ounce salmon fillets

• 2 tablespoons Gochujang
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tablespoon soy
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Kosher salt
• Green onions diced, for garnish
• White rice for serving

Directions

1. Preheat broiler
2. Mix gochujang, garlic, soy, sesame oil & honey into a paste
3. Cover baking sheet with foil (it's messy), add salmon, season with Kosher salt and add a layer of the Gochujang mixture over top and sides of salmon
4. Place 5-6" away from broiler coils & cook about 7 minutes or until medium rare 
5. Garnish with green onions and serve with rice

Lox & Bagel

Serves 2

The food of my people doesn't get much better - unless you change it up a bit and go with an inspired yogurt/dill/caper thing instead of the usual cream cheese.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
• 1/2 tablespoon dill (dried or fresh)
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• Pinch of Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper
• 2 whole wheat bagels
• Red onion, thinly sliced
• 4 ounces lox
• 1 large, beautifully ripe tomato, sliced into 1/8 inch rounds

Directions

1. Put yogurt, capers, dill, lemon juice, salt & pepper in a bowl and mix well to combine
2. Slice bagels in half and either toast, then butter - or butter first then grill on a non-stick surface until golden brown (grilling is better)
3. Spread yogurt mix on 2 of the bagels, then add tomato, some onion, season with a little more pepper, lots of lox and finish with bagel top
4. Slice and eat

Crab Quesadilla

There's good crab and there's bad crab. If it's spelled with a 'k', as in 'krab' - stay away. It won't be crab - but it will be krappy.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces crab meat
• 1/4 cup red pepper, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon diced jalapenos
• 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• Fresh tortillas

Directions

1. Heat large pan over medium heat
2. Mix all ingredients except tortillas in medium bowl
3. Spread approximately 3/4 of a cup of mixture over tortilla, and top second tortilla
4. Place in pan and squish down slightly
5. Cook until lightly brown on both sides
6. Cut into wedges and serve with sour cream and salsa - the green kind (salsa verde) would be very good with this

Crab Dip

You can buy expensive crabmeat at your favorite seafood joint, but as long as you find yourself a really good quality canned version you don't need to.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound crabmeat
• 1/3 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup red onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce, I like Cholula
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix all ingredients well and put in a oven proof serving bowl
3. Bake for 15 minutes, then place under broiler to brown top
4. Serve with crackers or something crunchy like baked won ton chips

Crab Won Tons

Makes about 30

This falls under the heading of "Don't make the same thing all the time". They're delicious, simple and different - plus they're baked, not fried. I would try to insist on fresh crab, but there's no point. You're going to use what you want and besides - canned in this case is actually not that bad. But if you do use the canned, buy the 'lump'.

Ingredients

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 3 green onions, sliced very thin
• 1 cup crab meat, approximately
• 1 tablespoon Asian hot sauce (Sriracha)
• 1 package won ton wrappers, I like the round ones

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Mix all ingredients well in bowl, except wrappers
3. Put about a teaspoon and a half of mixture in center of each wrapper
4. Dip finger tips in water and wet edges of wrapper lightly and fold in half - try to remove as much air as possible
5. Seal tightly and place won tons on baking sheet coated with cooking spray
6. Bake until they start to brown - should be about 15 to 20 minutes
7. While they cook, make the dipping sauce:
8. 3 tablespoons soy
9. 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
10. 1 teaspoon sugar
11. 1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
12. 1 teaspoon green onion, finely chopped
13. Mix all ingredients and serve on the side

Shrimp & Corn Chowder

Makes 4 servings

So good, so simple, so quick. Made even easier by keeping a bag of raw shell-on shrimp in the freezer and a can of corn in the pantry.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup onion, finely diced
• 1 - 15 ounce can whole corn kernels
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 large potato, cut into large dice
• Salt to taste
• 1 pound 31/40 raw shrimp, peeled, deveined

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and add onion, garlic and corn
2. Cook until softened then add the paprika and cayenne and cook, stirring until mixed well
3. Add the milk, stock, potato and salt
4. Bring almost to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover
5. Stir occasionally for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender
6. Add shrimp during the last 5 minutes of cooking, and cook until they just turn opaque
7. Add some fresh chopped parsley on top
8. Serve with tons of good crusty bread and a big fat salad

Tomato & Yellow Pepper Gazpacho

Serves 6

This is big and bold and full of flavor and deserves to be made.

Ingredients

• 2 yellow peppers, seeded & cut into big chunks
• 4 medium ripe Roma tomatoes, quartered with just the stem end removed
• 2 long English cucumbers, or 1.5 medium ones - cut lengthwise and then into 1 inch chunks
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut into big chunks
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons hot sauce, I like Cholula
• 1 large bunch Cilantro or Parsley - no stems
• 3-5 ounces tomato juice or Bloody Mary mix - depending how thick or thin you like it
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Extra virgin olive oil for serving

Directions

1. The key is to blend everything, so if you can fit everything in a processor or blender the first time, go ahead and blend until still a bit chunky
2. If you need to do it in 2 shifts, do that - eventually everything will fit for a final blend, but don't blend it too perfect - keep it a little chunky
3. Put in a bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil

Barbequed Shrimp (no bbq required)

Serves maybe 5 as an appetizer

I have always been a proponent of keeping a bag of frozen shell-on & de-veined shrimp in the freezer, and this recipe proves my point beautifully. At the absolute last minute you can have an awesome, delicious and fun meal. But it's a shame to eat these alone - turn them into a party.

Ingredients

• 1 pound 21/25 shrimp raw, shell-on & deveined (and defrosted)
• 1.5 sticks butter
• 1 tablespoon chopped, fresh garlic
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp each: crushed red pepper, cayenne pepper, and fresh ground black pepper.
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 bottle beer

Directions

1. Melt 1 stick of butter with garlic over medium heat.
2. Add spices and mix well then add shrimp - turn over when shrimp are pink on bottom side
3. When shrimp are cooked on both sides, add remainder of butter, beer, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice - heat through.
4. Serve with lots of cold bottled beer, warm crusty bread and newspaper as placemats.
5. Lots of napkins too.

Black Bean Salmon

Serves 4 - 6

Only three ingredients, but it tastes like fifty. The black bean & garlic sauce is available in the Asian aisle at any supermarket. Look for the Lee Kum Kee brand.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup apricot preserves (which is pretty much the same as jam)

• 1/2 cup black bean & garlic sauce

• 1 whole salmon filet, 1.5 - 2 pounds

• 1/4 green onions, finely chopped

• Toasted sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat broiler to high

2. Mix apricot and black bean in a small bowl - stir well

3. Spread evenly over top of the salmon

4. Put in oven 4-6 below broiler coils - and cook approximately 7 minutes for every inch of thickness

5. Remove to a platter or serving plates and sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds

Broiled Shark with Mango Salsa

I used shark, but you could easily use seabass, or mahi mahi or any favorite.

Ingredients

• 4 shark filets
• 2 mangos, peeled pitted and diced
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh peeled ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lime peel
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in medium bowl and toss to blend.
2. Season with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
3. Let stand at least 20 minutes - you can make this up to a couple of hours in advance. If you do, cover and refrigerate.
4. When ready to cook, preheat broiler.
5. Drizzle olive oil over shark add salt & pepper to taste.
6. Broil shark 5-7 minutes per side or until desired doneness.
7. Remove to plate and serve with salsa.

Calamari Steak with Garlic & Capers

Serves 2

According to Randy Gruber from Restaurant Americana, the key to making non-rubbery calamari is to use high heat so it sears and cooks quickly. Have everything at the ready when you start - it goes fast.

Ingredients

• 12 ounces calamari steak cut into 6 large triangles
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 1 teaspoon fresh chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon fresh chopped basil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon butter
• olive oil

Directions

1. Season calamari with salt & pepper
2. Heat olive oil in medium pan on high heat
3. Pan sear calamari until cooked on both sides - about one minute each side
4. Add butter, garlic, capers, 1/2 the parsley & basil and lemon juice
5. Cook for just a minute and serve with sauce from pan.

Chinese Hoisin Shrimp

Ingredients

• 6 scallions (green onions)
• 1/4 cup Chinese Hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1 1/2 lb med shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Cut scallions into 1" pieces.
2. Mix together Hoisin sauce, soy sauce and sherry.
3. Heat wok until almost smoking and add oil.
4. Add ginger, garlic and salt, and stir-fry 20-30 seconds.
5. Add shrimp and stir-fry 2-3 minutes until pink.
6. Add scallions and stir-fry 30 seconds.
7. Add Hoisin sauce mixture and stir-fry for another minute.
8. Serve immediately with rice.

Cedar Plank Salmon

Serves 6

This is very impressive looking when done, not to mention easy. I know I say that a lot but it really is. You can find the untreated cedar planks at your local lumberyard.

Ingredients

• 1 Cedar plank (dimensions are up to you, but about an inch thick and big enough to fit the salmon with at least an inch of border, but not too big to fit in your barbeque)

• 1 whole salmon fillet

• Olive oil

• Kosher Salt and fresh ground pepper

• 1-2 tablespoons of Sriracha sauce

• 2-3 tablespoons of Kewpie (Japanese mayo, regular mayo will work too) 

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

• Spray bottle of water, just in case

Directions

1. Soak plank in water 1 to 2 hours.

2. Heat grill to medium

3. Place salmon on plank and rub top lightly with oil

4. Sprinkle well with salt and pepper

5. Spread Sriracha and mayo evenly over salmon

6. Sprinkle brown sugar over the salmon

7. Place board with salmon on heated grill and close lid.

8. For a filet about an inch at its thickest and depending on how good your barbeque is, it will grill for about 10 - 15 minutes.

9. The plank sides may flare up during cooking this is no big deal as long as you keep the salmon about an inch away from the edges.

10. Remove and serve.

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