A Trip to the Beach and Cioppino

Today I was not working so me and the family decided to go to Westport WA right on the Pacific Ocean. Our goal was to play at the beach and just enjoy the day; however, Mother Nature had other plans. It was so cold and windy and we did not bring coats or wear long pants. It was about 85 degrees when we left home and about 60 when we got to the beach with high winds. Needless to say we did not stay long, which brought me to my second and third goals.

Second on my list of things to do was to go to my favorite candy shop and buy saltwater taffy. This is the only place I buy it because it is the real deal and it is so yummy and fresh. They have so many flavors it makes a person's head double take at all the cool flavors. They also have a great fudge counter, but saltwater taffy takes the center stage with me when I go here. It is called Gifts Ahoy Sea Shanty and anyone who visits Westport must go here to get taffy, fudge, and really cool gifts. It is right across the street from all the piers and floats right there in the heart of this wonderful fishing town of Westport WA.
Check out all the taffy flavors. And, I didn't even get all of them in the pictures, there was also taffy above and below the middle racks of which is pictured here. They have so many flavors, it is a taffy lover's dream.



Then my third goal of this visit was to go to the floating seafood shop called Seafood Connection right on the water at Float 8 on the Westport fishing piers. This is one of the best places in Westport to buy seafood. It is fresh off the boats and when it is sold out, there is nothing frozen or anything. Once it is gone, it is gone; you wait until tomorrow if you want seafood from here. It is so fresh. The cool thing is that it floats, you can actually feel the waves beneath your feet as you shop and they wrap up your seafood and ice it right there. You can buy live crabs, live prawns, halibut, and many other types of seafood. This is where I bought my seafood for my Cioppino that we had for dinner. Nothing like a fresh seafood meal with some yummy sourdough to round out a great day.

Another unexpected treat we got was a sea lion popped up out of the water while we were walking down the pier to go back to the car, he was so close and I had put my camera away. I was pretty disappointed that he did not rear his head again as he was maybe 4 feet away from us and that picture would have been great! But we saw him again from afar and so this is the picture I got.

Yes the little dot in the water is the sea lion. They know when the fishing boats come in and hang out while they throw out any fish parts they do not need, or bait they did not use, so they can get a feast when the charter boats come in.

Here is the wonderful seafood I purchased. We got a dungeness crab, mussels, clams, and part of a halibut fillet.


Ok if you have made it this far in this great day story, then here is the recipe for the Cioppino. It is an adaptation of a recipe I found online at Mama Chios Shellfish Cioppino and I changed it up a little bit to make it a little less spicy and to use what I had on hand and what seafood was in season. Just click the link to get the original recipe and here is the changes included.



Cioppino

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup butter
1 onion, chopped
3 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley leaves
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 cup merlot wine (we used Fat Bastard Merlot, it was also so good to drink; it is also a great priced bottle at $10 a bottle that tastes like we paid more, it was really good)
2 cups chopped roma tomatoes
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp red pepper
1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
2 cups water

1 dungeness crab, shelled
3/4 lb halibut fillet, cut into bite sized chunks
1 lb clams
1 lb mussels

Heat oil and butter in large pot. Add onion, parsley, and garlic. Cook until onion is transparent. Add wine and cook an additional 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and spices. Stir frequently while cooking 15-20 minutes. Add water, cover, simmer for 30 minutes. Add all seafood except halibut to sauce. Add more water if necessary to make sure all shellfish is covered. Cook for 5 minutes; add halibut, and cook additional 10 minutes. When clams have opened, cioppino is ready to serve.

Notes:
- if any clams or mussels have not opened, discard them.
- We ate this with some sourdough bread to soak up broth.

Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta

Just want to give a shout out to my friend Anya over at Anya Cooks because she gave me an awesome recipe for Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta that I made last night for dinner. It was fantastic and not too spicy at all!

This recipe was so easy and took me less than 20 minutes to prepare from start to finish. While the pasta was cooking; I made the sauce, then whipped up a salad, and then whipped up some garlic bread also to go with it. Such an easy meal for when you come home from work and want something yummy, but don't feel like a huge ordeal of cooking. I love that it was so easy! That was definitely the best part after the eating. All I heard at the dinner table was "mmmmmmm" and more "mmmmmmm" and silence while everyone wolfed it down.

My dish probably is not as good looking as hers is (I only had tiny shrimp to work with not the good ones where you can grill them and leave grill marks.. oh well, next time) but it is as good. We also added just a bit of shredded parmesan cheese and little parsley on top and it was yummy! Otherwise we did nothing different than what she had posted on her site. We made it exactly as Anya directed.

Check out her recipe here Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta. It is definitely a recipe everyone should have in their recipe box. It will be a regular meal at our house, it was that good! Thanks Anya!

Dill and Lemon Tilapia

Another winner by Amazing Taste in this Seafood Seasoning I received from them with my tilapia. The seasoning made into a marinade (I just used the instructions on the back of the package) was one of the best I have had for fish. It had just the right amount of dill and lemon to make this a winning combination for a fast easy dinner. I had 4 tilapia fillets in the freezer from our last Costco trip and decided I wanted to try their marinade. It was hands down wonderful, the whole family loved it.

At 99 cents a package, this makes a wonderful addition to any meal. You can use this as a sprinkle on seasoning, or follow the directions on the back of any of the packages for marinades or meatloaf (on the back of the burger seasoning packet). In this economy, Amazing Taste has made it affordable to make great meals for the family for a very low cost. Add this to your favorite meat today and watch your meals come alive! For the seafood seasoning, you can season any fish, shellfish, and scallops.

Here is what I did:
Dill and Lemon Tilapia
(using the instructions for marinade on the back of the package)

4 Tilapia fillets
1 packet of Amazing Taste Seafood seasoning (just follow the instructions on the back of the package for marinade)



Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine ingredients for marinade as directed on the back of the package. Let tilapia marinate for at least 5 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes. Garnish with favorite herbs, lemon slices, or extra dill.

This fish was wonderfully flaky with amazing flavor in the marinade.

Tips:
- If you do not want it very lemony, take the lemon juice down to 2 Tbsp and add some more fresh dill.
- This would be an excellent recipe to have a little dollop of sour cream on top. I didn't think of it until after we ate all the fish. But, next time I am trying that.

So you can get this at your favorite supermarket in your area by clicking on Amazing Taste and then going to store locater and you can find a store near you to purchase this product. Or else, go to the website and order it from there, they have many flavors of seasoning packets or shaker cans for other types of seasonings at very reasonable prices. So far I am 2 out of 2 in enjoying their great products. I look forward to trying the rest of the seasoning packets.

Tilapia Parmesan

The other night my husband wanted fish for dinner and he searched high and low for a great recipe that is different from what I have usually made in tilapia. He came across this great recipe from Recipe Zaar Mama's Supper Club Tilapia Parmesan and it is terrific! So easy to make (he is the chef on this one and he did a great job), this is one recipe we will be keeping in our recipe box. We just got some fresh tilapia fillets from Costco to do this. He wants to incorporate more fish in our weekly menu plans and with this, we can do it. This is also a recipe from a great restaurant in Wisconsin and they have it on their menu, so if ever in Wisconsin; then eat here, their menu looks amazing! The link is here to check them out: Mama's Restaurant, they have some great history and yummy looking menu.

I am not going to repost the recipe, just go to the website and try it for yourself, it is definitely a keeper!

Hubby's Favorite Salmon

Here is an interesting recipe. It is my husband's favorite salmon recipe and we all love it. I also forgot about it and when he put it on his fishing blog (www.fishingaddictblog.blogspot.com), that is what made me remember it. We have this every time he goes salmon fishing and catches something (we love it when he catches fish).

This dish is made on a cedar plank and it really adds flavor to the food if you have not tried it. Planks also come in alder wood. It is his favorite cooking tool in the world and he does it on the grill outside. Just follow his recipe and you will have exquisite cedar planked salmon that is to die for!!


Photo Credit to: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/seafood/salmon_cedarplank.html


ROASTED CEDAR PLANK SALMON

2 LBS. SALMON FILLET
3 TBLSPN VEGETABLE OIL
1 1/2 TBLSPN SOY SAUCE
1 1/2 tsp. CHOPPED GARLIC
1/2 tspn. SALT
1/4 tsp. WHITE PEPPER
1/3 CUP RYE OR SCOTCH WHISKY
1 TBLSPN BROWN SUGAR

SERVES 4-6

PLACE SALMON FILLET IN A LONG SHALLOW DISH. MIX TOGETHER ALL THE INGREDIENTS AND POUR OVER THE SALMON FILLET. MARINATE FOR 1/2 HOUR.

PRE-HEAT OVEN OR GRILL TO 400 DEGREES. PLACE CEDAR PLANK DIRECTLY ON RACK AND BAKE FOR 8-10 MINUTES. THIS WILL LIGHTLY ROAST THE WOOD. REMOVE PLANK FROM THE OVEN OR GRILL AND RUB WITH A THIN COATING OF OLIVE OIL ON PLANK WHILE IT IS STILL HOT. PLACE SALMON DIRECTLY ON THE HOT PLANK AND ROAST ON PLANK FOR ABOUT 10-15 MINUTES AND BE SURE TO KEEP A SPRAY BOTTLE WITH WATER NEAR BY IF USING OUTDOOR GRILL TO COOK THE SALMON SO IF THE PLANK CATCHES FIRE YOU HAVE SOME WATER TO PUT OUT THE FLAME.

Honey Walnut Prawns

I had a request from another webmaster at Link Referral about a recipe that we love for prawns. This is the one that stood out to me most as it is one of our most favorite recipes. When we make homemade Chinese food, this is what we have also. It is similar to tempura and oh so yummy!! Here it is:

Honey Walnut Prawns

1 lb of large or medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup walnuts
5 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 cups oil
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup egg whites
2 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup oil

PREPARATION

Rinse walnuts, then boil in 5 cups of water, continually changing water until clear. When clear, boil with sugar until sugar dissolves. Heat 2 cups of oil until almost smoking, then deep fry walnuts until they are shiny and brown, no longer golden. Place walnuts on cookie sheet, let cool.

Mix cornstarch and egg whites together to form a thick, sticky texture and mix well with shrimp. Set aside. Mix honey, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and condensed milk in a medium bowl until smooth. Heat oil until boiling, then deep fry shrimp until golden brown. Drain. Fold in honey/mayonnaise mixture. Mix well, sprinkle with walnuts, and arrange on platter.

Recipe courtesy of About.com, Inc; 2005

This isn't the time saver recipe that I am used to but it tastes so good that it is worth the effort. The whole family loves this shrimp with some stir fry, or sweet and sour chicken, or whatever Asian food you like can be the main meal with this recipe.