So I’ll have you know I put on my big girl pants for this recipe! HA! I can be a bit squeamish when it comes to slimy foods and raw meats. I’m getting better but still tend to opt for pre-shelled, de-veined, and de-yucked (I know, not a word but it should be!) ingredients when I get the chance. This time I sucked it up, shoved my hands into the cold slimy abyss, and peeled and de-veined these little suckers like any self-respecting grown woman should. I will say, it was worth it! I broiled this recipe but you can also grill it for an easy clean-up free option.
This year I’ve been traveling a ton domestically, but it’s been years since I had a proper vacation on an island somewhere. As summer winds down I’m taking some time to play pretend. So put on a steel drum band, flip off those shoes and let’s cook on island time!
- 1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined
- 2 tablespoon orange juice
- juice from 1 lime
- 2 tablespoon coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- pinch cayenne
- 1 tablespoon smashed garlic
- salt and pepper
~ Process all ingredients except the shrimp in a food processor until combined.
~ In a bowl, combine marinade and shrimp and toss to coat.
~ Preheat broiler on high.
~ Thread shrimp onto skewers and place on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Top with remaining caribbean marinade.
~ Broil 2 minutes on each side taking care not to overcook.
ENJOY!!!
Fresh and light seafood dishes just feel like summer to me. Crisp fresh flavors and chilled white wine on a cool summer’s night can make any day special. This recipe is easily adaptable to any flavors you’d like to add and gives a great basic starting point for any shellfish dish. You can pile the mussels on linguine and pour the sauce over top or simply eat them as is like we do sopping up the sauce with crusty seedy bread. I used olive oil and it tasted great but you can also use butter for a more indulgent meal.
I bought Carlsbad Aquafarm mussels and they were delightful. Tasty and succulent. Though I usually avoid farmed seafood, this aquafarm has quality seafood and operates in an incredibly eco-friendly manner.
ENJOY!
- 3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 large shallots, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger root
- 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 slices lemon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1/3 cup chopped parsley
- 2 pounds fresh mussels, scrubbed and debearded
Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add shallots, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and salt and saute until shallots are lightly browned. Add wine, lemon and most of the parsley reserving some for garnish. Bring to a boil then add mussels, cover pot, and cook until the mussels pop open. Discard any mussels that didn’t open. Remove mussels from pan and cook down sauce to desired consistency (I prefer it a little more watery). Salt and pepper to taste and spoon sauce over mussels. Garnish with remaining parsley. DELICIOUS!!
food photographer, food photography, los angeles, crystal cartier
This week’s post is a salute to leftovers. I’m not big on eating yesterday’s meal again, especially when meat is involved, but today we’ll do a cold lunch from a hot dinner. Cold pasta salad is a great way to finish up cooked meats that don’t reheat so well. The last post on Mahi Mahi yielded a considerable amount of delicious, moist fish. Today we’ll make leftovers new with pasta, herbs and even fruit!
Ingredients: penne pasta, fresh fennel bulb with fronds, lemon zest, and fuji apples
- fill a large bowl with water and squeeze lemon juice in the water
- slice 1 fuji apple and submerge slices in lemon water to keep them from browning
- pluck some fronds from the fennel and set aside
- slice fennel bulb into bite sized pieces
- zest a lemon
- toss cooked penne pasta with 2 tablespoons olive oil and the juice from 1 lemon until coated
- fold in chunks of cooked mahi mahi, apple slices, and chopped fennel bulb
- garnish with lemon zest and fennel fronds
It’s a gorgeous, healthy and hearty dish! Enjoy!
food photographer, food photography, los angeles, crystal cartier
“Fresh fiiiiiish” hollers the portly and comically severe fish man at the farmer’s market. I seriously laugh out loud every time his deep voice bellows this phrase. It reminds me of an old school disney movie though I can’t remember which (The Little Mermaid, maybe?). Though his advertising tactic is funny, this fish is no joke. This week I scored some uber fresh mahi mahi.
I don’t know about you guys, but you may have noticed that I prefer simple ideas for preparing food that can easily be amended for whatever fresh ingredients I have on hand. I’m not much on long-winded recipes requiring epic preparations and absurd quantities of dirty dishes. I like the natural flavors of the foods I eat and prefer to prepare them in ways that allows that taste to come forward, rather than mask it beneath other strong flavors. This is no exception.
Mahi Mahi En Papillote
- on a large sheet of parchment paper, arrange a bed of lemons (or oranges if you’re feeling sweet;)
- place fish on top of the citrus bed. Sprinkle with sea salt and your preferred seafood herbs, I used a bit of celery salt, dried thyme and red and black pepper
- throw a few dried bay leaves in the mix, drizzle with olive oil, and fold the parchment into a nice little pouch.
- bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes or so.
*optional* open parchment and broil for a minute or so (depending on your broiler as they vary widely) for a golden, crisped top.
*optional* garnish with fresh parsley.
The result is a moist, delicious melding of flavors. Because the bay leaves and citrus are steamed with the fish, they impart a more subtle flavor than you’d get by just squeezing lemon on seafood or putting crushed leaves on the fish. Delicate and balanced, not to mention pretty damn healthy. It’s a winner!
food photographer, food photography, los angeles, crystal cartier
In honor of all things summer I wanted to get “crabby”. I love crab as many do but usually prepare king crab legs when making it at home. Simple, neat, delicious. For the sake of visual interest, I thought it’d be fun to shoot and prepare whole crab so I picked up a couple crabs only to find that handling a whole crab, in all of it’s creepy arachnid-like strangeness, was a bit of an unknown fear of mine. Learn something new everyday, right? So I kind of felt like a bit of a weenie after discovering this mild yet embarrassing pseudo-phobia and, luckily, after taking a few minutes to psych myself up (think boxer in the ring hopping up and down with short strong breathes) I dove right in to that creepy little monster. All in all it went well, though it’s very likely I’ll be reaching for dismembered crab legs next time around;)
*tip* I boiled the crab with some coarse rock salt in the water which really added a nice, subtle flavor for those times when you’re not looking to dunk those hunks in butter (or even when you are!)
What are your favorite ways to prepare and eat shellfish? Recipes definitely welcome!
Mmmmmmmm EAT ME
a little bit of home for the salt water creature
slurp those tender bits
food photographer, food photography, los angeles, crystal cartier
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