Serves 4

• 1 lb cod, haddock, or halibut filet
• 1 lb waxy potatoes, boiled (or microwaved) and roughly chopped
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 12 oz milk
• 3 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp flour
• salt and pepper
• (mustard? Curry? thyme? )
• ½ cup of breadcrumbs
• 1 cup grated cheese (edam or mild, easy-melting cheddar)
• 2 tablespoons chives
• White wine (optional)

Serve with plenty of rye bread and butter!

Salt fish and turn on broiler to low

In a (very) large skillet, saute fish in half of the butter (and white wine if available) until cooked through and flaking, flipping halfway through and covering to heat through

Remove fish and set aside, reserving liquids.

Add the remaining butter to the pan and saute onions over medium heat until translucent [Add any additional desired spices, such as mustard powder.]

Sprinkle flour on and stir to coat, then add the reserved liquids and deglaze the pan if needed

Gradually add milk, slowly heat until steaming. (This would be another option to add additional seasoning, such as thyme or other herbs, to allow their flavors to infuse the milk.)
Simmer for 3-4 min, stirring often, until the mixture becomes creamy.

Add potatoes and stir briskly to break up the potatoes a bit.

Add fish & stir gently. Adjust seasoning / salt and pepper.

DO AHEAD:
Fish stew base can be made up to this point and reserved for serving at a later time.

DAY OF:
Spoon into ramekins or another baking dish.
Add bread crumbs and cheese.
If fish stew base is still hot, broil for 5 minutes until cheese is bubbling and golden brown
If fish stew base is cold, heat through in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, then broil briefly to brown cheese.

Sprinkle ea serving with 1/2 tbsp chives. Serve hot w/dark rye bread & butter.

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (preferably Spanish), divided
1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined, butterflied
1 pound skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound oyster mushrooms, sliced
1 cup chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 cups paella rice (short-grain white rice)
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1 dried California chile or New Mexico chile, stemmed, seeded, finely ground in spice mill
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled
2 cups low-salt chicken broth, divided
1 cup mushroom broth

My goodness was this delicious. You have to give Martha credit where credit is due.

8 oz smoked salmon, roughly chopped, divided
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup mayonnaise (for texture; can be omitted if you don't like mayo)
2 Tbsp diced red onion
1 Tbsp capers
1 tsp prepared horseradish
Juice of half a lemon

Courtesy of Cook's Illustrated.

Rémoulade

1/2 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
1 small shallot, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled

1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce

Pulse the first four ingredients in a food processor until finely chopped. Add mayonnaise, mustard, horseradish, lemon juice, paprika, and Worcestershire sauce; process until smooth. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.

Shrimp

This was a meal we put together in Venice from what we found at the farmers market - and was one of the best meals we had in Italy.

• 1 skate (3/4 lb)
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bayleaves
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 3 leaves fresh sage
• 4 tbsp lemon olive oil
• Juice of 2 lemons
• Fresh Pasta

Sautee the garlic, onion, and herbs until soft and beginning to caramelize. Remove and set aside, picking out stems from the herbs.

Simmer the skate in a bath of lemon-olive oil and lemon juice.

For the salad, toss lettuce, avocado, diced red bell pepper, onion, and tomato with a sour-cream or mayonnaise based dressing spiked with a bit of tabasco sauce.

Mix 1:1 flour and cornmeal with salt, cayenne and cajun seasoning to taste. Toss in pre-shucked, drained oysters and shake until coated. If using shrimp, toss shrimp first in a scrambled egg, then in the breading.

Fry in hot oil until golden brown, drain and cool slightly, serve on top of the salad.

Adapted from The Santa Monica Farmers Market Cookbook.

Makes 10 large crabcakes or as many small ones as you can roll

1 lb lump crabmeat
1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs (can sub regular)
2 eggs, beaten
4 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Few drops hot sauce (like Tobasco)
Generous dash of Old Bay seasoning
Generous dash of Garlic Powder
Generous dash of Onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste

This recipe, modified from a Bon Appetit recipe, was an instant spring hit.

2 6–8-ounce center-cut wild king salmon fillets (each about 1 1/2-inch thick)
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons kosher salt plus more for seasoning
2 tablespoons (¼ stick) unsalted butter
4 ounces fresh morels; sliced, or oyster or shiitake
½ cup shelled fresh peas
⅓-⅔ cup heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives or finely chopped garlic scapes

For the Cæsar salad dressing:

• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2-3 anchovy fillets
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/8 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
• Freshly ground black pepper

Blend together garlic, anchovies, egg yolks, dijon and lemon juice until smooth. Slowly add in the olive oil and emulsify. Stir in pepper and parmesan.

For the salad, combine chopped romaine and croutons (toast diced baguette cubes tossed with olive oil)

Ackee ans Saltfish is the national dish of Jamaica. I was fed so much of this pungent breakfast during training that I swore off it afterwards. That didn't last very long. Ackee is an odd ... fruit? The wikipedia article on ackee can fill you in better than I can, but in short, the scientific name comes from a pirate, it's originally an African plant, and it's very poisonous if harvested incorrectly. It's related to lychees, but is better described as being similar to avocado.

I had a hankering for Thai food since we're currently planning a trip to Thailand. I did a quick search, and voila! I modified the curry recipe from here. I have to admit this isn't the most authentic or even delicious green curry recipe, but frankly it's pretty easy to make and can be made mostly without often hard to find ingredients.

I personally prefer this recipe with extra firm tofu, but it could theoretically go with any protein. Fish or seafood would be best, followed by chicken.

Serves 4.

This was in response to our taking advantage of a recent livinggrouponsocial deal with Arganica, and opting for one of their more CSA-like "give me a box of random local, organic goodies." We're already, honestly, pretty damned tired of kale and brussel sprouts, and hoped this would provide something slightly different. We got... chard and turnips. Well, OK. The dinner turned out quite good, and is somewhere between classic French and New American. We made the chard into a warm salad by wilting it and steaming it with a bit of apple cider, then tossing it with vinegar and adding pecans.

This recipe just sort of happened one day. We had some miscellaneous items we wanted to use up, and it turned out delicious! The amounts used here served 2.

Ingredients
Salmon (1/2-2/3 lb)
Southwestern seasonings (blend of salt, chipotle, dash chili powder, cumin, dash of coriander, lime juice)

Corn (1 ear)
Tomato (1 med, chopped)
Onion (1/2 small, chopped)
Cilantro (about 1/2 cup, separated from stalks)
Salsa / hot sauce (about 2 tbsp)
Lime (juice from 2 limes)

So, there's this Japanese movie, Tampopo, all about a woman's quest to serve the perfect noodle soup in her small roadside soup shop. If nothing else, its an interesting look at Japanese food culture.

Anyway, inspired by that and memories of walking by this (Japanese, I think) soup shop ever day we were in Paris last year, I decided we should try and make Japanese. soup. Our local bodega, P&C Market, sells Japanese noodles (both soba and udon), so we gave it a whirl. It actually turned out pretty good for the first shot.

4 (6 ounce) fillets red snapper
1 cup butter, melted
4 Tablespoons cajun seasoning

Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat for 10 minutes, or until extremely hot.

Dip fish into melted butter, and crust each fillet generously with the seasoning mixture. Place the fish fillets in the hot skillet.

Garides (Shrimp) Saganaki is one of Audrey's favorite dishes (though no longer on the menu) at Zaytinya, one of her favorite restaurants in DC. This recipe is a surprisingly easy replica of that dish. It's fast and can be made mostly with ingredients we already have in our kitchen.

Great on the first try. Serve with rice and mango salsa.

From http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Shrimp-Tikka-with-F...

I sat down to cook up some dinner. The goal: tame my basil plant that's turning into a small bush and occupying more and more of my not-that-big kitchen. So - pesto it is. But what to go with the pesto? Noodles seem to be too easy, heavy, and obvious. So some pesto-encrusted salmon. Also, I had some shitake mushrooms that needed cooking, and bought some fresh asparagus at the farmer's market this morning. I reduced some syrah with the mushrooms, because shitakes sauteed in wine = the shiznizzle.