Type: MAIN COURSE
Suitable for: scallops, peeled shrimp, chunks of Giant Prawn or Lobster-Tail meat, firm skinless (tilapia, red snapper, ocean perch, pangasius, whitefish). Cut thick filets into small serving-size pieces.

One of the main attractions of eating seafood is the wealth of low-fat recipes available for this naturally low-fat food.  There comes the time, however, when having a lush, creamy recipe is just the ticket for a special occasion or special company. Feel free to mix fish and shellfish; remember that pieces will cook more evenly if they are all the same size. 

SCALLOPS require a bit of previous preparation, which will shorten final cooking time and provide stock for the creamy sauce. Cut very large scallops in half.

Melt a small amount of butter to coat bottom of skillet. Add scallops and keep heat low. This lets scallops release extra liquid which would dilute sauce. Cook for 5 minutes or until scallops stop releasing juice rapidly. Drain partly-cooked scallops and reserve liquid for sauce.

MUSHROOMS benefit from the same advance preparation and their liquid can also be added to the sauce.

Serves 8-10

Equipment:

Heavy-bottomed 2-3 quart saucepan
Wire whisk, for sauce
Large flat-bottomed baking dish 

Ingredients:

2 ½ lb. scallops, prepared as above
Or equivalent amount of fish or shellfish (one kind or mixed)
1 ½ lb. mushrooms, in large pieces, lightly sauted (add any juice to sauce)
3 Tbsp. butter
1 garlic clove crushed or minced
3 Tbsp. flour
2 cups fish/shellfish stock
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup dry white wine or ½ cup dry sherry
1 cup grated fresh swiss, gruyere, gouda, or other nutty-flavored cheese
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, rosemary, or tarragon leaves or 1 tsp. dried
Salt 

Melt butter in saucepan. Add garlic and simmer till clear. Add flour, stirring and continuing to cook for 2 minutes (keep heat low, to remove floury taste without browning).

Add fish stock, scallop juice, mushroom liquid, wine and herbs, stirring till sauce is very thick.  Keeping heat low, add cream and half the cheese. Stir till incorporated into sauce.

Taste sauce, adding a little salt if needed, correct other seasonings. 

Pour a layer of sauce in bottom of dish, add a layer of seafood and mushrooms, repeat, coving with a top layer of sauce.

Sprinkle 2^nd half of grated cheese over the top. Bake, uncovered 30 minutes, till sauce is bubbling, cheese melted and seafood just done.  Decorate with herb-sprigs before serving, if you like.

For a large crowd, double sauce recipe, use 2 casseroles, and serve over rice.

Type: MAIN DISH
Suitable for: tilapia, orange roughy, pickerel, ocean perch, catfish, pangasius or salmon filets.

Fish lends itself beautifully to quick weeknight dinners.  Baked fish, warmed rolls, and a steamed vegetable put solid and delicious nutrition on the dinner-table almost as quickly as family members can wash their hands and set the table.

To keep preparation fast, here are some quick two- or three-ingredient toppings for almost any fish dinner: 

Equipment:

Lightly oiled baking pan, large enough for
Fish filets
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Toppings:

Butter and lemon juice (lime juice or orange juice)
Butter, citrus juice, coarse-ground black pepper
Butter, citrus juice, sprigs of any fresh herb
Mayonnaise and horseradish
Mayonnaise and salsa, chili sauce, or ketchup
Soy or teriyaki sauce and sesame seed
Equal parts Italian breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese
Salsa, mild or hot
Tomato or mixed-vegetable juice

Type: MAIN DISH
Suitable to: shrimp, lobster-tail, crab, Giant Prawn, or scallops.

In some countries, shrimps themselves are referred to as “scampi.” To lessen the confusion, we’ll define scampi as “with butter, oil, and garlic.”  Quick-cooking seafood “scampi”-style makes a wonderful pasta sauce. Adding a vegetable to the mix completes the dish.

Serves 4 

Equipment:

Large heavy-bottomed skillet or shallow saucepan 

Ingredients:

2 cups raw whole shrimp, or other shellfish cut in bite-sized pieces
½ stick butter
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
½ cup fish stock
Juice of 1 fresh lemon
¼ parsley, minced
Parmesan or romano cheese, fresh grated, if you like pasta with cheese 
Pasta of choice, al dente (cook while seafood sauce is cooking) 

Melt butter in oil over medium heat, add garlic and cook till translucent.  Add shrimp or other shellfish. Stir to coat with butter/oil mixture. Add fish stock, simmer till shellfish is just done.

Drain pasta, mound on plates, add scampi sauce. Top with parsley. Add cheese if you like.

Type: SANDWICHES
Suitable to: freshly-cooked or leftover fish filets of all kinds. Shellfish salads of all kinds. 

Whether you call it a “sub,” “hoagie,” or “po’ boy,” Italian-bread rolls make great fish sandwiches.

HOT FISH ROLLS:

Season fish rolls to taste:
Thin-sliced mozzarella cheese and a little spaghetti sauce;
Melted butter and lemon-pepper
Sweet red peppers
A little barbecue sauce

Wrap in foil and heat in a 400-degree oven. 

CLASSIC LOBSTER/SEAFOOD ROLLS:

Hot-dog rolls, lightly buttered and toasted, hold the delicious filling.  In New England, rolls are cut straight down the middle, but all hot-dog rolls work.

Cooked, chopped lobster-tail meat, Giant Prawn meat, or shrimp

A little celery, finely-chopped
Enough mayonnaise to hold salad together
A little chopped parsley, if you like
Salt and pepper to taste 

Fill warm rolls with cold salad.

FISH TACOS:

Warm crisp corn taco-shells. Fill with warm fish filets. Add any or all of the following:
Cole-slaw, prepared or homemade
Red or green salsa
Guacamole or chopped avocado
Jalapeno or chipotle peppers
Mild grated cheese
Shredded iceberg lettuce
A little hot sauce, alone or stirred into mayonnaise

Type: OUTDOOR GRILL
Suitable to: whole fish; “head-off and split” fish

Black bass is a wonderful reason to add a fish-basket to your grilling-gear. Keep seasonings simple, to let the delicious flavor of this salt-water fish shine. 

Equipment:

Outdoor grill
Fish-grilling basket
Basting brush

Ingredients:

1 black bass, whole, cleaned or “head-off and split,” approx. 2 lb.
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1 lemon, sliced
½ cucumber, peeled and sliced
Fresh dill 

Stuff fish with lemon and cucumber slices. Top vegetables with sprigs of fresh dill.

Mix oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, brush on fish before putting in basket.

Grill over coals, checking for doneness after 5 minutes per side.

Type: MAIN DISH

Buffalo fish often joins carp as an ingredient in gefilte fish.  Its delicate taste and texture respond well to Asian seasonings and gentle simmering.

Serves 4

Equipment:

Heavy-bottomed skillet or shallow pan large enough to hold steaks
Tight-fitting lid or aluminum foil
Spatula or tongs 

Ingredients:

4 buffalo-fish flat- or round-cut steaks
2 cups fish stock
¼ cup soy sauce
4-6 ¼ inch slices fresh ginger root
2 scallions, cut in 1-inch pieces
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp. rice-wine vinegar
1 tsp. sesame oil 

Combine all ingredients except fish in simmer-pan. Bring to a boil and lower heat to simmer. Put fish into liquid, covering pan with lid or aluminum foil. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove lid and turn fish over. Simmer 5 more minutes. Lift fish from pan to serving plate, pour a spoonful or two of liquid over steaks.

Tender seafood in a crisp crust is a wonderful treat. Sadly, commercially-packaged battered fish and poor frying techniques have convinced many consumers that fried fish in batter is greasy and tasteless.

Cooked at home, batter-coated seafood is a completely different, delicious dish.

Shrimp Fry (not just for shrimp!) makes producing batter-fried treats easy and full of flavor.

Use a deep-fryer or a heavy-bottomed deep frying pan into which you can put at least 2 inches of cooking oil. Avoid heating oil over temperatures listed in deep-fryer directions. For a deep frying pan follow directions on Shrimp Fry package. (Overheated oils or oils used to fry too many pieces of seafood develop an off-flavor and other qualities that contribute to batter-frying’s “bad rep.”

If cooking large batches, set your oven on warm and line a rimmed cookie sheet with paper towels to hold already-cooked portions while you fry the rest. Overcrowding the fryer results in soggy batter and overcooked seafood.

What can you batter-fry?  Shrimp, of course. Try chunks of lobster-tail meat, scallops, and pieces of any firm filet:

Catfish, buffalo, ocean perch, yellow perch, pickerel, red snapper, tilapia, orange roughy, pangasius.

Serve with tartar sauce, chili sauce, horseradish-mayonnaise, or your family’s favorite dipping sauce.

Type:  MAIN COURSE, OUTDOOR COOKING
Suitable for: Bluegills, Crappies, White Bass, small Croakers, small Rainbow Trout  

What’s a “pan-fish”? Not really a single family. Pan-fish have in common that they are fresh-water, generally small in size, the sporty members of the lake- and stream-crowd, and often cooked simply within minutes of being caught.

To come close to the fresh-caught experience (while skipping the less appealing fish-cleaning experience), order your pan-fish “head off and split.”

Indoor cooking is fine, but pan-fish taste great off the grill—you may want to reserve an old, metal-handled skillet as your “fish-nic” pan.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 ½ – 2 lb. pan-fish
1 package Fish Fry Batter

Follow directions on the package and enjoy! 

There are many, many recipes for perfect fried pan-fish; every fisherman has his favorite. Here are many ways you can vary your basic method—soon, you too will have a “best” way.

SPICES AND HERBS TO ADD TO FISH FRY:

½ tsp. of: garlic powder, chili powder, Cajun spice-mix, oregano, basil, lemon-pepper, curry powder. 

OILS ADD FLAVOR:

Olive oil, peanut oil, oils seasoned with basil, lemon, and other herbs.
Try a drop or two of chili oil for heat. Drops of sesame oil, added after cooking.

SUBSTITUTES FOR FISH FRY:

Unlike Fish Fry, these will need a liquid to hold them on the fish. Try egg with a little milk, plain milk, or yogurt.

Crumbs: saltine or other crackers, crushed; plain or seasoned dry packaged crumbs; Japanese “panko” breadcrumbs; flour or cornmeal seasoned with salt and pepper.

Type: SOUP
Suitable for: flat- or round-cut Whiting, Whitefish, Buffalo, or other steaks. 

Argentina is a main source of Atlantic whiting, and this recipe reflects some of the Spanish flavors retained in Argentine cooking. Use either steaks or filets for this dish. Steaks mean providing forks as well as spoons but lend a countrified touch to this homey dish. Provide crusty bread to soak up all the broth.

Serves 4-6 

Equipment:

Medium soup pot (8-quart)
Long-handled spoon
Tongs for fish
Large rimmed soup plates or big soup bowls
Small plate for any remaining bones 

Ingredients:

2 lb. whiting steaks (discard skin and large center bones)
Or 1 ½ lb. filets
Or l lb. whiting plus 1 lb. scallops (halved) or 1 lb. shrimp
3 Tbsp. oil, preferably olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups onion, peeled and chopped
2 cups sliced celery (include a few leaves)
2 cups fish stock
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes in juice
2 cups dry white wine
(Not authentic but delicious!)  2 cans white beans, drained

In oil, wilt garlic, onion, and celery. Add fish stock, tomatoes and wine.  Bring to a boil. Lower to medium heat, add fish and other seafood gently with tongs. Simmer 10 minutes, till fish just done. Add beans, simmer just long enough to heat.

Type: BRUNCH OR SUPPER DISH
Suitable for: cooked and flaked salmon, trout, pickerel, catfish, or other leftover, unbreaded cooked fish. A particularly luxurious version could be made with flaked crab—lucky leftovers!)

This originated as a British Victorian Colonial dish and is classically made with smoked haddock.  The seasonings with which you cooked your fish will contribute their own nuances to this quick dish, once part of a good English breakfast. Yes, breakfast. No, in answer to the eternal question, there aren’t any bones in this!

Serves 6

Equipment:

Large skillet
Wooden spoon
Serving platter or flat-bottomed casserole 

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp. butter, or half-butter/half oil
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
3 cups cooked rice
3 hard-boiled eggs
2-3 cups flaked cooked fish
Handful chopped flat-leaf parsley or cilantro
1-2 tsp. mild curry powder
Optional: Add 2-3 Tbsp. milk if dish seems very dry Smoked paprika, dusted on finished dish, suggests its original smokiness

Melt butter/oil over low heat in skillet. Cook onion till translucent. Keeping heat low (you are merely heating pre-cooked ingredients) add ingredients in order, stirring to blend and warm. Add liquid if dish seems dry. 

Mound on serving dish, dust with smoked paprika.