Fried Cod Wrapped with Japanese Basil

I am crazy about perilla, a member of mint family, and sometimes called Japanese basil. If you have tried sushi or sashimi in Japanese restaurants, you might have tasted this extremely aromatic herb. Some people say it tastes like cilantro or basil. Other says it feel like cumin. I do not know how to describe this aroma to you but I can tell this plant has an irresistible flavor.

It is difficult to find perilla. Perhaps they are only available in Asian supermarkets in US. Even though you can find them, I am not sure if they are fresh or aromatic. The best way to obtain this herb is to plan in your garden or a big pot. I found the seeds on Amazon.com or other website.  It is very easy to grow and disease resistant.

Since I am able to harvest them in my yard, I enjoy them as much as possible. I mix them with fresh vegetables and make salad. Also I use them with cold noodles as a garnish.

Wrap perilla leaves around cod fillets and coat with corn starch/ potato starch. Then, fry them and pour my original sauce, which is soybeans sauce based. I have a good appetite. Especially with these delicious pieces with perilla taste, it cannot be better!

Shrimp with Orzo in Tomato Sauce

If the current oil spill continues more than 50 days, it would be the worst oil spill in the U.S history. This was the article I heard a month ago. Today is the 51st day after the oil spill started. It is already the worst oil spill in the U.S. history. Yet, no one knows when the spill stops. Depressing.

The shrimp dish I made before the oil spill was Shrimp with Orzo in Tomato Sauce. It was so delicious because of the tasty and big shrimps from the Gulf. But now it makes me very sad since many of the shrimp beds in the Gulf are destroyed…

Shrimps from the Gulf of Mexico

I am very upset about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been leaking for several days and it is already the 2nd worst oil spill in the history. If this situation continues more than 50 days, it will be the worst oil spill. So far no one can predict when this ends. I feel extremely sad and afraid of environmental and economic damages from this horrible disaster.

As I always mention on this blog, I admire delicious shrimps, crabs and oysters from the Gulf. Some expert says once oil pollutes the sea, it will take 20 years or more to clean up. I feel desperate that I may not be able to enjoy shrimps, crabs and oysters from the Gulf in 20 years or more!

Yesterday I went to buy a few pounds of the Gulf shrimps. I grilled, boiled, and baked them. They were so big and delicious. While I became satisfied, my anger against this devastation escalated. I do hope we will continue to enjoy beautiful shrimps and oysters from the Gulf of Mexico…

Salmon and Squid in White Wine Sauce

Mediterranean Fish Soup (Cacciucco/Bouillabaisse)

My husband and I replaced our old electric range / oven with a gas range / oven just a few days ago. Also, we changed from a microwave with hood to a professional hood. One of the reasons why I have not been updated my blog for a long time is that I was too hectic looking for good products and a good plumber to make the installations. Luckily, we found all of them. Then, I become busy admiring these fabulous range / oven and hood. Time flies fast and here I am writing a new update.

I love a gas oven, which cooks food evenly and keeps moisture inside of any meat. The day our new range / oven was installed we decided to bake lemon chicken using a whole chicken. I noticed that it did not produce much grease. Most of the grease stayed inside of the meat. Therefore, the chicken was extremely juicy and delicious.

I also love my new gas range. It is easy to adjust the temperature and simmer well. So, when I saw mussels, clams, and other seafood piling up on a seafood market, I decided to cook this fish soup on my new gas range.

This soup is a typical fish soup / stew in the Mediterranean region where various types of fresh fish and shellfish are available. The key to make this soup successfully is adding as many kinds of fresh seafood as possible. This delicious soup makes you warm throughout your body and mind. After a big Thanksgiving turkey, try this fish soup which can make you feel cheerful.

Ingredients:
1 lb mussels wish shells
4 big clams wish shells
¼ lb cod filet (if the one with the bones and head cannot be found)
½ red snapper with the bone and the head, if possible
1 lb squids
1 lb shrimps with their heads and shells on
1 big onion, chopped
3 carrots, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 cup white wine
1 bay leaf
¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
4 rip tomatoes, chopped
1 pinch of saffron
1 chill pepper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup of extra olive oil

Directions:
1. Wash the mussels and clams very well. Soak them into salty water for about 30 minutes.
2. Put the mussels and clams in a large pot and add the white wine. Cover and bring to a boil. 3. After boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the shells are open. Remove them from the pot. If a clam is not open, discard it. Reserve the white wine.
3. Put 4-6 cups of water in a large pot. Add the onion, carrots, celery, tomatoes, chill pepper, bay leaf, and saffron. Add the reserved white wine. Cover and bring to a boil. After boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
4. Add the cod, snapper, squids and shrimps and simmer them for 10 minutes. Add the mussels and clams. Season with salt and black pepper.
5. Add the parsley and extra virgin olive oil and turn off the heat. Serve it with crispy bread to wipe out the delicious soup.

Fried Shrimps in Tomato Sauce

My husband and I tried not to eat shrimps frequently because they are high in cholesterol. But recently, one of our friends said that shrimp’s cholesterol is “good” one. So I did a little research on Google. Indeed, I found a lot of articles mentioning that shrimp’s cholesterol is “good” cholesterol. As a result, I think we can be more generous when eating shrimps.

My most favorite way of eating shrimps is simply steaming/boiling them with just some lemon juice and olive oil. To fry shrimps in tomato sauce is the next preferred way. A crispy garlic flavor, sweet tomato and wine enhance the taste of juicy shrimps. They can be good with pasta or rice.

Of course, steamed / boiled shrimps are healthier than fried ones. Eating shrimps may be healthy but it should not be done everyday. Certainly, variety and moderation may be the keys to enjoy this healthy seafood.

Ingredients:
1 lb shrimps with their heads and shells on
3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
¼ cup of white wine
¼ cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil to fry

Directions:
1. Wash the shrimps well and cut off their whiskers.
2. Heat the olive oil and the garlic in a fry pan until sizzling. Add the shrimps and fry them until their color turns to pink. Add the white wine and stir.
3. Transfer the shrimps from the fry pan to a plate. Using the same fry pan, add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer them together for 10 to 15 minutes. Season the mixture with salt and black pepper.
4. Add the shrimps, again and stir them well with the tomato mixture.
5. Before turning off the heat, add the parsley. Stir them well.
6. Serve with crispy bread to wipe the delicious juice!

Boiled Lobster

Lobsters in Greece are extremely tender, juicy and delicious. Unfortunately, they are very rare and expensive too. So when my husband and I found lobsters served at a restaurant in Amorgos Island, Greece, we were very excited. Most of the restaurants in Greece display fresh fish, shellfish, and meat, which are available on that day, in front of their kitchens. At that seafood restaurant, we are also welcomed to check their seafood. Sadly, the lobsters we saw were the last ones.
“Come back tomorrow. We may get them from a fisherman,” the chef said.
We came back the next day.
“I am sorry but no lobster today.”
Later, we tried again two times, but no luck.

Unluckily, my dream to eat a lobster in Greece did not come true during this summer. However, after my husband and I finished a small project for our house, we decided to celebrate with lobsters.

Our favorite local fish market carries live lobsters from Main. The store offers a boiling for the lobsters right in front of you with spicy Cajun seasoning. We bough two big lobsters and asked to boil them. They were fantastic with flavorsome Cajun seasoning. Of course, it can be also nice to simply boil and eat them in a Mediterranean way according to the following recipe.

Ingredients:
1 lobster
1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. If the lobster is alive, put them head first into boiling water with a pinch of salt. Boil it for about 20 minutes.
2. Take the lobster from the boiling water. Remove the meat from the shell. Sprinkle the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Enjoy it!

Steamed Shrimps

The other day, my husband and I went to the seafood restaurant that my friend had recommended. She said the restaurant served some good crabs and shrimps. So I trusted her recommendation.

We ordered king crabs, shrimps and some shellfish. Unfortunately, all of the dishes betrayed our expectations. They were over boiled or over steamed. I felt like I was chewing rubber bands.

Then, my husband and I decided to steam shrimps from the local seafood market. The market is well known about carrying super fresh and big shrimps from the Gulf Coast. We were so excited to get a few different kinds of fresh shrimps.

Since over boiling or over steaming was the reason of the failure of the shrimps at the restaurant, I was very careful about how long they should be steamed. So, we put the shrimps in the steamer and took them out immediately after all of them had changed their color to red. Do not use cocktail sauce but simply lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil to season them. My husband, who is a native of Greece, said, “I feel like I am on a Mediterranean island” while eating the butter-like very tender and juicy shrimps.

Ingredients:
1 lb shrimps with their heads and shells on
Lemon juice
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Wash the shrimps well and cut off their whiskers.
2. Steam the shrimps until their color changes to red. Do not over cook!

3. Transfer them to the serving plates. Sprinkle with lemon juice and add the olive oil.

Fried Shrimps and Fried Soft Shell Crabs

About 4pm in June 4, 2009 at a parking lot in Ishikawa prefecture in Japan, a person encountered a mysterious incident. It was a clear and calm day. But he heard noise sounded like raining behind him. He turned around and found out approximately 100 tadpoles fall from the sky. Some were alive and others were dead. This strange incident happened one after another. Two days later, June 6, 2009 around 7:30 am, 50 miles south from the place of the first incident took place, an old woman witnessed roughly 40 tadpoles fall from the sky.

The local weather station denied the possibility of tornado, which might take away tadpoles and small fishes from rivers and rice pads and release them from the sky. Some people hypothesized birds might be the cause. Birds might drop them from the sky. But is it possible to be approximately 100 tadpoles at once from the sky?

In the book, “Kafuka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami, one of the popular novelists in the recent era, there are a few incidents in which thousands of fishes suddenly fell from the sky. There is no rational explanation about the cause or effect of these events in this story. They just happen and become forgotten, which makes readers anxious and uncertain about the realities and fall into the Murakami’s unrealistic world.

One summer day in 2007, while I was eating fried shrimps and fish with my husband under the big oak tree in our back yard, the same kind of episode occurred on front of us. A small fish suddenly fell from the sky. We knew there was a big bird nest on the oak tree. So we immediately identified the source of this fish. My husband quietly and quickly moved the fish and we in a minute continued eating without any concern. Delicious crispy shrimps, a fish from the clear blue sky and our pleasant lunch surrounded hysteric chicks’ voice. All of them reminded me of the Murakami’s world.

When I read the recent articles about “tadpoles rain from the sky”, I can’t help but cooking fried shrimps, eating them and waiting for something felling from the bright blue sky. I called this picture surrealistic but my husband called it is grotesque.

Ingredients:
4 soft sell crabs
1 lb shrimps with their heads and shells on
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper (or Cajun seasonings)
2-3 cloves of garlic

Directions:
1. Wash the soft shell crabs and shrimps well and cut off shrimps’ whiskers. Season them with salt and black pepper (or Cajun seasonings).
2. Coat the crabs and shrimps with the flour.
3. Chop the cloves of garlic half. Heat the olive oil and the garlic in a fry pan. Fry the crabs and shrimps for a few minutes.
4. Transfer the crabs and shrimps into a serving plate and sprinkle lemon juice.

Rice with Shrimp Scampi

Whenever I go to a seafood restaurant or Italian restaurant, I look for shrimp scampi in the menu. Most of the time, I am disappointed to see “Linguine with Shrimp Scampi” or some kinds of pasta with shrimp scampi. Shrimp scampi must come with rice.

In the early 1990’s, my younger sister, Risa, moved to Long Island in New York to study for a few years in college. During that time, I visited her and she took me to her favorite seafood restaurant in Port Jefferson on Long Island. It was a cozy local seafood restaurant facing the port and surrounded by small cute souvenir shops.

Risa suggested to me to have her favorite dish; rice with shrimp scampi. I followed her advice. The moment the waitress brought the dish, I knew it was an excellent choice. The aroma of the shrimp and garlic made me crazy. The flavor of butter, garlic and rice brought out the delicate taste of the shrimps. That was a perfect combination for a shrimp dish.

After Risa came back from New York, I moved to New York to pursue my study in collage. Then Risa visited me and we decided to go to the restaurant in Port Jefferson, hoping to get the delicious dish, rice with shrimp scampi. However, the restaurant seemed totally different. The prices, inner and outer interiors were scaled up. Sadly rice with shrimp scampi was replace by spaghetti with shrimp scampi in the new menu. Furthermore, the taste of shrimp scampi was downgraded.

Since Louisiana shrimps are famous for their big size and fine flavor, I decided to try my dream dish, rice with shrimp scampi. I prefer to use shrimps with their heads and shells on, which gives me incredible flavor and a beautiful saffron-like color. However, if getting your fingers dirty while you are eating is not very appealing to you, use peeled and deveined shrimps. Nevertheless, they are still superb. I usually hesitate to use butter in cooking. However, butter is essential for this dish.

Rice with Shrimp Scampi Recipe

Ingredients (4 servings):

Shrimp Scampi
2 lb shrimps with their heads and shells on
1 cup finely chopped green onions
¼ cup chopped dill
3-4 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1 cup white wine
3 tbsp butter
2 lemons
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pilaf (Butter Fired Rice)
2 cups rice
3 tbsp butter
2-3 cups water
Salt

Directions:
1. Wash the shrimps well and cut off their whiskers. Salt them.
2. Heat the 3tbsp of butter and the garlic in a large pan over medium heat. Add the shrimps and chopped green onions and fry them evenly for 2-3 minutes until the shrimps become pinkish. Add the white wine and lemon juice. Season them with salt and black pepper and simmer them for 2-3 minutes.
3. Transfer the shrimps into a plate and keep them aside.
4. Wash the rice well.
5. Using the same pan, heat the 3tbsp of butter and place the rice. Fry them for about 3 minutes. Add the water and a pinch of salt. Cover the pan and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat and continue to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until the water is absorbed.
6. Add the shrimp scampi into the pilaf (butter fried rice) and stir them well.
7. Turn off the heat and sprinkle the chopped dill.

Grilled Blue Fish

A “Buy One, Get One Free!” advertisement always reminds me of a grilled fish in my family. When I cook a grilled fish, I usually make Greek version and Japanese version at the same time, which makes me feel that I get an extra for free!

Grilled fish is one of the very basic dishes in both Japan and Greece. Every time I visit Greece and order a freshly grilled fish, I always regret for not bringing with me a bottle of soy sauce. When we are in Japan, my husband always asks me for olive oil and lemon juice on front of a juicy grilled fish.

Therefore, when we cook grilled fish at home, we make a friendly decision for each other. We grill a fish and add different flavors for each other. Olive oil and lemon juice are necessary in Greek cuisine. Seasoning a fish with a lot of oregano and sprinkling olive oil and lemon juice makes the grilled fish authentic Greek / Mediterranean cuisine. Concurrently, soy sauce and sake (or mirin) are essential in preparing most Japanese dishes. Adding spicy ground daikon and ponzu or soy sauce on a grilled fish creates a perfect Japanese dish. Try both ways and decide which one you like!

For the Japanese version
Ingredients:
3lb of a whole blue fish
Salt
Sake
½ cup freshly ground daikon (Asian white radish)
Ponzu sauce (or soy sauce)
§ 1cup soy sauce
§ ½ cup lime juice
§ ½ cup rice vinegar
§ 3 tbsp mirin
§ 5 tbsp dried bonito flakes
Mix them and leave the mixture overnight or for a few days. Strain.

Directions:
1. Remove the guts, gills and scales of the blue fish. Wash it well and wipe water around the surface. Spray sake or brush sake on the fish.
2. Sprinkle with olive oil and lemon juice. Season the blue fish with a lot of salt both sides.
3. Prepare charcoal for barbeque.
4. Grill the fish until the fish is done.
5. Transfer them to a serving plate.
6. Drain the ground daikon. Place it on the serving plate. Pour 3-5 tbsp of ponzu or soy sauce.

For the Greek version
Ingredients:
3lb of a whole blue fish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Oregano
Lemon juice

Directions:
1. Remove the guts, gills and scales of the blue fish. Wash it well and wipe water around the surface.
2. Sprinkle with olive oil and lemon juice. Season the blue fish with the salt, black pepper and oregano both sides.
3. Prepare charcoal for barbeque.
4. Grill the fish until the fish is done.
5. Transfer them to a serving plate. Sprinkle the fish with olive oil and lemon juice. Serve with yogurt dip!

Risotto with Calamari and Scallions

“May 1st is the Festival of Flowers Day” uncle George from Greece said over the phone the other day. Like Greece, there are already a lot of flowers blossoming everywhere in Louisiana. It is the best time to be in the South! My husband and I bought a lot of plants to fill out the empty spaces in our garden this spring. Some plants already have many flowers. Their sweet fragrances and stunning colors make me very happy.

A Japanese proverb says, “dumplings are better than flowers”, which is similar to the sayings “pudding before praise” or “bread is better than the songs of birds.” This means that eating dumplings may satisfy you more (in a materialistic way) than just watching beautiful flowers. In order to make myself fully satisfied and also celebrate the “Festival of Flowers Day” on May 1, I decided to cook this seafood risotto.

I used ripe tomatoes in this risotto, which were grown in Louisiana that I found at a local market. They look a little unattractive, but very juicy. As I mentioned before for the Greek Salad dish in this blog, tomatoes are a very healthy vegetable. They are rich in vitamins C, A and lycopene. Unfortunately, cooking tomatoes may damage their vitamin C potency, because vitamin C is easily destroyed by heat. But humans can absorb lycopene in tomatoes more successfully (three to four times more!) if they are heat processed.

Sadly I ran out of dill and I was not able to find any in the market (our own dill in the garden is still to young to be harvested). So I used green onions instead of dill. However, using dill is highly recommended!

Ingredients:
1 lb calamari
1 lb scallions
1 chopped onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
3-4 chopped tomatoes
1 bay leaf
2 cups rice
¼ cup green onion (dill is better!)
½ cup red wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Wash the calamari pieces and scallions well. Cut the bodies of the calamari into rings.
2. Heat 3tbsp of olive oil and the garlic in a large pot and fry the chopped onion until they become transparent. Add the tomatoes and fry them for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the wine, tomato paste and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for about 20 minutes.
3. Add the rice in the tomato mixture. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Add the calamari pieces, scallions and green onions. Stir and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or "al dente" (Italian for having it a little bit hard on the inside). Turn off the heat and add ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Sardine Casserole

Because I regretted very much not to buy enough sardines last time when I got only 4 sardines (fried sardines with horta), I swore myself I would buy ENOUGH next time. Unfortunately I had not seen them in any fish markets since then. Yet, finally I found them. They were from Portugal and looked OK. So I ordered 20 good-looking sardines. Then, a lady waiting to be served next to me in the fish market suddenly approached me and asked me how I cook sardines.
“I have never tasted or cooked this fish,” the lady, around age 60, said.
“It is very good. You can fry them.”
She said, “Oh, I don’t eat fried fish.”
She seemed health conscious.
“You can bake them, too,” I suggested.
She smiled and ordered 2 good-looking ones. At that time, I also decided to bake the half of the 20 sardines I purchased. This dish, sardine casserole, is very easy to prepare. Other fish fillets, such as red snapper, cod, sea bass and drum fish, can be used equally fit for this dish.

Ingredients:
10 sardines

2 cups panko (bread crumbs)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup finely chopped flat leave parsley
2-3 cloves of finely chopped garlic

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 420 F degrees.
2. Remove guts, gills, scales and backbones of the sardines. Wash the sardines well.

3. Season the sardines with salt and pepper both side.
4. Put the panko, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well.
5. Coat the sardines with the panko mixture and place on a casserole pan.
6. Put the rest of the panko mixture over the sardines. Sprinkle the olive oil.
7. Bake in the preheat oven for about 20 minutes.

8. Transfer to serving plates and sprinkle olive oil and lemon juice. Enjoy it!

Pasta with Clam and Tomato Sauce

When I had the most delicious pasta with clam and tomato sauce, it was cold early spring in Venice. I was a poor college student and traveling Europe for about a month with one of my girlfriends. Unfortunately she became sick when we arrived Italy. We found a cheap but clean and cozy hotel in Bologna. Then she decided to take a break for a few days and I chose to travel alone. I took a train and headed for Venice, which had been my dream.

I still remember the amazing sight suddenly appearing on front of my eyes while the train was approaching to Santa Lucia Station. I was so excited to be there and decided to absorb the city as much as possible. After getting off the train and stepped out of the station, I ran to cross the bridge, Ponte Tre Ponti. I walked narrow streets to see the people’s lives. I went to a few museums and stores selling beautiful Venetian art pieces. Every moment and every sight enormously fascinated me.

When I realized it was time for me to go back, I also felt starving. Then I recognized I skipped lunch. I was missing one of the most important factors of Italy, FOOD! I jumped to a small restaurant, which looked a cheap Italian fast food restaurant for tourists. At that time I had the most amazing pasta with clam and tomato sauce. I was young with an empty pocket but full of energy and dreams. Maybe I was hungry for anything. Since then, I have been to Italy, again, and many Italian restaurants around the world. However, the dish I had in Venice at that day has been still the tastiest pasta dish I have ever had.


Ingredients:
1 lb fresh clams with shells
1 lb pasta (I used large conchiglie)
1 chopped onion
2-3 chopped tomatoes
½ cup white wine
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Wash the clams very well. Place the clam in a large pot. Add 1 cup of water. Cover and bring to a boil. After boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the clams from the pan. If the clam is not open, discard it. Strain the water and keep it aside.
2. Boil water in a large pot and cook the pasta for 8 to 10 minutes or al dente.
3. Heat the olive oil and the garlic in a large pot and fry the onion until it becomes transparent. Add the tomatoes and fry them for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the wine and tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Add the pasta and clams in the tomato mixture. Add ½ cup of the water from 1.
Stir and simmer for 3 minutes. Serve hot!

Drum Fish with Sweet Soy Sauce (Kabayaki Drum Fish)

“I want to eat that kabayaki eel, again,” my husband said. Whenever we talk about our last trip to Kyoto, in Japan last year, we eventually come up to the day when my husband and I had the most delicious eel I had ever had. The eel was farmed, which is very close to being like wild cough in Japan. In that particular restaurant in Kyoto, they cook eel with a specially selected charcoal on front of you. The eel was very crispy and juicy in a wonderful sweet soy sauce. Ah, I want to eat the kabayaki eel again! Although it is impossible to get fresh and healthy eel here, sardine can be found in Louisiana and it is good when prepared in the kabayaki way. However, I was not lucky to find sardine last time. Yet, I came across fillet of fresh wild drum fish. So I decided to try this fish fillet in kabayaki sauce. Surprisingly, the fish was cooked very nicely with sweet soy sauce and we enjoyed every bite of it while recalling our unforgettable days in Kyoto!

Ingredients:
1 lb Drum fish fillets
¼ cup cornstarch
Olive oil
Red pepper

Marinating sauce:
3 tbsp sake (or mirin, which is sweet rice wine with a low alcohol content)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp freshly ground ginger

Sweet Soy Sauce:
3 tbsp sake (or mirin)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar

Directions:
1. Place all of the ingredients for the marinating sauce in a small bowel and mix well. Place the drum fish fillets in a shallow dish and pour the marinating sauce. Marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Place all of the ingredients for the sweet soy sauce in a small bowel and mix well.
3. Take out the marinating sauce with paper towel from the fillets .
4. Put the cornstarch in a shallow dish and add the fillets and coat well.
5. Heat oil in a fry pan. Place the fillets and fly both sides on medium heat until the surface becomes brown.
6. Add the sweet soy sauce and continue cooking until the sauce slightly caramelizes.
7. Transfer the fillets to serving plates. Season with red pepper and serve it over rice or with rice!

Baked Blue Fish with Tomatoes (Psaria Plaki)

Plaki is my “"juuhachi-ban", which is literally my "18th" and means my “best” dish in Japanese. (Please refer to this site if you want to know more about “juuhachi-ban”). To tell the truth, I wanted to keep this recipe a secret so that I can always surprise my friends with this delicious dish, which is very easy to prepare and never failed me as long as the ingredients are fresh. Plaki was the first Greek dish I learned from my husband whose native country is Greece. Before I met him, I knew only one Greek dish, moussaka, which I never had tasted. After I started seeing him, he took me to many Greek restaurants and also cooked for me. I gradually learned how to cook Greek dishes. Then I realized Greek cuisine is very similar to Japanese cuisine. We both enjoy lightly-seasoned seafood and fresh vegetables. "Plaki" is one of these dishes. Using a lot of olive oil and tomatoes is not common in Japanese cooking but the taste of plaki reminds me of Japanese food. One day I even poured soy sauce on plaki and made my husband mad! Traditionally, in Greece, people cook plaki with mackerel fish. But red snapper, cod, sea bass and drum fish can be used equally well for this dish. The secret is to have very fresh fish, lots of tomatoes and onions and extra virgin olive oil.

Ingredients:
1 lb fish (both a whole fish or fish fillets are fine)
3-4 cups of diced tomatoes (or thinly sliced tomatoes)
1 cup chopped green onion
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 cups of extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup white wine Salt and freshly ground black pepper Oregano
Optional: 2 cups thinly sliced potatoes

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 360 F degrees.
2. If you use a whole fish, scale it off, take out the guts and gills and wash the fish well.
3. Place the potatoes and the fish in an oven pan.
4. Pour the white wine and half a cup of olive oil over the fish. Season with the salt and freshly ground pepper.
5. Put the green onions, garlic and tomatoes over the fish. Sprinkle the oregano.
6. Bake in the preheat oven for about 30 minutes till the fish is done.
7. Transfer to the plates and pour the rest of the olive oil. Serve hot!

Fried Sardines with Horta

Sardines were the cheapest fish in Japan when I was a kid. Yet, they are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, calcium and protein. My mother prepared sardine sashimi, sardine tempera, sardine teriyaki and grilled, broiled, and backed, etc, to try my sisters and me to eat this nutritious food. However, I did not like them. I remember each time when I see them on our dinner table I was immediately disappointed and lost my appetite. After more then a decade of not living in Japan I miss sardines very much. Especially now through the early summer when sardines are in season I want badly this fish. Then I found the ones in Whole Foods Market. They were from Portugal this morning. If the eyes of a fish are transparent and its gills are red, the fish is fresh. So I observed them very carefully. They were not super fresh but considering of coming all the way from Portugal, it was reasonably fresh. Therefore, my husband and I decided to try 4 pieces of the sardines. Later we deeply regretted. Yes, we were very sorry not to buy more of these tasty fishes! I simply fried the fishes with salt, freshly ground black pepper and oregano and sprinkled lemon juice. This dish with horta reminds me beautiful summer days in Greece. I ate the sardines’ bones and heads. My mother won’t believe me eating like this!

Ingredients:
4 sardines
½ cup all-purpose flour
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Oregano

Directions:
1. Remove guts, gills and scales and wash the sardines well.
2. Season with salt, pepper and oregano. Dredge the sardines in the flour and coat well.
3. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan and fry the sardines until they become brown.
4. Transfer to plates and sprinkle the lemon juice. Serve with horta!

Fried Salmon with Japanese Flavor Sauce

I did not like fried salmon although I love salmon sashimi. When it is fried, I felt the fish gets dry and tasteless. It was just a few years ago I realized dredging in flour prevents from losing salmon’s flavor and stays juicy. Since then I like fried salmon very much.
The other day I found a wild frozen salmon fillet from Alaska on sale. Today I decided to thaw it out and make Fried Salmon with Japanese Flavor Sauce. Usually I make tartar sauce for fried seafood. However, today I prepare a different sauce, so called, “Japanese Flavor Sauce”, using ginger, soy sauce, lemon juice and green onion. This sauce can be used for beef stake or pork sauté, too.

Ingredients (3-4 servings):
1 lb salmon
1 cup all-purpose flour or as needed

Japanese Flavor Sauce:
4 tsp soy sauce
4 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp minced green onion
Chill pepper

Directions:
1. Prepare Japanese Flavor Sauce. Place all of the ingredients for Japanese Flavor Sauce in a small bowel and mix well.
2. Cut the salmon pieces. Dredge them in the flour and coat well.
3. Heat oil in a fry pan. Place the salmon pieces and fly both sides on medium heat until the surfaces become brown.
4. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to low. Steam the salmon for 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Take the salmon out of the pan and transfer them to serving plates. Pour this mixture over the fish.

Fried Fish in Kourkouti (Fresh Dill Batter Fried Fish)

The aroma of fresh dill reminds me of early spring although they are sold in any supermarket all year around. For my husband it reminds him of spring in his native country, Greece, and fried cod in kourkouti, which means batter mixture. In Greece, fresh dill is necessary for kourkouti.
Today I found fresh cod and monkfish in a fish market. So I decided to make the dish my husband dreams for. People celebrate Greek Independence Day on March 25 with fried cod in kourkouti. It is ten days early to celebrate with serving this dish but we decided to welcome the spring of 2009 with this food!

Ingredients:
1 egg
1/2 cup all-propose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup fresh chopped dill
1 cup beer or milk
2 pounds fish fillets (fish can be any white fish)
1 lemon

Directions:
1. Wash and dry fish fillets well. Cut them into 2 inches wide or desired size.

2. Mix the egg, flour, salt, pepper, dill and beer (or milk) well until the batter is smooth.
3. Dip the fish slices in the batter and cover them well.
4. Heat oil (I usually use extra virgin olive oil for best flavor, but any vegetable oil will do) in a fry pan. Place the fish when the oil is hot enough and fry for about 4-5minutes. Drain the fish from the oil when you take it out of the pan.
Before you serve the fish, sprinkle it with fresh lemon juice. Enjoy!