That’s the “Cathedral of Learning” at the University of Pittsburgh. It’s the tallest building in the area and pretty imposing if you ask me. Can you imagine taking an exam in a thunderstorm? I mean, it’d be like Ghostbusters or something, I’d expect to see the Keymaster and Gatekeeper wandering around (And maybe Bill Murray).

I did manage to stop at one of UPitt’s local eateries: Essie’s Original Hot Dog Shop. Sadly, I was too excited to chow down on the all-beef frank and didn’t take any pictures. It’d been quite a while since I had a hot dog and this one was worth it. I asked for one of the slightly more burnt ones (I love burnt hot dogs, don’t quite know why) and I got a smile from the cashier (She said she prefers the burnt ones too but not many other people do!). One other thing of note was the size of the french fry sides. The large really can feed 4 people, it’s easily over a pound of french fries (I was told later that one of my friends put down nearly the entire large fries by himself…it made my stomach turn a little bit)

Alumni Hall

I can’t seem to find where this recipe originated. I had it scrawled down on one of my various notepads for quite some time and never got around to trying it. But then I got a nice tuna steak on sale at Whole Foods. I wasn’t going to at first but they looked too good to pass up. The customer behind me also got a couple tuna steaks. He said he was originally going to make chicken but couldn’t pass up the tuna, the chicken would have to wait until the next day. That’s a good man right there =P

Sesame seared Tuna steak

Time: 10 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:
– 1 lb Tuna steak (cut into two)
– 2 tbsp light soy sauce
– 1 tsp mirin
– 1/2 tsp honey
– 1 tsp sesame oil
– 1 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
– Dash of sake
– Extra virgin olive oil
– Wasabi
– Sesame seeds

Method:
1. Mix together the soy sauce, mirin, honey, sesame oil, and sake. Separate them into two portions. Mix the Chinkiang vinegar into one of the portions.
2. Coat the steaks with the non-vinegar portion of sauce. Let marinate for a couple minutes.
3. Press some sesame seeds onto each side of the steaks.
4. Add some olive oil to a frying pan or skillet over high heat. Quickly sear the tuna steaks (~1 minute or so on each side, maybe more depending on thickness) and transfer to a plate. Serve with the vinegar sauce and wasabi.

Note: You can cook the tuna longer if you prefer. I like it barely cooked, if it’s fresh.

I had the privilege of feasting on some of “Meat guy’s” (Jason of Bite-the-Bullet BBQ) pulled pork this past week. As I wrote a couple weeks back, I was recently in New Hampshire to pick up a very large order of BBQ (4 3-packs of ribs, 4 packs of pulled pork, sadly all spoken for!). I don’t think I could get tired of this stuff. As I’m typing, I just finished a sandwich and have been picking at some of the extra I heated up for lunch tomorrow. Might have to heat up some more =P

BBQ is something I used to associate with frozen hamburgers, hotdogs and the like. I’ve made a few strides since then. A few years back, my friends and I made frequent visits to Blue Ribbon BBQ in Arlington. That was the beginning of my BBQ craze. The crowning achievement was finishing the Trio, 3 different meats with two sides and cornbread (typically, brisket, burnt ends, and pulled pork). Sounds like a ton doesn’t it? Well, it was…and I fondly look back on the days when such feats of gluttony were commonplace. I mean they still happen now and then but not as frequently as in the past (I’m getting old, my bones can’t handle it anymore. Maybe I’m over the hill.)

Then, I spent 3 months in Texas on a work rotation. You can probably imagine what I ate, right? SUSHI! And the freshest vegetables you could find at Central Market! I’m kidding of course…I ate tons of BBQ, several times a week. Texas BBQ was slightly different than I imagined though, catering more to the brisket eater (not a bad thing). The other thing I noticed about BBQ places was the incredible quality of the dinner rolls. I mean, a dinner roll really is just a dinner roll. But whatever buttery/oily goodness that comes fresh out of those ovens is truly a magnificent specimen of your average dinner roll. And if you ran out, you always got more! (And as an aside, I have to mention the ridiculously good Vietnamese food in Arlington, TX)

And this is all leading up to…a post about Chinese food. Really.

I needed something to write about and the pulled pork was the first thing that came to mind. But again, I digress.

I always order this dish whenever I go out to one of the local places, Sichuan Gourmet. I’ve been to the Framingham and Billerica locations and they just recently opened in Brookline but I haven’t been there yet but I hear the quality is just as good. I thought this was mostly a stir-fried dish which surprised me because typically I have a hard time keeping the fish from falling apart! However, I think the fish may actually be cooked separately from the sauce and combined right before serving, which makes a ton of sense. In fact, after perusing Fuchsia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty, my suspicions were confirmed. The fish is sliced, marinated, dipped in cornstarch and then BOILED. Then, it’s removed until the sauce is ready.

Recipe adapted from Fuchsia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty

Chili bean sauce link (this is what it looks like): Chili Bean Sauce

Sichuan Fish Fillets in Spicy Chili sauce

Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
– 1 – 1.5 lb white fish, sliced (Used Striped Bass)
– 4 tbsp cornstarch
– 3 tbsp water

Marinade:
– 1 inch ginger, unpeeled
– 1 scallion, chopped
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 2 tsp ShaoHsing rice wine

Base:
– 6 dried chillies, seeds removed
– 1 inch piece of ginger, sliced thin
– 4 cloves garlic, sliced
– 5 scallions, chopped (1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces)
– 3 tbsp canola oil
– 1 tbsp Chili Bean Sauce
– 1/2 tsp ground sichuan peppercorns

Oil:
– 3/4 cup canola oil
– 1.5 tbsp chili bean sauce
– 10-20 dried chillies, seeds removed
– 2 tsp sichuan peppercorns

Method:
1. Mix the fish and marinade, set aside.
2. Add some water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch and water mix to the fish at this point. Stir carefully to coat the fish with the cornstarch mixture.
3. In a separate pan, add 3 tbsp canola oil over high heat. Add the chili paste, ginger, garlic, scallions, chillies, and sichuan peppercorns (from the base) and stir-fry until fragrant (but be careful about burning!). When finished, pour into the bowl/dish you will serve the fish in.
4. Add the fish to the boiling water and boil untouched until just cooked. Add to the serving bowl/dish.
5. In a frying pan, add 3/4 cup oil, chili bean sauce, chillies, and pepper (from the oil header). Stir fry until fragrant, pour over the fish and serve immediately.

I’m usually more of a fan of a more plain way of preparing fish, just a little salt/pepper/olive oil and that’s usually how I prepare fish at home. But when I’m dining out and want fish, I tend to see more fancier things like different salsas, glazes, and whatnot. So I figured why not give mango salsa a shot…I like mangos, and the recipe I saw in Ming Tsai’s Simply Ming looked really tasty.

One note of caution…the mangos I used weren’t ripe enough, make sure to use ripe mangos! Otherwise, you’ll get a semi-crunchy salsa and wish you waited just a little longer (like me) =P

Recipe originally from Ming Tsai’s Simply Ming.

Scallion crusted cod with Mango Salsa

Time: 30-45 minutes
Serves 4

Mango salsa
- 2 mangos, diced
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1/2 inch piece ginger, minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp Sriracha
- Juice of 4 limes
- Salt/pepper to taste

Scallion cod
- 4 cod fillets (6-8oz each)
- 2 cups bread crumbs (panko)
- 2 stalks scallions, chopped
- 2 eggs, beaten (for dredging)
- Some flour (for dredging)
- Fresh cilantro

Method:
1. Mix together the ingredients for the salsa, set aside (Make sure those mangos are ripe!)
2. Season the cod with salt and pepper. Combine scallions and bread crumbs. Dredge the cod first in the flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.
3. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add some oil and saute the cod until cooked halfway through. Flip once, cook another few minutes (depends on the thickness of the fish fillets).
4. Mix the salsa with fresh cilantro. Serve the cod over top a scoop of the salsa.

I was out grocery shopping with a friend the other day and while picking out some fish, she tried steering me towards buying a whole Cod. A whole 5+ pound Cod. I mean, I probably could figure out a way to use it all but I wasn’t having any of it at the time. And that also went with the quarter-cow that came up later. I don’t think I need 30 pounds of beef either. Really =P

I did end up getting some nice cod fillets though. And not being content to just add salt/pepper/olive oil and bake, I sallied forth to the vast land known only as the “Internet” hunting for recipes. Most had some fancy glaze or mango salsa, of which I didn’t have any of the ingredients for (I do want to try out the mango salsa sometime, though I wonder if the sweetness would be overwhelming), but eventually I found a pretty nice recipe on Dash of Food, realized it was very similar to something else I’ve done with fish, and was inspired.

I made up some teriyaki sauce and added in a few of the ingredients from the Dash of Food recipe and I was ready to go. I ended up pan-frying the Cod but I think next time I’ll bake it in the oven and glaze the Cod afterwards, makes for less cleaning and I like baked Cod anyway. Also blanched some fresh Yu Choy I picked up from Russo’s and served the cod over some soba noodles. It ended up being one of the healthiest meals I’ve had in weeks, balancing out an incredibly unhealthy meal just 2 days before…

Pan-seared Cod with Ginger Soy glaze

Time : 15 minutes
Serves : 4

Ingredients:
– 24oz Cod fillets, cut into 4 pieces
– 3 tsp soy sauce
– 3 tsp mirin
– 2 tsp sake
– 1 tsp sugar
– 1 tsp ShaoHsing rice wine
– 2 cloves minced garlic
– 1/2 piece ginger, minced
– 1 tsp corn starch
– 1 tsp sesame oil
– 1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted

Method:
1. Mix together the sauces from the soy sauce through the sesame oil. Add to a small saucepan and let simmer to thicken.
2. Lightly oil the cod and pan-fry or bake in the oven. Pan-frying should take 4-5 minutes on each side on medium heat while baking probably will run 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Plate the fish with side dishes of your choice and then spoon the glaze over top.

So I’ve been on this “quick and easy” cooking spree as of late. By easy I mean dishes that don’t require a ton of prep and probably have less than 10 total ingredients. And by quick…well, I’ll let you guess

Part of the reason has been that I’m tired of eating at 9pm and the other part is my own laziness. But mainly, an hour or more of prep and cooking was getting a little tiresome and I needed a little bit of a change. I used to get home, cook, eat, and by the time I was finished (cleaning included), I was ready for bed!

So last week I picked up some Arctic Char from Whole Foods partially because it fits the “quick and easy” bill as well as being pretty healthy (I’ve been trying to eat fish/seafood at least once a week). Fish also has a very tasty flavor all by itself and doesn’t necessarily require too much additional sauce or seasoning. I sprinkled a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper on the fish and cooked it in a skillet for about 4-5 minutes on each side. It ended up still being pink on the inside (medium-rare), which was fine with me, I actually enjoy fish better that’s slightly undercooked as opposed to the other way around (In fact, I dread overcooking fish). Throw that together with some pita and metch from Russo’s, and I had a meal in under 15 minutes.

A while back I picked up some tilapia at Whole Foods during one of their weekly deals promotions. I was thinking I’d just bake it but one of my buddies quickly put an end to that by sending me his special recipe rub for pan frying.

The first batch I made, I didn’t realize how quickly the fish would cook and ended up overcooking them (I don’t cook fish that often, that should change soon though ). The 2nd batch came out much better and held together out of the pan much better.

Next time I think I might add some flour and an egg to make sure the rub sticks to the fish a little better. Without the egg, some of the rub ended up flaking off as I turned the fish.

The measurements are approximate, I didn’t measure them out this time.

Pan fried seasoned tilapia

Ingredients
3-4 tilapia fillets
1/2 tbsp Sea Salt (Other salt fine)
1/2 tbsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Rosemary
3-4 tbsp Italian Breadcrumbs
2-3 tbsp grated Parmesan or Romano

Method
1. Combine the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and rosemary in a bowl, mix well.
2. Rub each side of the tilapia fillet with the mixed spices
3. Coat each fillet with breadcrumbs
4. Pan fry over medium heat with some olive oil.
5. When close to finished, sprinkle some cheese on each fillet

I was amazed at how little it actually cost to prepare the fish. There aren’t a lot of ingredients required and most of them are pretty inexpensive. Then I thought about some of the prices I paid regularly at some restaurants and cringed. But hey, I always thought it was worth it

Anyway, the fish came out nice and tender and we picked it clean

Steamed fish with ginger/scallions

Ingredients
1 fresh fish (Usually end up with something like tilapia, haddock, or bass)
4 stalks scallions
Half of a ginger root
Some salt

Sauce:
Some vegetable oil
Some soy sauce (There’s also special steamed fish sauce you can buy)

Method:
1. Julienne the scallions and ginger root, set aside. Each slice should be roughly 1-2 inches long. Set aside.
2. Give the fish a quick rinse. Make sure it’s properly scaled and gutted (the market should do this for you). Rub a little salt on the fish.
3. Using roughly 3/4 of the scallions and ginger, place equal portions underneath, inside, and on top of the fish in a steam-able plate.
4. Steam for 15 minutes (more or less depending on the size of the fish)
5. When the fish is finished, remove from the steamer, discard all of the vegetables and fishy juices.
6. Place the last 1/4 of the vegetables on top of the fish. Microwave the fish for about 30 seconds to soften the vegetables
7. Heat some oil and the soy sauce in a separate saucepan.
8. Pour sauce over top (watch out for hot oil) and serve.

Note: We didn’t have any Cilantro but that can be used as part of the vegetable mix as well.

I ended up adding a couple other ingredients (some ground ginger and a dash of garlic powder) but it turned out very similar.

I got some really great looking Steelhead Trout from Whole Foods and threw it in with the marinade right away. Left it in the fridge for about an hour (Wanted it that night, didn’t want to wait any longer!)

Broiled Steelhead in Teriyaki Sauce

Ingredients
2 Salmon/Steelhead fillets (about a pound)
3 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp mirin or sweet sherry
2 tbsp sake or dry white wine/sherry
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
dash of garlic powder
sesame seeds to garnish

Method
1. Mix everything but the sesame seeds and salmon together.
2. Marinate the Salmon in the sauce for at least an hour (overnight is ok)
3. Bake the fish for about 10 minutes at 350F. You may have to bake the fish a little longer depending on how thick it is.
4. After baking, turn on the broiler for about 4-5 minutes to sear and to continue cooking.

Here’s a processed image of the same shot

So while broiling is really easy, cleaning the pan is a pain in the butt! Even after soaking the pan, it still is a little smelly and I wasn’t able to clean all the gunk off So I’ll be using tin foil next time!

Anyway, here’s all you do:

1. Rub salt, pepper, some garlic, and some lemon juice onto the fish.
2. Broil for 8-10 minutes.
3. Eat.

It’s not the most healthy dish since it uses Mayo but I combined the fish with some pasta I had lying around and it turned out great! The pasta I used, for the curious, is a lemon parsley mafaldine made by Pappardelle’s Pasta. Granted, it’s not the cheapest stuff in the world (it’s really pricey pasta!) but it’s really tasty, even without sauce!

Baked Lemony Cod with Garlic Mayo

Ingredients:
1 lb Cod (Filets or with skin, broken into portions)
Pepper and Salt to taste

Sauce:
3-5 cloves Garlic depending on your tastes, minced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 generous tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 teaspoon olive oil
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit
2. Rub some salt and pepper onto both sides of the fish
3. Place Cod (Skin down) on a baking dish
4. Mix the ingredients for the sauce together. Mince the garlic as fine as you can.
5. Spread the mixture over the fish.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
7. Serve immediately

And there you have it. If using other whitefish than Cod, add a teaspoon or so of olive oil to the bottom of the pan before placing the fish in.