Some of Our Favorite Salmon Recipes

On July 21, 2023July 21, 2023 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes1 Comment

Salmon is extremely versatile and can be used in a variety of recipes and styles of dishes. It can be baked, grilled, pan-fried, or even broiled with equally delicious results. It can be added to salads or casseroles as well, but we enjoy it as a main dish. One of our go-to meals is to have salmon and rice with hollandaise sauce, but these are some of the different recipes that we’ve made that we’ve enjoyed.

Our Version of Salmon Oscar with Asparagus

Salmon with Capers and Honey Sauce – We had so many similar style dishes when visiting the Mediterranean regions, we only wish that we could have been sitting on a beach while we ate. The sauce is a combination of sweet and savory and can be used on a variety of proteins including chicken or other types of fish as well. Having salmon with a light and refreshing sauce such as this makes for a wonderful weeknight dinner. We decided to bake the salmon, but you could just as easily pan fry it if you would like to create a crispy skin.

Salmon with a Spicy Pepper Sauce – During our trips to Mexico, we have always enjoyed having seafood cooked with local preparations. Not all food in Mexico is spicy and this recipe isn’t overly spicy, but it does have a little bit of heat. Although you can certainly use a fish other than salmon, we found that salmon was able to hold up to the bold taste of the creamy pepper sauce. We have often made a hollandaise sauce to go with salmon, but using the peppers provides a different alternative.

Achiote Marinated Salmon – This is another dish that is inspired by our many trips south of the border and one of the things that we enjoy about Mexican dishes are the various spices and peppers that they use in them. This dish has spice, but it isn’t at all spicy. Achiote is made from a hard seed that is ground up and provides a deep red color to whatever it is prepared with. We made a simple paste from the Achiote, which comes as a thick block with the consistency of clay. Using fresh lime juice brightens up the dish and makes it even more savory.

Salmon with Lemon Butter Caper Sauce – This a very simple dish, but it is also quite delicious. The combination of lemon, butter, and capers can make the fish both sweet and sour, as well as salty, which is a really nice combination. Like many of the recipes, it is something that works well with other fish as well, but salmon is able to take on the flavors while still having flavor of its own.

Baked Salmon Filets with Farro – One of the ingredients that you will sometimes find in Tuscan cooking is a grain called farro. We decided to bake the salmon and serve it with farro, which turned out moist and was quite delicious. We found it nice for a weekend meal since it has several steps to prepare, but it could be done on a weeknight as well.

Although these are some of our favorite recipes from the past, we certainly look forward to trying salmon in many different ways in the future. We also enjoy trying salmon during our travels and then seeing if we can replicate them after we return home.

Enjoying Variations of Lamb Dinners

On January 12, 2022January 12, 2022 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes2 Comments

Almost everywhere that travel to has a traditional lamb meal, but it isn’t as common here in the United States. And because it isn’t as popular here, it can be expensive to buy, but it certainly worth treating yourself to from time to time. Ground lamb isn’t as expensive as other options and, if you’re only cooking for a few people, lamb chops are another good choice. If you really want to have a dinner with a dramatic presentation, then cooking a rack of lamb is an obvious choice. Since lamb can have a stronger flavor, it is often paired up with other flavorful spices such as those found in Mediterranean or Indian cooking. Whatever style of cooking you prefer, hopefully one of these options will tempt you to give lamb a try.

Roasted Leg of Lamb with Gravy – There is something about having lamb that is very emblematic of the coming of spring to us and we look forward to this meal every year. We don’t get leg of lamb very often because it is just the two of us, but we enjoy using the leftovers for other meals. Oven roasted red potatoes is definitely our favorite starch to serve with lamb and sautéing spinach made for a light and refreshing vegetable.

Delicious Lamb Biryani – Our favorite meal when we visited India was Lamb Biryani. It isn’t a particularly difficult dish to create, but it does take a bit of time and preparation. It turned out to be quite delicious and very fragrant. Depending on how spicy you like your food, you can control some of the heat by changing the amount of cayenne pepper or type of green chili that you use. We served ours over Basmati rice, but regular rice would be just as good.

Roasted Rack of Lamb – Rack of lamb can be an elegant meal and it is a good idea to ask the butcher to “French cut” the bones, which is simply removing the meat and fat from the bone tips. Some people like mint jelly with lamb, but we prefer to simply roast it with herbs like rosemary and thyme. Our preference is to cook the lamb to medium-rare or medium at the most, which keeps it moist and tender.

Lamb Chops with Roasted Red Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Lamb Chops Marinated with Dijon Mustard and Herbs – This is a simple recipe and yet it is quite delicious. We served ours with oven roasted red potatoes and brussels sprouts, which made for perfect accompaniments. You can substitute dry herbs for the fresh herbs, but you should use fresh herbs if at all possible as the flavors will be better.

Greek Moussaka at a Restaurant in Frankfurt

Moussaka – One of the dishes that we truly enjoyed while we were staying in Europe was Moussaka. Although we went to Athens, Greece, it was in Frankfurt that we ended up trying Moussaka for the first time. Most of the staff at our favorite restaurant were actually Greek and although it was a French Bistro, they sometimes put something Greek as their special of the day. This is an inexpensive and easy dish to create, but the flavor is quite wonderful.

Greek Lamb and Rice Dinner – We used a tajine to cook the dish, but it could just as easily be entirely cooked in a skillet. Finishing the lamb chops in the rice and tomatoes keeps it moist and tender. Similar to cooking with wine, when cooking with olives it is always important to use an olive that you would eat on its own without adding it to a dish.

With so many options for cooking lamb, it can be a perfect weeknight dinner or centerpiece for a special occasion. Of all of these meals, the one that is probably our favorite is the Lamb Biryani as it reminds of us of our time in India. Although that might be our favorite, looking back at each of these has inspired us to cook a nice lamb dinner sometime soon.

Seafood Recipes that We Love

On January 5, 2022January 5, 2022 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Recipes2 Comments

We enjoy eating a variety of seafood when we travel and often cook them at home as well. Seafood is very versatile and can take on different flavors, which makes it something that can be used in every cuisine. There are also so many different types of fish and other seafood that means that even if you don’t like the taste of one type of seafood, there is probably something out there that you will enjoy. We have made many different seafood recipes over the years, but here are a few of our favorites.

Fresh Seafood Paella with Clams, Mussels, and Shrimp – Like many people, we really enjoy paella because it is versatile and not particularly complicated to make. Obviously, we associate paella with the time that we spent in Spain, but we’ve also had it in resorts in Mexico as well as the Caribbean. The key to making seafood paella is making sure that you are using the freshest seafood possible. The other key is using short-grain rice such as Bomba or Calasparra. Fortunately, these days those are also available online if not in a store near you. Even though it is a simple dish to make and very rustic, it is perfect for a gathering where you can simply put the paella in the center of the table and let people serve themselves. Although we limited it to seafood, you can definitely add chicken thighs or sausage to make the dish even more hearty.

Salmon Oscar – During our trip to Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, we had a very delicious meal that the restaurant called Salmon Chesapeake. It was salmon topped with lump crab meat with a cream sauce. For our attempt to replicate this meal, we went with a cross between a Veal Oscar and a stuffed flounder. We love Hollandaise sauce with salmon, so we decided to use that as our sauce, which worked out really well. This isn’t a complicated recipe at all, but it looks and tastes wonderful, so it is a perfect dish for entertaining. We ate it as a weeknight dinner with some asparagus, which made for a perfect combination.

Seared Sea Scallops with a Lemon Butter Sauce – Sea scallops can be a little expensive depending on the time of year, but it certainly worth splurging on for a special occasion. The important thing with cooking scallops is to use a hot pan so that the outside gets seared while the inside stays tender. Lemon butter and capers go extremely well with scallops and just to make the dish even more luxurious, we also added saffron. Simple and yet delicious.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Angel Hair Pasta

Shrimp Fra Diavolo – Shrimp Fra Diavolo (Brother Devil) is an Italian inspired dish that is spicy and delicious. We served it over a bed of angel hair pasta, but when we had leftovers a couple of days later, we simply served it with a side of garlic toast. If you don’t want it too spicy, you can reduce the amount of red pepper flakes, but this meal is meant to pack some heat. It is one of those easy and yet elegant dinners that can be done on a weeknight or served for a weekend dinner party. It could probably be done with another type of shellfish, but shrimp really holds up well to the flavors and is easy to cook.

Pan Fried Tilapia with Oven Roasted Asparagus

Pan-Fried Tilapia – Because tilapia has such a mild flavor, there are plenty of options to serving it, from sauces to cooking techniques such as baking, poaching, and pan frying. It is also an inexpensive fish, making it a great option for families on a budget. We chose to bread the tilapia and pan fry it, which helped add to the flavor of the meal.

Baked Jumbo Lobster Tail – There are several ways to prepare lobster tails and all of them create a tasty meal, but we chose to bake the lobster tail because of the presentation. We ordered our lobster tails from a company in Maine that ships them overnight and allows you to pick the size of your lobster tail. The lobster tails that we selected were between 12 and 14 ounces, which definitely made for a hearty meal. Regardless of the size of your tail, butterflying them and then baking them not only makes them more attractive but also helps the meat cook more evenly. We’d highly suggest that you try this method if you get a chance to cook fresh lobster tails. We served our lobster tails with a lobster bisque and crab cakes with a roumelade sauce.

Crab-Stuffed Flounder – Flounder is a mild, flat fish that is often stuffed. Lump crab meat makes for an excellent stuffing as it just adds to the flavor of the fish. In order to ensure that the fish isn’t dry, we made a quick, homemade hollandaise sauce to accompany it as well as the asparagus that we served with it. This is really a fairly simple dish, but it is certainly something that could be made for an elegant dinner or even to feed a crowd.

Regardless of what style of seafood you enjoy, there are obviously plenty of options for how to prepare it. No matter where you live, there are going to be some sort of fresh fish options available for you to choose from. It is also possible to have seafood shipped to you as well if you can’t find what you are looking for at your local grocery store.