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.

Our Version of Salmon Oscar with Asparagus

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.

Delicious Coconut Curry Shrimp Recipe

On April 28, 2021April 28, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn India, Recipes2 Comments

Coconut Curry Shrimp

We certainly enjoyed a variety of curry and other dishes during our time in Chennai, India. This has a mild flavor and the coconut certainly compliments the shrimp. Because shrimp cooks so quickly, this is perfect dish for a weeknight meal.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Cuisine Indian

Servings 2 People

Equipment

Skillet

Ingredients

1 lb Shrimp peeled and deveined
2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
2 cloves Garlic minced
1/4 cup White Onion finely diced
1 tbsp Curry Powder
8 oz Coconut Milk
2 tbsp Honey
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
Fresh Juice from Half of a Lime
1 tbsp Parsley for garnish
Basmati Rice cooked according to package directions

Instructions

Heat the butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the shrimp and cook until pink and tender, about 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
Remove the shrimp and set aside. Add the garlic and onion to the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes to soften the onion.
Stir in the curry powder and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
Reduce the heat to low and add the coconut milk, honey, salt, and lime juice and bring to a gentle boil. Let the sauce thicken slightly.
Add the shrimp to the pan to allow them to absorb some of the flavor and to let them come up to temperature.
Server over rice and garnish with parsley and a lime wedge.

Keyword coconut, curry, shrimp

Fresh Seafood Paella with Clams, Mussels, and Shrimp

On January 13, 2021January 13, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Food, Recipes, Spain5 Comments

Like many people, we really enjoy paella because it is versatile and not particularly complicated to make. Obviously we associate paella 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. We actually had the clams and mussels shipped to us from a company called Maine Lobster Now, which is also where we got our fresh lobster from last year for our anniversary when we were all in lockdown. The other key is using short-grain rice such as Bomba or Calasparra. Fortunately, in 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 to make the dish even more hearty. It is quite common to add peas to a paella, but we have a food allergy in our family, so we did not add them. We made a slightly smaller batch that would serve 3 to 4 people, but it is easy to increase it to serve for a crowd.

INGREDIENTS

6 to 8 Live Clams – scrubbed and cleaned
8 to 10 Live Mussels – scrubbed, cleaned, and debearded
8 to 10 Large Shrimp – peeled and deveined
1 cup Bomba Rice
1/2 Yellow Onion – finely diced
1 Small Clove of Garlic – minced
1/4 cup Red Bell Pepper – cut into strips
1/3 cup Tomato Purée
2 3/4 cups Chicken Stock – preferably homemade
1/4 tsp Saffron
1/2 to 3/4 tsp Smoked Paprika
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Green Onion for garnish
Salt and Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Add the olive oil to a large cast-iron skillet (or a paella pan if you have one, but it isn’t necessary) and heat the oil to medium-high heat. Add the onion and simmer for 2 minutes and then add the garlic to the oil and simmer for and addition 2 to 3 minutes. Add the tomato purée and simmer for another 4 to 5 minutes and the liquid has reduced. Add the chicken stock, saffron, paprika, salt and pepper, and turn the heat to high in order to bring the liquid to a boil. Evenly distribute the rice around the pan and cook the rice for 10 minutes. Place the clams, mussels, and shrimp into the pan, being sure that the seafood doesn’t touch one another, and press them down into the rice and liquid. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes. At this point some of the clams and mussels might have opened. Add the red pepper to the pan and cover (if all of the liquid has absorbed, add a little more stock) and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, checking every few minutes, until all of the clams and mussels have opened. If any of the clams or mussels don’t open, discard them, but if your seafood is really fresh, there shouldn’t be too many that don’t open. Garnish with the green onion and serve.