Halibut & shrimp: Two great tastes that taste great together!

Halibut & Shrimp Cakes

4 servings

2 cups halibut fillet, flaked or chopped into pea-sized pieces
8 large shrimp, peeled, deveined and butterflied – do not remove the shell from the tail!
2 – 3 tablespoons flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 large egg lightly beaten
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/3 cup Japanese breadcrumbs (or substitute any breadcrumbs)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
olive oil

1. Dust chopped halibut and both sides of the butterflied part of the shrimp with the flour mixture.
In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients except olive oil and mix well. Add halibut to bowl and mix well. Mixture should be the consistency of moist cookie dough. If it’s too wet, add a little more breadcrumbs. Too dry, more mayonnaise.

2. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions. You’ll make 2 cakes from each portion. Take half of one portion and press into a ball around the floured portion of a shrimp, leaving the tail of the shrimp exposed. Form into a cake, about 3/4-inch thick. Make sure that the cakes hold together and don’t fall apart. Repeat the process to make 8 cakes.

3. Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the 8 cakes and lightly brown on both sides until just cooked. If you use uncooked halibut, first lightly brown the cakes in the skille and then finish cooking them in a preheated 350 degree oven for 5 – 6 minutes.

4. Serve immediately and top with your favorite sauce – lemon aioli, cocktail sauce, tartar sauce, etc.

Our pal Scott Leysath of Hunt Fish Cook fame shows ya how it’s done…

Unless you're looking for extra fiber, it's probably best to fillet fish before cooking!

One Pan Striper with Asparagus

4 servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
12 small red potatoes, quartered
1 red onion, rough chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and rough chopped
12 – 16 fresh asparagus spears, woody parts of stems removed
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound striper fillets, dark parts removed – cut into 2-inch pieces (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup dry white wine
4 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into chunks
salt and pepper

1.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add potatoes and cook on all sides until lightly browned, about 6 – 8 minutes. Add onion and cook 3 – 4 minutes more.

2.

Add bell pepper, asparagus and garlic and cook for 2 – 3 minutes. Move contents of pan over to one side and add striper pieces. While in the pan, season fish with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook fish until just done, about 4 – 5 minutes. Gently combine fish with vegetables, season with salt and pepper to taste and transfer to plates or platter and keep warm. Add lemon juice and wine to the pan and increase heat to high. Stir to remove bits. Reduce liquid to about 2 tablespoons.

3.

Remove pan from heat and immediately whisk in butter pieces until melted. Drizzle butter sauce over fish and vegetables.

Mmmm…doesn’t that sound good? If you’d like to go on a guided striper trip and get some grill fodder, contact yours truly HERE

It all starts here...

To make a four-serving meal, start with four one-pound trout (cleaned with the head on). You’ll also need:

• 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of salt

• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• 2 minced garlic cloves

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 1/3 cup fresh chopped herbs

(On the herb front, go with whichever ones you like best or what’s in-season at the supermarket)

Prep

“First, butterfly the fish,” he says. “To butterfly, use a sharp boning knife and, starting at the head, run the knife between both sides and the spine. This will separate the bones from the spine and fish can be opened up flat. After cooking, the bones can be easily removed. Then, you’ll want to season fish with salt and pepper.”

Vinaigrette

After that, it’s time to make the herb vinaigrette. Scott says to combine your remaining ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake vigorously. Next, you’ll need to baste the fish with the vinaigrette mixture in the jar and let everything stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Grill Time!

“Place your fish, skin-side down on a medium heat barbecue,” he says. “Cover the fish with the lid or foil for five minutes, then baste again and give the fish a quarter turn with a spatula. Cover again and cook for five minutes more.

 At that point, your fish should be done throughout. If your trout turns out too dry, don’t blame the fish – you’ve overcooked it. When done, remove the bones and serve with your vinaigrette mixture on the side.”

Yum! I’ve tried several of his recipes and they’ve all been outstanding! For more innovate and tasty ways to cook your favorite fish and game, check out www.hunkfishcook.com

Also, try this one: How to Make Hatchery Trout Taste Good

Spring is striper time out here on the West Coast (out East too!) and, in addition to being a really sporty fish to chase around with rod and reel, they’re damn tasty.

Striper flesh is firm and white — it’s a really a user-friendly fish that takes well to many cooking styles. While rolling striper chunks into beer batter and dropping them into a boiling cauldron of cholesterol is a my favorite way to cook it up, a much more artery-friendly approach is to grill it Asian style.

Scott “The Sporting Chef” Leysath, co-host of the popular cable show HuntFishCook shows us how…

Grilled Soy and Sesame Striper

Of course, the best thing you can do to make your fish taste great is to immediately bleed and ice it after bringing it aboard. At the fillet table, be sure to remove the dark flesh on the backside of the meat, which carries a strong fishy flavor. Also, try to keep only smaller males in the 4- to 10-pound range and let the big females go!

This recipe calls for 4 fillets in the 6- to 8-ounce range, which are just about exactly what you’d get off a couple 6-pound schoolies. You’ll also need:

•1/4 cup soy sauce
•2 tablespoons sesame oil
•2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
•2 tablespoons sesame seeds, lightly toasted in a skillet over low heat
•2 green onions, minced
•2 garlic cloves, minced
•2 limes, juice only

“Combine the marinade ingredients and whisk them together to blend everything,” he says. “Next, place your fish into a baking dish or Zip-Loc bag and then pour the marinade over the fillets. Cover or zip and then let the striper marinate in the fridge for 30 to 60 minutes.”

Once you pull the fish out of the marinade, Leysath says you need to place it on a hot oiled grill.

“Cook the fish for 3 to 4 minutes on one side and then flip it over and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes,” he said. “You want to pull it off when it is just cooked – don’t over do it.”

Before you take the fish off the grill, give it a good dousing with the marinade and you’ll be in business. Serve it up with some rice and stir-fried veggies and get your grub on!

Planter trout...the other white meat!

Smoked Trout Spread with Jalapeno

“First off, fillet the trout,” he says. “You can leave the skin on if you like – or take it off if you’re so inclined. Next, take equal parts kosher salt and brown sugar and rub both sides of the fish with it. Place the fish in a Zip-Loc in the fridge for 3 to 8 hours.”

After that, he says you place the fish on a rack to air dry for 30 minutes.

“Next, pop the fish into a 140- to 160-degree smoker for 2 to 3 hours,” he says. “You can use whatever kind of smoker you want, but the best one I’ve ever used is a Bradley. They’re electric and, because a smoker disc automatically goes in every 20 minutes, you get very consistent results. Set the thing and walk away…done!”

When the fish is done smoking, flake up two cups of it and then, in a mixing bowl, combine the trout with the following ingredients:

• 8 Ounces softened cream cheese

• 4 minced garlic cloves

• ¼ Cup finely diced red onion

• 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves (or substitute with Italian parsley leaves)

• 1 Teaspoon Tabasco Sauce (or to taste)

• 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

“After you’ve mixed all these ingredients together, add salt and pepper to taste,” he says. “Then thinly slice some jalapeno pepper for garnish and dollop the spread onto tortilla chips.”

Okay, you’ve got dead fish…something for the grill, but there’s nowhere to clean ‘em in your boat, right? And there’s no way the wife’s gonna let you fillet on her kitchen counter…

No worries, mate! Enter the $5 Fillet Table!

First, a little backstory is in order here.

The $5 Fillet Table’s origins lay along the banks of California’s Feather River. One day back in the late summer/early fall of 1999, I had just finished a salmon trip on the Feather River. We’d done well and I was filleting my client’s fish. There are no boat ramps along the Feather up near Oroville…let alone fish cleaning stations… so I always ended up cleaning fish on a gravel bar, on some uneven patch of grass or on some sand.

Needless to say, doing a good fillet job is tough to do when you have less-than-ideal conditions. It was murder on my knife as it was constantly being exposed to rocks and sand – and I’m sure people found the odd blade of grass on their fillets later that evening.. Come to think of it, I’d bet a few of those fish I filleted “au natural” tasted a bit gritty. I figured there had to be a better way…

So, then I started taking a fish cleaning board along with me. It was simply a piece of scrap 3/4-inch plywood that I had salvaged from the dark recesses of my garage. While the board was a little easier on my knife than sand and gravel, its main drawback was it was as slick as ice when you put a fish on it. A fact that was particularly obvious when I was using it on uneven a piece ground (read: always). The way a salmon would slip and slide around on that board was enough to make you believe that it was still alive. Filleting a fish on that slippery chunk of wood was a lot like hunting teal… you had to lead it a little to make sure you hit the fish with your knife. It’s a wonder I didn’t lop off any digits with that mickey mouse set-up.

Aside from the slickness factor, the board also got extremely, uh, fragrant as the season wore on. I tried hitting it with 1300 psi of water with my power washer, bleaching it, scrubbing it with steel wool. Heck, I even took some boulder-grit sand paper to it but just couldn’t manage to get rid of the stank.

I was still completely dissatisfied with my fish cleaning program, so I eventually decided I needed to build some sort of fold-out fillet table for the boat. My contraption would fit under my seat, out of the way, and would set up in mere seconds. I allocated a crisp pair of Ben Franklins to the project and enthusiastically headed for the holy grail of backyard projects… Home Depot.

I had a vague idea of what I wanted, but no concrete plans, so I wandered aimlessly around the store for awhile, seeking inspiration… or, at least, a helpful, orange clad sales associate. As I walked past a display of welcome mats, the little cartoon light bulb above my head starting glowing brightly. Problem solved! I picked out one of those green plastic Astro Turf mats and was out the door. No assembly required and I had just saved myself 195 bucks!

$5 Well Spent

The next day on the river, I realized I had just made one of the best purchases of the year. First of all, I would always have a place to clean fish. No more hunting around for that perfect little section of flat, hard packed wet sand. The “grass” of the mat held fish very well, so they didn’t slide around… a good thing when you’re wielding a sharp instrument! I also found that I could cut through a fish and into the mat without worrying about damaging my blade. The thing rinses out easily and fits just about anywhere.

These mats work great on boats of all sizes. I’ve taken them with me out in my little aluminum boat and when I go to clean fish, I just lay the turf across one of the bench seats and…presto…instant fish table. I’ve also had them with me when I ran a 6-pac charter boat. You can slap your mat on top of a cooler and go to work. If you’ve got a lot of fish to clean and you’re worried about your back hurting from hunching over too long, do what I do: I’ll put my cooler on top of my trailer and then place the mat on the ice chest.

That way, you’ve got a nice flat surface that’s high enough off the ground so you can stand up straight and clean to your heart’s content. You can also put the mat on a truck tailgate, picnic table, dock, etc. without making a mess.

Stripers are damn tasty! Here’s how to cook ‘em up right:

Striped bass have firm, white flesh that’s mild in flavor and extremely versatile. My favorite is fish tacos followed grilled with garlic butter…Yum! However, I decided it was time for a little change. Time to go with something a bit more interesting.

That, of course, led me to Scott “The Sporting Chef” Leysath (www.sportingchef.com) who shared with me his poached striper and peppercorn vinaigrette recipe, which I once cooked with him on his show (but of course have long since forgotten).

“First off, you have to remember to remove all of the dark flesh before marinating or cooking,” he says. “The texture and flavor of the dark stuff is just not going to make you happy.”

He says to also keep in mind that poaching actually cooks faster than most other cooking methods. Make sure you cook the fish until just done…but be careful not to over-do it.

Okay, here’s what you need:

Peppercorn Vinaigrette
1 cup
1 tablespoon crushed peppercorns
1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
pinch sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh chives, minced
salt

Scott says to combine the crushed peppercorns and vinegar in a medium bowl and marinate for 2 – 3 hours. Whisk in the oil, mustard and sugar. Stir in garlic and chives and season with salt to taste.

Okay, now for the poaching part…

Poaching liquid
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns, crushed
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup water

1. Heat in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Add a 2.5- to 3-pound fillet (skin and dark meat removed) to poaching liquid and cook at just below the boiling point until fish is flaky. As soon as fish starts to flake apart, it’s done.

To serve, arrange fish on plate and drizzle vinaigrette over.

Yum!

It’s salmon season and, if you get lucky enough to whack a nice chromer on the noggin’, here’s a tasty way to do up some fillets…