Salmon-Noodle Soup

Sounds weird, huh? But it's pretty darn good and way easy to make. It's good with shrimp too—I mean, instead of the salmon; or I suppose you could use chicken. But I really like the salmon in it. Yum!

SALMON-NOODLE SOUP

6 cups water
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg. Oriental-flavor Ramen noodles
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
1 celery rib, thinly sliced

10 oz. cooked salmon, broken into small pieces [you can use canned salmon, if you'd like]

Oor 3/4 lb. medium-size raw green shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cups diagonally-sliced carrots

2 cups snow peas or sugar-snap peas

4 green onions, sliced [use the green and white parts]

1 tsp. peeled and grated fresh ginger

1 medium garlic clove, finely chopped

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

soy sauce (optional)

Make sure all your veggies are peeled, chopped, sliced, and grated ahead of time—this cooks fast!

Bring water and salt to boil in a medium-large-ish size pot.
Add the noodles, but NOT the seasoning packet. Also add the broccoli and celery at this time and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the salmon or shrimp (or some of both, if you want). And add the carrots, peas, green onions, ginger, garlic clove, sesame oil, and now the seasoning packet, too. Cook for 1 minute.
Stir in a dash or two of soy sauce, if desired.
Serve immediately.

Yum-yum!

Brasilian (?) Salmon

Here's the salmon recipe Bruce mentioned. I don't know if it's authentic Brasilian—it's just a recipe I found on the web. It is the only "Brasilian salmon" recipe I found on the web, and it is exactly the same on every site. But, authentic or not, it is really good!

SALMON BAKED WITH BRASILIAN RUB

4 salmon fillets, 5 to 6 oz each
zest of 1/2 large orange
juice of 1/2 large orange
juice of 1/2 large lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a shallow dish large enough to hold the salmon, combine the juices, salt and pepper. Add the salmon, turning to coat with the marinade. Let marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes, turning the fillets once.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Line a shallow baking pan with aluminum foil and grease with a little of the melted butter.
In a small dish, combine the orange zest, brown sugar, chili powder and minced garlic. Rub the marinated salmon with the brown sugar mixture. Place fish in the pan, and drizzle with the remaining melted butter.
Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. (If you're using a whole fillet, it needs to cook longer, maybe 20 to 30 minutes.)

I bet this would be yummy on other kinds of fishies, too!

Fish Soup

Well, this recipe was originally called "Pacific Stew Pot," which sounds a lot nicer. But in our house it just evolved into "Fish Soup."

If you're not a seafood lover, skip over this one. But if you do like seafood, then this is delectable. Not only that, but it has no added fat, it probably does have those fabulous omega-3 fatty acids (from the fish) that you're always hearing about, and it fits into most diets--including low-carb diets. And it's soup! Can't get much better than that! ;-)

FISH SOUP

1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup water
1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce
1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 cup water
*1/2 lb. white fish (like cod, tilapia or roughy), cut into bite-size pieces
*1/2 lb. medium (raw) shrimp, peeled
*1/3 lb. scallops (bay scallops, or you can get sea scallops and cut them into bite-size pieces)

*You could substitute any seafood you like, I'd imagine. Or skip some that you don't like and add something else. You could be daring and add octopus, or squid, or frog's legs, I suppose. That's the fun of cooking. :-)

Bring the onion and celery and 1 cup water to a boil; simmer for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, ketchup, Tabasco, Worcestershire, salt, curry powder and remaining 1 cup water. Bring to a boil; simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Add seafood and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until seafood is cooked through. [Don't overcook the seafood or it will be tough. Yuck!]

I like to serve this soup over a scoop of hot rice. But I suppose that would blow the low-carb thing, wouldn't it?

Oven "Fried" . . .

In keeping with my goal to drop 35 pounds (actually it's 30 now!) I have a tip for breaded, fried foods. You know, like onion rings or fried zucchini, or fried fish; the stuff that tastes sooooo good, and is soooooo fatty! I've tried breading and baking stuff before, only to get a soggy mess. But this really works and tastes great too. Although you may want to wait for cooler weather before you try it—you do need to use a very high temperature oven.

BREADED, "FRIED" . . . ANYTHING!

4 slices white bread, torn into 1-inch pieces*
1 Tbsp. butter, melted*
salt and pepper
1/4 cup flour*
2 large eggs*
1 Tbsp. light mayonnaise*
seasonings of choice, to taste
chicken or fish or zucchini or mushrooms or onion rings or . . .

*You may need more of these things, depending on how much "anything" you're cooking—this amount works for about four 4 to 5-ounce pieces of chicken.

Prepare ahead of time: Pulse bread, butter, salt and pepper in food processor to make medium crumbs. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes, stirring twice during baking time. Crumbs should be brown and dry. Set aside until ready to use.

Prepare (slice, dice—whatever, and pat dry) your veggies, chicken or fish. [You can also do "fried" mozarella this way, but you have to freeze the cheese sticks first and then work fast when you're breading them. Also I don't know that this qualifies as a low-cal food. But it is healthier than plain old deep-fried mozarella!]

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Put the flour into a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, mix together the eggs, mayonnaise and your choice of seasonings. [I find that "Season-All" is great for this stuff.] Put the bread crumbs into another shallow bowl.
Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray. Dredge your fish, chicken or veggies in the flour. Dip the floury food into the egg mixture. Coat the eggy mess in bread crumbs, pressing crumbs onto the food, and then place on the prepared cookie sheet.

Turn oven heat down to 425 degrees. Place cookie sheet in oven. Bake fish about 20 to 25 minutes, turning once halfway through. Bake large chicken pieces about 40 minutes, turning a couple times during cooking. [Smaller, boneless chicken pieces will work better and don't have to cook as long.] Cook veggies about 10 to 15 minutes, turning over once.

Serve hot. Yummy!!

Shrimp Lasagna

I got this recipe from my oldest brother, Peter, who got it from my youngest brother, Paul. (Both brothers are older than me.) So here, word-for-word, is the recipe as I got it. No, actually I think I may have changed a few things. But the introduction was written by Peter----that part is word-for-word. And this recipe is really good!!

In the Spring of 1988 my brother Paul and I were working 72 hours a week at the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant in Arizona, moving and processing radioactive waste for disposal. We rented rooms from our brother Wendell (a reactor operator at the plant) in Peoria. At that time of year shrimp fishing is real good in Rock Point, Mexico, which is about four hours away by car. In the Phoenix area it is not uncommon for the locals to make a "shrimp run" to Rock Point so they can buy fish and shrimp right off the boats. Paul and Wendell both having the same day off one weekend, went on a run and came back with 50 pounds of 4 to 6-inch shrimp. Every day for two weeks we fried, grilled, broiled or sauteed some shrimp for dinner. Finally, when we were all getting tired of eating shrimp, Paul announced that he was going to cook something new: a shrimp lasagna. This delicious recipe is what he created for us on that Spring day in Arizona.
----Peter Johnson

PAUL'S SHRIMP LASAGNA

1 1/2 lbs. unshelled green shrimp
1 pint half & half
3 Tbsp. butter
1 bunch green onions
1 clove garlic, pressed or finely chopped
1 tsp. pepper
salt to taste
1/2 pint cottage cheese
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
3 cups grated Swiss cheese
8 oz. uncooked lasagna noodles
1/2 cup roux (3 Tbsp. butter & 3 Tbsp. flour)
3 cups water or milk

Shell and devein the shrimp; save the shells. Set aside some of the best-looking shrimp for garnish. Cut the remainder of the shrimp into chunks; set aside. [I, Loralee, like to keep them in a little water so they don't dry out----you can use this water later in the recipe.]
Prepare the roux by melting 3 Tbsp. butter in a small skillet and adding 3 Tbsp. flour to make a thick paste; set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the cottage cheese, mozzarella and Swiss cheeses; set aside.
Cook noodles according to package directions; set aside. [They will dry up and get sticky if you make them too far in advance. Unless you keep them in cool water. Don't use hot water or they'll keep cooking and get mushy.]
In a medium saucepan, saute the shrimp shells in 3 Tbsp. butter for two to three minutes. Use a lid on the pan to preserve all juices. Remove the shells to a cheesecloth and squeeze out the remaining juices into the saucepan. Discard shells. Sauteall shrimp in the juices from the shells until pink. With a slotted spoon, remove and set aside the shrimp reserved for garnish. Remove the remainder of the shrimp and set aside. Saute the garlic in the shrimp juices. Add the half & half and the water or milk [I use the water that I had the shrimp sitting in earlier, then add enough milk to that amount of water to total 3 cups.] Stir in the pepper. Bring to a low boil, stirring constantly. After the sauce boils, reduce heat to a low simmer and cover pan. Stir occasionally to prevent burning. Chop green onions, reserving 5 or 6 tops for garnish. Add chopped onions to sauce. Slowly add roux to the sauce, stirring out any lumps and using only enough to bring sauce to desired consistency (kind of thick, but not like pudding). Salt to taste. Add the cut shrimp to the sauce.
In a 9-inch square baking dish, layer (in order) sauce, noodles and cheese until you are within 1/2-inch of the top of the pan. Garnish with reserved shrimp and green onion tops. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Is Paul a great cook, or what?

For Ann: You can use chicken instead of shrimp in this recipe. Paul said so.
For Sara: Grilled zucchini planks would be great layered in with this. Or any other veggies that seem tasty.
For Michael: Enjoy those noodles!