Leftover Idea: Fish Po’ Boys

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Andrea

Crispy breaded fish is something that I really enjoy having on occasion. By making my own breadcrumbs, using local eggs, along with sauteeing the fish in olive oil and a smidge of butter, I can feel good about serving this to my family.

Even though I love it, sometimes leftovers need a little dolling up and superstar treatment.

Enter in the Fish Po’ Boy!

The Po’ Boy is a sandwich popular in New Orleans and consists of a toasty roll with a fried fish fillet and a sauce on top. That’s the basics of the dish anyway. So to create a fish po’ boy at home, you just need a few simple things on hand.

Andrea’s Fish Po’ Boy:

Leftover crispy fish

Crusty Bread of your Choice

Lettuce

Tomato

Red Onion

Dressing (Below)

Put together sandwich by layering the lettuce, tomato, onion, and then the fish on top of that.

Andrea’s Fish Dipping Sauce:

2TBSP Greek Yogurt (We like Fage)

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Andrea

Tuna Noodle Casserole is a new one for me. I didn’t eat it growing up. My mom might have made it once but eating warm tuna sort of threw me for a loop and I didn’t dig on it. At all. No one must of liked it because she never made it again. My previous tuna experience was tuna salad which of course is cold, that I can handle. Warm tuna, not so much.

I know it’s a staple and source of comfort food for many though and that includes Scott. They apparently had it in their dinner rotation and somehow a box with a giant hand on it was part of the equation.

I never made it for him because I couldn’t get past the idea of warm tuna.

Then a few months ago I decided to give it a try. Hey I’m eating lots of new stuff I never liked before, might as well hit up tuna noodle and see what it has to say for itself.

Purchasing Smoked Salmon

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Andrea

The smoked salmon post generated a lot of feedback from you guys! Two readers chimed in wanting to know more about smoked salmon.

Linzi asked:

I’ve been wanting to make a sandwich like that..yummy! Where do you typically find your Salmon? In the seafood area of the grocery store or somewhere else. That has been my biggest challenge. Knowing where to find it.

Great question!

I do typically find smoked salmon in the seafood department of the grocery store. It is typically sold in vacuum sealed packs and can be found next to the area that also has crab and other seafood items that are prepackaged and ready to eat.

Occasionally the seafood counter will have smoked salmon in the case and you can ask them to slice you some. I have never done this though, all the smoked salmon I’ve bought have been in packages.

Melissa asked:

MMMMM! I enjoyed sampling from a classic smoked salmon platter at a party the other night: smoked salmon, a creamy dip, red onions, capers, and crackers. I want to buy some smoked salmon for myself but hesitate because I assume it’s expensive. Any tips on a good affordable brand?

This is another great question! I think this also shows how most people view smoked salmon, that it’s expensive. I for one had that same notion. Now I will start off by saying that smoked salmon isn’t super cheap and probably not something you will be purchasing weekly. However it isn’t crazy expensive either.

Read more on Purchasing Smoked Salmon…

Tuesday Tip: Using oat bran instead of breadcrumbs

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Andrea

I’m constantly on the lookout for healthy substitutions for things in cooking and in baking. Although admittedly, I haven’t baked anything in a very long time and I’m hoping to change that soon!

One thing I love is a breadcrumb topping. Either on baked mac ‘n cheese, or perhaps as a coating to something, I love the crispy crunchy texture it gives food. Crispy and flavorful is about all it brings to the table and these days I’m looking for multitasking. I turned to one of my good friends, oat bran. Oat bran is finely ground and in my opinion, resembles that of course bread crumbs. Why couldn’t I use this instead of breadcrumbs? I pondered.

I decided to find out.

I mixed it with a bit of seasonings, coconut and coated some tilapia with it.

The result was crispy baked tilapia. Not only did the oat bran work replacing empty calorie breadcrumbs but it’s also bringing protein and fiber to the table. Multi-tasking indeed!

Chipotle Glaze

Posted on May 24, 2009 by Andrea

Chipotle Glaze

This was another idea I came up with while working and thinking about what to make for dinner. At least I’m a great multitasker! Scott and I love fish and seafood. Because it’s such a great protein source along with all the other goodies it contains, I try to make sure we get fish at least twice a week. We were having salmon one night and I wanted a different way to serve it up. I usually marinade the salmon in a teriyaki mixture because it takes to that flavor so well. But this time I wanted something a little different.

Since I’ve been working on my heat tolerance level, I decided to try something new with the salmon by creating a sweet and spicy glaze. Glazes aren’t something I really work with too much and I thought it was about time I changed that up. I pulled out some chipotles and put together this really great tasting glaze.

Asian Tuna Salad

Posted on September 3, 2008 by Andrea

Asian Tuna Salad

Me: Hey? Do you want tuna sandwiches for lunch?

Scott: Sure.

*chop, chop, mix, assemble and serve*

Scott: What’s this?

Me: Huh? It’s a tuna sandwich.

Scott: Oh.

Me: Why? Doesn’t it look like a tuna sandwich?

Scott: No.

Me: No? What would your tuna sandwich look like?

Scott: Mayo on each slice of bread, scoop out the tuna from the can and stick on the bread. Put the two halves together and eat.

Me: Oh. How about I’ll do the cooking from now on?

And that’s pretty much how our conversation went the first time I made tuna salad sandwiches for Scott and I those many years ago when we moved into our first apartment right out of college. Tuna with some huge globs of mayo slapped on some bread? No thank you. And I’ve been playing with tuna salad ideas ever since.

This recipe came to me because I had a craving for some tuna salad and also knew I had some veggies that needed to get used up. I pondered it, and the result is this Asian inspired recipe.