Today I have the good fortune to launch yet another delicious item on QVC from my friends at Anderson Seafoods. This time, it’s not fresh fish (although you can see their full assortment of fresh (never frozen) fish on their website at any time), but a medley of delicious seafood, including shrimp, wild caught bay scallops, squid rings and wild Alaskan cod! I’ve been busy cooking this seafood up in a number of ways and there are so many things I love about this seafood medley.

First of all is its versatility. I’ve made pastas, stews, fried appetizers, a pot pie, and even a salad with the mix, but you could also make tacos or fajitas, throw it onto a pizza, and of course grill it up in a grill basket to accompany just about anything. I love the versatility of this seafood and how quickly you can put a great meal together using it as the main ingredient.

Secondly, it’s such a quick fix! In no more than two minutes of cooking time, everything is cooked up and ready to be served. It’s great when you need to put dinner together quickly and the end result is delicious and special - not your everyday quick fix!

I also love the size of all the pieces of seafood. Squid cooks very quickly and the shrimp, bay scallops and cod pieces are the right size to accompany the squid. Together all the different seafoods are complimentary to each other and sized appropriately not only for each other, but also for eating. They are the perfect bite-size.

Last, but definitely not least, is the convenience of this medley. When making a seafood dish, you often have to go and buy all the different seafoods separately. Depending on how they are sold (shrimp in one pound bags, for instance), you may have to buy more than you need for a particular dish. Anderson, on the other hand, offers the medley in one-pound bags with the four different types of seafood making up roughly 25% of that pound. Having a pound or two of this in the freezer is a cook’s safety blanket - they defrost quickly, cook quickly and can make an impressive last minute meal!

Interested? You should be!

Quick and Easy Seafood Pasta with Black Pepper and Lemon

Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients:

• ½ pound dried spaghetti
• 1 pound Anderson Seafoods’ seafood medley, thawed, well drained and patted dry
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Bring a large stockpot of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the package directions.
2. While the pasta is cooking, pre-heat a large sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat. When the pasta has only 2 minutes of cooking time left, add the olive oil to the skillet and toss in the seafood medley. Cook, tossing regularly, for 1 minute and then remove the skillet from the heat.
3. Drain the pasta, reserving ½ cup of the pasta liquid. Transfer the drained pasta to the skillet and add the lemon zest, herbs, salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Toss well and add lemon juice and more olive oil to taste. Add a little pasta water if necessary to loosen the pasta and seafood.

Click for recipes for Seafood, Chorizo and Corn Salad; Salt and Pepper Fried Seafood; Seafood Potpie with Puff Pastry Top; Seafood Stew with Fennel, Tomatoes and Potatoes.

A fillet of Steelhead trout looks a lot like a fillet of salmon. Why is that? Well, because Steelhead is a fish that acts like salmon: it eats krill in the ocean and migrates from the ocean into freshwater to spawn. As a result, it has an appearance and flavor much like salmon. What’s the advantage of Steelhead trout? It’s a responsible choice with respect to sustainable fishing, is ranked as a “best choice” on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch List and is less expensive than salmon!

A Honeybell looks a lot like an orange. Why is that? Because a Honeybell is a citrus fruit hybrid cross between a Dancy tangerine and a Duncan grapefruit. It looks like a bright orange bell shaped orange. What’s the advantage of a Honeybell? It’s unbelievably sweet and is filled with juice. While it is delicious to eat, it produces so much juice and its zest is such a beautiful color, that it is a joy to cook with.

In this recipe, I put these two ingredients together and it was a lovely match. A little bright, sunshine-of-a-meal in the middle of winter.

Steelhead Trout Poached in White Wine with Honeybell Butter

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon peppercorns
• ½ small onion, sliced into thin rings
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 Honeybell
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 fillets Steelhead trout
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Combine the white wine, bay leaves, peppercorns, onion slices and fresh thyme sprigs in a sauté pan. Slice half the Honeybell into slices and add the slices to the sauté pan. Bring the liquid to a simmer and simmer very gently for 10 minutes.
2. While the poaching liquid is simmering, season the trout with salt and set it aside.
3. Make the Honeybell butter. Zest and juice the remaining half a Honeybell and combining the zest and juice with the softened butter in a small bowl. Beat together until well mixed and season to taste with salt and pepper. Shape the butter into two flat disks or other shape and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
4. Then gently place the fish into the sauté pan. Top the pan up with hot water so that the fish is covered. Poach, with the liquid simmering very gently, for 6 minutes, or until the fish is firm to the touch.
5. Remove the fish from the pan with a spatula and plate with a piece of the Honeybell butter on top.

For more recipes using Steelhead Trout, visit my QVC recipe page here.

Just typing the words “grilling Rockfish” makes it feel like summer. For instance,

“What are you doing for dinner?”

“Me? Oh, I’m grilling Rockfish.”

The words immediately conjure up images of backyards, hot grills, fresh fish and delicious meals. It’s not just the words, however, that make you want to put on a pair of shorts, lie back in a lounge chair and grab a glass of white wine. If you actually get out there and grill some Rockfish you’ll see that the feeling of summer will be upon you in no time. I experienced this over the weekend and can testify to its truth.

Grilled Pacific Rockfish with a Citrus-Herb Salsa

For those of you unfamiliar with Rockfish, there are more than 70 species of Rockfish living off the West Coast of North America. Pacific Rockfish is a firm, lean, mildly-flavored, pink-fleshed fish. It is sometimes marketed as Snapper, Red Snapper, or Pacific Snapper on the west coast. (True Red Snapper, however, is an Atlantic fish.) Pacific Rockfish is a very approachable fish. It’s delicious with an almost sweet flavor, tender and flakey, and appeals to both the fish-lover and those who have just started to incorporate fish into their weekly diet (which we should all be trying to do!).

There are so many ways to prepare Pacific Rockfish. It’s easy and versatile. Continue reading »