Specialty Salmon Sliders on Cornbread Rounds! Seafood Heaven...

While perusing this months' Coastal Living Issue, I came across their article "3 Tasty Simple Sauces".... hmmm... maybe we could try one of these recipes for the weekend?

Started out using their recipe for "Fish Sliders on Cornbread Rounds with Red Pepper Mayonnaise", then Tom and I did our own interpretation.  Not too many ingredients different, just gave it our own spin!  I will give you all their recipe and our "fixes"!

 For the fish sliders....

1 pound Salmon Filets (Coastal Living used Halibut) -Gave us an excuse to go down to our favorite fish market in Half Moon Bay....

3/4 tsp paprika

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Dash of ground red pepper

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

2 large eggs

3 Tablespoons of Milk

2 cups of Italian Style Bread Crumbs (CL used panko -Japanese style breadcrumbs)

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup olive oil (CL used veggie oil)

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a shallow dish. Whisk eggs with milk in another shallow bowl.  Place breadcrumbs in another shallow dish. Dredge both sides of fish filets in seasoned flour, and then dip in egg mixture.  Dredge in breadcrumbs, and then place in frying pan - after oil is hot.

2. Place fish in hot oil mixture (butter and oil), cook two minutes on each side or until golden. (doesn't our salmon look pretty?)

Cornbread Rounds...

I totally cheated on this part  (hey, at least I am honest!) and  used a boxed mix of cornbread with some extra Bisquick thrown in, as my kitchen is too small to keep cornmeal on hand. The other extra ingredient that we added was fresh chopped rosemary from our small deck garden.  The perfect touch!

Here's CL recipe if you want to make cornbread the real way!

1 1/4 cups of yellow cornmeal

1 1/4 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1.Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Whisk together eggs, milk and butter; add to the dry mixture, stirring just until moistened.  Pour batter into a lightly greased 15 x 10 (we used 9 x 13 pan) jelly roll pan, spreading to the edges of pan.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, let cool completely in pan on wire rack

3. Cut cornbread into rounds using a 2 1/2 inch cutter. (I used a wine glass!) Place cornbread rounds on a lightly greased baking sheet, broil 1-2 minutes until browned, then flip and brown the other side.  Be very careful, these will burn quickly.  Don't walk away and forget about them!

Can you see my cornbread rounds waiting to go under the broiler while Tom is finishing up the fish? He's such a good sport, and we have such a great time cooking together.

Coastal Living had a great recipe for Red Pepper Mayonnaise, but we tried something a little different - 

Sun Dried tomatoes with fresh basil and rosemary..

Mix together:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 small garlic glove

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes, the ones packed in olive oil. Drain some of the olive oil off before adding to the mayonnaise mixture

Then stack your sliders! Spread the mayonnaise on the broiled cornbread rounds, add lettuce, and your fish - we also added yellow heirloom tomatoes (soooo good!)

Voila'! Pretty little sandwiches - 

We served our complete dinner with a roasted combination of Yukon golds, red potatoes, a red pepper, tossed with a garlic glove, olive oil, and herbs de provence. So incredibly easy; mix all together, about an hour before roasting, roast at 425 for about 30 minutes, then serve!

 Accompanied by a side of Tom's yummy cucumber salad!  Of course, we had to open our special bottle of Testarosa Chardonnay that we got at the winery a few weeks ago...  

Wonderful Sunday dinner!

Lemon Drops for Date Night - part of our Weekly Feature series!

Last weekend, we packed up a picnic lunch and played tourist in our city by the bay. Driving over the Golden Gate towards Marin County, I always marvel  at the sights below in the bay;  sailboats racing, freighters coming in and out , cruise ships, fishing boats, seals, we even saw a school of dolphins once!


 These photos are taken from the Golden Gate  bridge deck looking back towards Sausalito and Fort Baker - I could stand here all day and simply drink in the views of the incredible blue-green water of San Francisco Bay.  (Can you tell that I love living here?)

First a stop at Point Bonita Lighthouse. Have got to remember that the bridge to the lighthouse closes at 3:30.. we made it down the trail and through the rock tunnel, but we were too late to cross over.  Dang it!  Oh well, it was still a spectacular view out to the Pacific Ocean.  Can you see the fog bank?  Lying in wait to roar back in as the sun sets into the sea...

Then we drove to the top of Mt. Tam - the highest point in the Bay Area for a wide-sweeping view of the city, the bridges and everything surrounding.  The picture is a little hazy, but I think you get the idea... windy, twisty, I close my eyes most of the time we drive on these crazy roads! Tom loves driving on them, I just hang on tight - trying very hard to let on that I am a little freaked out.  The views on the way up are incredible!  Found a park with walking trails on the top, and decided that we needed to come back another day when we had the whole day to explore.

Yay!!! Now back down the mountain to Sausalito for Lemon Drops at Scoma's. (my reward for not totally freaking out on the drive down!)  These are pretty special lemon drops as they are made with Limoncello liqueur. The best part is,  of course, we get to enjoy them at Scoma's overlooking the Bay. Hope you can see Angel Island, Alcatraz and the Bay Bridge off in the distance, with just a shadow of the moon showing...


Last Saturday we had the best time taking pictures and gossiping about the anchored super-yacht  that was visiting our fair city.  Scoma's fun bartender had all the details: Owned by a super secret Russian billionairre, it's 394 feet long and with a price tag of $300 million. Everything inside is custom and over the top design. We thought it looked  a little like something out of a James Bond Movie! Here's a fun article from the Wall Street Journal with more details, including how several of the companies that helped build it went bankrupt - "A" Superyacht.   

Cannot even fathom this kind of wealth and excess.  To be honest, I really don't want to. Fun to talk about, but in my humble opinion a little wasteful, There's a lot of ways to spend $300 million;  starting with the Feeding America program....   (sorry, I will get off my soapbox!)

On to the lemon drops - not sure if this is the recipe that Scoma's uses, but it does look good!  Recommend using your best martini glasses, for me that's part of the whole experience.  A delish cocktail just does not taste right in any old glass!
(picture taken at Scoma's with our Calamari appetizer) 


Limoncello Lemon Drops

• 1 1/2 oz. Absolute Citron Vodka
• 1 1/2 oz. limoncello lemon liqueur
• 2 oz. sweet and sour mix
• 1 1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp sugar

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes; shake well.  Swirl half a lemon around the rim of a martini glass (the more elegant the better!) and dip in sugar.  Pour the contents of the cocktail shaker into the glass, and serve with a nice lemon slice.  Yum!

I confess, as I was packing a set of these sealife martini glasses for shipping, I broke 3 of them, and am left with one..so tonight my lemon drop is going into the non-broken martini glass!   Hmm... I do have the shakers in the warehouse too....

Have a fab weekend!

Escaping the Heat, a Picnic at the Beach

Hit the road around 5:30 after packing the picnic backpack with a heirloom tomato salad, butter in a dish, and sauce for crab dipping.  Quick stop at Lunardi's (our favorite local grocery store!) for fresh cracked crab, chilled white wine (to drink in our plastic beach glasses, of course!)  and a loaf of their crusty sour dough bread.

Wish I could tell you that we had a romantic sunset to watch, wish I could tell you that the wind was not cold - but I would be lying.  It was still wonderful.  I got to be on the beach, breathe sea air, hear the pounding surf and watch the fog roll in like waves...

We had a few dinner companions that were very happy to sort through our empty (sort of) crab shells...

I did get my lime green glass photos though!