Salmon with Peach Salsa

It's the most wonderful time of the year. I love peaches. The fresh peaches of summer, the flavor, the scent, even the way the fuzzy skin feels. I just love everything about it. They are so good and since they are in season, they are inexpensive. I had five pounds of peaches so I tried to figure out what to do with them other than eat them whole.

I had some salmon filets to cook and I knew they would go on the grill. I started thinking how I could incorporate peaches in to a salmon meal. Peach Salsa! Perfect idea. Thanks to my garden and herbs,I had jalapenos and cilantro already. I still had vidaila onions left and I always keep limes. I knew then the salsa was meant to be.

For the salmon, I rubbed a little olive oil on and then sprinkled with a citrus seasoning blend. I grilled it until it was medium well and topped it with the salsa. It was delicious. We paired it with a pasta salad and steamed sugar snap peas.

Red Snapper Veracruz

When I was searching for recipes for all our red snappers in the freezer, snapper Veracruz kept coming up. I wasn't sure about cooking fish with that sauce but it is such a classic I knew it had to be one of the things we tried. After checking out the Veracruz sauce recipe I knew we would like it because it so similar to a puttanesca sauce which we both love.

It was very good. It was served with jasmine rice and baby sugar snap peas.




The recipe I used came from Martha Stewart's website. Everyone knows I love Martha and want to be just like her.

Ok, maybe not just like her unless the rumors of her bitchiness are greatly exaggerated.

Red Snapper Veracruz Recipe

Serves 4 to 5

• 1 three- to three-and-a-half-pound red snapper, scaled and cleaned
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• Olive oil, for pan
• Veracruz-Style Sauce
• 2 to 3 dried bay leaves
• 3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 small white onion, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse fish under cold running water, inside and out, being sure to remove all traces of gills and blood. Blot dry with paper towels, inside and out. Lightly season, inside and out, with salt and pepper.
2. Lightly oil the bottom of a large roasting pan. Cover the bottom of the pan with half of the sauce. Place fish over sauce. Tuck bay leaves, thyme, and onion into the cavity of the fish. Pour remaining sauce over fish.
3. Bake just until the flesh flakes when tested with the tip of a knife, 30 to 40 minutes. Use two large spatulas to transfer fish to a platter spooning sauce and cooking juices over it. Or remove fish from bone and serve on individual plates, with sauce spooned over it.

Veracruz Sauce

Makes 6 to 7 cups

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 10 garlic cloves, 6 left whole, 4 very finely chopped
• 2 medium white onions, finely chopped
• 8 to 10 large ripe tomatoes, (about 4 pounds), finely chopped, or two 28-ounce cans Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), coarsely chopped, with their juice
• 24 pimento-stuffed green olives, sliced if large
• 4 to 6 pickled jalapeno chiles, stemmed, seeded, and cut lengthwise into thin strips
• 2 teaspoons small capers
• 4 dried bay leaves
• 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried thyme
• 4 sprigs fresh marjoram, or 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried marjoram
• 4 sprigs fresh oregano, or 1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried Mexican oregano
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground canela
• 1 cup dry white wine

1. In a medium stockpot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add whole garlic cloves, and cook, stirring, until golden on all sides. Remove garlic and discard. Add minced garlic and the onion. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced, about 15 minutes.
2. Add olives, chiles, capers, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, marjoram, oregano, salt, canela, and wine. Cook until the sauce has thickened to desired consistency, 15 to 20 minutes. Taste and adjust for seasoning. If using fresh whole herbs, remove and discard before serving.

Fish Report

I saw where the fish in the market comes from: the beautiful ocean.

My husband and I spent a day on a boat out in the Gulf Stream fishing. We had a fantastic time. It was a very long day but since the fish were biting, it was also a lot of fun. We brought home 9 red snappers, 3 red mouth grunts, and 1 porgy. We caught many more than that, but there were some that didn't meet the length requirements.

Which one of these do you want to see on your plate?


I think we'll be having red snapper for dinner soon.

Teach a man to fish, and you will have a great dinner

and a full freezer. My husband spent the last couple of days with an old friend from high school. They did a bit of river fishing. And catching. Catching quite a lot of fish, white perch to be exact. They caught 60 the first day and 16 the second. I'm glad they weren't able to find the same schools of fish they did the first day, I would have run out of freezer space. They are little guys so it will take a few to make a "mess of fish" for dinner. I pulled out my food saver and made three bags of 12 and three bags of 10. The remaining ones were tonight's dinner.

Another good thing about my husband catching the fish, he also has to clean and cook them. Ok, I help getting them ready but he likes them fried and likes to fry outside. Hot oil and a flame, and he's right there. He cleaned the fish and I rolled them flour and old bay seasoning. Then they were off to the fryer.



Frying away




When they start floating, they're done. Have your plate and homemade tartar sauce ready. Really isn't the only reason to eat fish is to have homemade tartar sauce? Yes that is what I think too.

Sweet potato crusted flounder

I always say all my memories are about food. If I was eating when any event happened, it's usually the food I remember first. Sad but true. I was sitting around the other day thinking about all the places we've been (and of course the food we ate!). We started talking about one of our favorite place to go when we lived in New Jersey. Mastori's diner, where you could sit at the bar or a booth and get diner food or you could sit in the restaurant area listening to the piano man while having a fine dinner.

On one of our visits there, I had a delicious sweet potato crusted fish. After thinking about it more, I decided it was something I wanted to try at home. I was unsure how to go about it, but I was going to give it a try.

I think it turned out pretty good.


I had some flounder filets in the freezer and some sweet potatoes, so it seemed like a good time to try my hand at making this meal.

There is no real recipe. I just put together what I thought would be tasty. Here's a basic idea of what I did.

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and grated in the food processor
5 flounder filets
cajun seasoning

I put the grated sweet potatoes in the microwave for a couple of minutes. This made them hold together better as a crust on the fish. Plus since the flounder I was using was a little on the thin side, I didn't want the fish to be over done before the sweet potatoes were done.

I dipped the fish in an egg wash and seasoned it with cajun seasoning. As a tablespoon or so of oil heated in a pan, I pressed the sweet potato into the fish. I started sweet potato side down in the pan. After a few minutes, turned it so the fish could finish up.

It was served up hot with garlic green beans and a slice of home made bread.