Tag: seafood

Seafood Club at Cafe Brazil

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

I’ve been busy with freelance work over the past week and I haven’t been able to post as many entries as I’d like. In any case, after heading home from the office on Saturday evening, I suggested to Mike that we could head off to Cafe Brazil for some cake or ice cream (what better way to end the workday?).

My initial plan was to go for some cake, though I hadn’t quite decided on chocolate cake or cheesecake at the time. However, after looking at the menu their Brownie Espresso Sundae caught my eye as a dessert encompassing both chocolate and ice cream. Mike wisely noted that the espresso could keep me up at night and so I ordered the sundae sans espresso.

Mike was much less hungry than I was and he was initially going to order just a cheese potato from the side-orders section. However, I suggested to him that he needn't limit himself to just smaller dishes as I could always split a larger entree with him (in addition to the sundae, natch).

So, Mike decided on the Seafood Club from the Sandwiches side of the menu. They describe it as a club sandwich with salmon, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo. I was concerned a bit about how a fish-based club sandwich would turn out, but we decided to give it a try.

It wasn’t much of a “club sandwich” in the traditional sense — it only had two slices of bread (not three), it was cut in half (not quarters) and there was only single layer of meat (not interleaved with bacon and tomato). Delusions on club-sandwichness aside, it was actually a delicious sandwich. Really, the salmon made the sandwich — the flaky pink filet would have been suitable as part of any salmon entree.

After enjoying half of Mike’s Seafood Club, I moved on to my Brownie Sundae. Though the salmon was stupendous, the sundae was a bit less than I expected. For one thing, the menu boasted that the sundae was drizzled with Hershey’s chocolate sauce — and it was — but Hershey’s corn syrup chocolate sauce doesn’t exactly raise the bar of chocolate excellence.

And though the ice cream was mostly fine, the brownie had room for improvement. Now, maybe it was just me — Mike actually really liked the brownie. My brownie of choice tends towards a dense and fudgey brownie. On the other hand, this brownie was more crumbly and almost crunchy. It was the type of brownie that, when heated, would probably just become brittle rather than melting into a pleasant chocolate ooze.

In the end, I was still pleased with my meal. Sure, the brownie sundae didn’t quite turn out as I had expected, but the salmon club more than made up for it. Dessert-wise, I’ll probably stick to cakes at Cafe Brazil. And I won’t hesitate to order that Seafood Club again sometime.

A New Take on Tuna Burgers

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

I heard about an interesting recipe for tuna burgers from the AllRecipes.com Recipes Notes newsletter. Sure, even Food 911 has featured a tuna burger recipe, but that episode was almost a farce — a daycare center writes to the show to ask about how to make tuna more appetizing for the kids, and Tyler proceeds to make them tuna burgers made from diced tuna filets (not exactly an affordable solution for a daycare center).

Anyhow, back to the tuna burgers on AllRecipes. What struck me about these is that not only are these burgers tasty (“My husband … loves these tasty tuna burgers.”), but this recipe calls for regular called tuna (aha, that’s much more affordable).

The only downside, perhaps, is that the recipe calls for an extensive ingredient list. From bread crumbs, to onion, to red pepper, to dill weed and Worcestershire sauce, there’s a lot that go into these. Nonetheless, I’m quite tempted to try them sometime.

Tasty Tuna Burgers

Makes: 4 servings
Prep Time: 22 Minutes
Cook Time: 8 Minutes
Ready in: 30 Minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 (6 ounce) can tuna, drained
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs [Atkins people might be able to omit this]
  • 1/3 cup minced onion
  • 1/4 cup minced celery
  • 1/4 cup minced red bell pepper
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons chili sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed [I don’t even know what dill weed looks like. Yeesh.]
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 dash hot pepper sauce
  • 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
  • 4 hamburger buns
  • 1 tomato, sliced
  • 4 leaves of lettuce (optional)

Directions:

  1. Combine tuna, egg, bread crumbs, onion, celery, red bell pepper, mayonnaise, hot chili sauce, chili sauce, dill, salt, pepper, hot pepper sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well. Shape into 4 patties (mixture will be very soft and delicate). Refrigerate for 30 minutes to make the patties easier to handle, if desired.
  2. Coat a non-stick skillet with cooking spray; fry tuna patties for about 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until cooked through. These are fragile, so be careful when turning them.
  3. Serve on buns with tomato slices and lettuce leaves, if desired.

Tuna Cones?

Ashley Bischoff5 Comments

I’m on various recipe mailing lists, and I got this one from WhatsInTheFridge. I’m usually fairly open to new foods, but this one just didn’t sound particularly appetizing to me.

Tuna Cones
by Derek Knight

  • 1 can (6 1 /2-oz.) chunk light tuna
  • 1 /4 C. mayonnaise
  • 1 small dill pickle
  • 4 ice cream cones (flat bottomed)
  • 4 black olives

Open tuna and drain off liquid. Put tuna into bowl and add mayonnaise. Chop up the pickle and put in bowl too. Stir it all up. Fill the cones with scoops of your tuna mixture and top with the olives. Serves 4.

from Judi Leaming’s newsletter

I like tuna, and I like ice cream cones, but I’m hesitant to combine them. It’s not the texture, but I think it’s the sweet nature of the cones mixed with the savory tuna — perhaps if the “cones” were made out of toasted pita bread, that might work better :-/.

Catalina Tuna

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

As I eat tuna (and apples) for breakfast and lunch every day, I sometimes play around with the recipe a bit. Generally, it’s a can of tuna with a tablespoon of mayo and some fresh ground pepper. Lately, though, I’ve been adding various dressings that I’ve found in the fridge as an extra ingredient.

On my first try, I went with some olive oil vinaigrette as a safe bet. This added a subtle flavor overall, as the dressing is primarily oil and spices. However, it was a good improvement and it gave me the confidence to go on to try other dressing combinations.

Feeling more adventurous, I went for some Caesar dressing the next day. Voila — Caesar Tuna. It tasted better than I thought it would, though I felt like it almost needed a few croutons ;).

And, the old stand-by, I tried blue cheese. This was mega-delicious. It seems like blue cheese works with so many foods, and so well. Ooh, it just came to mind that I could try crumbled blue cheese sometime (as opposed to just dressing). Perhaps with some more income, I’d be tempted to give that a try.

Just yesterday, I tried Catalina dressing. I’m not sure if it was me who bought it in the first place but, sure enough, it looked a little lonely in the fridge. Catalina is an interesting dressing — it’s similar to French, and I’m not quite sure what differentiates the two. In any case, I added a dollop of Catalina after having mixed in the mayo and the pepper (as usual).

Like the other tuna-dressing combos, I was expecing deliciousness the next day. Well, it didn’t quite work out. It was if I had not just tuna, but some kind of bizarro ketchup-tuna. It wasn't bad to the extent that I didn’t eat it, but I don't think I’ll try that one again.

Omega-3 May Improve Mood

Ashley Bischoff3 Comments

According to a recent study, eating foods in Omega-3 fatty acids may improve mood:

While additional research needs to be done to prove definitively omega-3s’ impact on different psychiatric disorders, some psychiatrists are now feeling confident enough to recommend that their depressed patients increase their consumption of these fatty acids. So, what are the best sources for omega-3s, and how much is needed to make a difference?

The best source for omega-3s is any type of seafood — including salmon, lobster and shrimp. For people who find seafood a bit fishy, walnuts and olive oil are also good sources for the fatty acid. […]

Hmm, I need to go to Sam’s Club this weekend anyhow to stock up on groceries, so maybe I should look into their fish entrees (instead of my usual chicken).