Halibut with Capers, Basil, and Tomatoes

This is one of my favorite fish recipes. After my amazing dining experience at Trio last year (in Jackson Hole), I set out to find a halibut recipe similar to the one I had at the restaurant. Although this is not exactly the same, it is very similar and the flavor is amazing. This tastes like a restaurant quality dish, and when you've made it once, you realize how easy it is to put together. I suggest serving this with mashed potatoes or some crusty bread; the sauce it too good to throw out.

I've made this recipe many times, and have used different types of fish when halibut is not available. As much as I love halibut, it's the sauce that makes this dish so great. So if halibut isn't available where you live, just use a white fish that you enjoy. I've made this with red snapper and instead of cooking off the fish in the oven (snapper fillets are much thinner than halibut), I just made everything on the stove. I've also had difficulty finding pepitas sometimes, but I never miss them all that much when I don't have them (though some people disagree with me on that topic).

I've had to eyeball the measurements for this dish, or guess when I haven't had the recipe/internet available, and it has still been delicious every time. If you claim you don't like seafood, try this one. As long as you have good quality fish, there is no "fishiness" to this dish and you'll be able to enjoy the sauce without cringing. If you love seafood, my guess is you'll love this halibut (and maybe it'll become your favorite as well).

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Peanut Chicken Salad

Continuing with the summer food kick, I thought it would be a good idea to try out this chicken salad. This was another recommendation from my sister, and turned out to be a great summer dinner. It is nothing like a traditional salad, but I can't think of a better way to describe it. This salad is very filling since it's made up of mainly chicken, red peppers, and asparagus and can stand on it's own as a dinner meal.

I didn't have any sesame seeds around when I made this and did not feel like anything was missing. If you can't find split chicken breasts, you can use chicken thighs or regular chicken breast. I am also guessing that shredding a rotisserie chicken would be the easy way of making this dish. You can add a few extra vegetables to this without taking away from the flavor of the dressing. For example, adding another pepper or throwing in some sugar snap peas would be great additions to this salad.

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Israeli Couscous with Peas and Asparagus

For some reason, I had never bough Israeli (also called pearl) couscous until a couple of days ago. If you've never tried it, I suggest you go out and buy some. I love the texture and flavor and am now hooked. I don't think I'll be buying traditional couscous for a while. These larger pieces of couscous make for a heartier meal, and you will notice the difference in this dish if you use regular couscous (it'll still be good, but not as delicious).

I went to the farmer's market over the weekend and picked up some fresh asparagus. I am loving all the produce available at the farmer's market and can't wait for even more fresh produce. Instead of making my usual summer asparagus (grilled with some olive oil and topped with Parmesan), I decided to make this recipe. My sister had tried it once before and loved the flavor combination, and since we like a lot of similar food, I took her word for it. This is a great summer meal or side dish. It's really light, and full of veggies, but does not come across as healthy tasting (maybe I'm crazy, but some things just taste healthy, and end up bland and boring). This also tastes great the next day if you don't eat it all at once.

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Apple Chunk Cake

It's pretty common for me to bake something because there are fruits that need to be used up (or milk, or eggs, etc...). A lot of the recipes I discover come from a need to use up a specific ingredient. This is what led to me baking this apple cake. Once summer fruit is in season, I don't want to eat apples until every last stone fruit in the markets has been consumed. So having 7 apples hanging out in the fruit bowl day after day only meant one thing: this apple cake needed to be baked.

Although the flavors in this cake make it more of an autumn/winter combination, I still love it year round. The first time I baked this was for Thanksgiving (I don't like pumpkin pie, so I'll make sure there are a few other options on the dessert table), but it's just as good in 80º weather. My only suggestion would be to cut your apples smaller than I did. The cake is very delicate and can fall apart easily with the larger pieces of apples inside of it. My guess is smaller apple chunks might help with that, but apparently I forgot this detail from the last time I baked this. The cake itself is moist and has a subtle cinnamon flavor, and it stays moist even after slicing into it (it's day 3 and I'm still snacking on it).

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Baked Wrapped Tilapia

 
Summer is in full swing and I am loving it. I went for my first hike of the season today and am so glad there are sunny blue skies when I wake up in the morning. Along with this weather comes the change in food. For some reason, I tend to eat more seafood during the summer. I'm guessing because it's not very heavy and I usually eat smaller portions when I have fish, but who really knows. This is one of the many great fish recipes you should give a try this summer.

This recipe, which can be made with any firm white fish, has a refreshing flavor, thanks to the cilantro and scallions. It includes lots of flavors that I love in summer seafood dishes: ginger, cilantro, and soy sauce. In the original recipe, the tilapia gets cooked in a banana leaf, but aluminum foil will do the job (though it won't look as exotic). This recipe can withstand lots of creativity by the cook, so play around with the flavors if you see something you don't like. I didn't end up using the chile or fish sauce, and it was great. It will take no time at all to prepare the fish and just 20 minutes to bake it, so it's a great last minute meal.

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