Lobster Fest, Greek Pattipans, Fish Stew, Fruit Pizza and More

Greek Pattipans and Tripletail

Last weekend we went to Bailey's Grocery on Sanibel, an island institution that has pretty much everything you could ask for even in a much larger mainland grocery, and very reasonable prices. 

There I saw these fabulous mini-Pattipan squash, smaller than silver dollars, and just had to try them. 

Back in the seafood department I found a wonderful Tripletail steak that would serve the two of us, for less than half the price of Grouper! Tripletail has a texture similar to Grouper and an equally mild flavor. See Fishy Facts below for more information.

I decided to bake the squash and pan poach to fish on a bed of citrus slices. First I trimmed the stem ends off the squash, then I rounded up a nice little 5” x 8” Pyrex baking dish to hold them.

I'd surfed the 'Net looking for pattipan cooking ideas, and seen one involving basil, olive oil and feta cheese. What I had on hand was some “Greek Salad” that I'd also picked up at Bailey's... So I added about a quarter cup of the olives, pepperoncini, pimento and feta cubes with the accompanying olive oil, and tossed that with the squash to get everything well slathered in oil. Into the 350 F pre-heated oven it went, to spend 45 minutes while I concentrated on the fish.

I wanted to keep the flavor of the fish, so I enhanced it just slightly with a dash of Cavender's Greek seasoning. It was pan-poached on a bed of orange slices.

Lobster Fest, Part 1

The other day we were gifted with four beautiful Florida Spiny Lobster tails – over 1-3/4 pounds total! What do you do with that much lobster (other than dip it in butter and go face down)? Make your two favorite dishes, and share the bounty! This week and next week I'll feature two great things to do with those “sea bugs”.

Lobster Mac&Cheese

Not your kid's Mac&Cheese, this one is just for us adults! Big hunks of lobster, several kinds of cheese, milk and breadcrumbs. This recipe is based off that of Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. I like a different cheese mixture, for one thing, and less pasta.

Kosher salt to taste

1 Tbsp Vegetable oil

1/2 lb Cavatappi or Elbow Macaroni

1 pint milk

1/2 stick unsalted Butter, divided

1/4 cup all-purpose Flour

1 cup shredded Smoked Gouda cheese

1 cup shredded Six Cheese Italian Blend (Parmesan, Mozzarella, Asiago, Fontina, Romano, Provolone)

2 cups shredded sharp White Cheddar

1/2 tsp freshly ground Black Pepper

1/2 tsp fresh grated Nutmeg

3/4 pound cooked Lobster meat

3 slices fresh White Bread (crusts removed) air-dried and fine diced or crumbed

Cooking the Lobster

Ours, like yours, were frozen, not live. They were caught down around Key West during the recreational spiny lobster season.

Thaw the tails overnight in the fridge, then let them sit on the counter for an hour, to come to room temp before prceeding. Bring a large pot of water to a roiling boil – enough water to cover what you're cooking. Add spices if you like – Crab Boil, Seafood blend, etc.    I used a tablespoon of Hungarian Seafood Seasoning from Pride of Szged, one of my favorites; then I added about a teaspoon of a three-paprika blend that I have.

Place the lobsters in the boiling water, and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer for 3-1/2 minutes, then check for done-ness. If the thick end is white (not translucent) to the middle inside, they're done. Remove from the liquid, cool, shell, and then get on with the rest of your recipe(s).

Lobster and cheeses

Finishing the Mac & Cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Add a bit of oil to a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the pasta and cook according to the package directions to al dente. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in the microwave, but don't boil it. In a large pot, melt half the butter and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, whisking as you go. Still whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until the mixture is thickened and smooth.

Off the heat, add the cheeses, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and lobster and stir well.

Place the mixture in an 8X12 Pyrex or ceramic baking dish.

Melt the remaining butter, combine with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on top of the mac& cheese mix. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

Suggestion: Next time (if there ever is a next time), I would halve the amount of cavatappi listed above, to increase the ratio of lobster to pasta. This was really good, really rich, but we both wanted more lobster per bite! The recipe as written made a full 8X12” baking dish of goodness, with lots of leftovers for a second meal. I would have preferred a 9x9” dish with a better lobster ratio!!

French Style Fish Stew

Keeping up the maritime theme, here's another recipe from the 8-week Blood Sugar Diet book, this one a dinner stew that features fennel as a main vegetable component! 

I've never really cooked with fennel before, and the interesting thing to me was that there is little if any residual 'licorice' flavor or aroma once the bulb is disassembled and cooked.

I suspect that you could make this dish much cheaper (fennel is expensive) by using the butt end of a large head of celery – the part below where you've snapped off the stalks – that always gets thrown away.

Serves two:

EVOO as needed

1 Shallot, finely chopped

1 Fennel Bulb, finely chopped

1 Garlic clove, finely chopped

Splash White Wine

1-1/4 cup Broth

1 can Diced Tomatoes (1-3/4 cup fresh tomatoes)

1/2 lb Assorted Seafood – I had Red Snapper, Tilapia, and Shrimp on hand

2-3 handfuls stemmed Baby Spinach

Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook the fennel, garlic and shallot in a splash of oil a couple minutes until softened. Add the wine and broth and bring to a boil. Season with salt & pepper. Add the tomatoes and seafood and cook until the seafood is done. Lastly, add the spinach and cook until it wilts. Stir to combine, then serve with a nice crusty bread.

Light Summer Salad Florida Style

We're often looking for something light for Sunday dinner, especially if I've made something like Cottage Pie or other heavy meat dish for dinner with Mum.

This one just came into my head when I started assembling things for our dinner last night. Everything except the tuna is available fresh nowServes 2.

1 firm Mango, cubed

1 firm Avocado, sliced

1 large handful of Romaine, chopped

1 can Tuna, flaked

2 thick slices of Tomato, wedge cut

1 Red bell Pepper, large diced

Divide the ingredients between two plates, starting with the lettuce as a base. Serve with the salad dressing(s) of your choice.

Fruit Pizza

I made this old standby as a birthday 'cake' for one of the doctors where Sally works. I made it on the Fourth of July and his birthday was the Fifth, hence the flag

1 tube Crescent Roll Dough

1 8 oz container plain Whipped Chream Cheese

2-3 Tbsp Sugar

Berries of choice

Back when I first learned to make these you had to get ordinary crescent roll dough and tack together the triangles to make the crust; these days they market crescent roll dough sheets as well! Roll out the dough and bake it according to package directions, being sure to dock the sheet well.

Back then there was no whipped cream cheese either, you had to schmear it on with a knife and/or spatula. The whipped product is so much easier to use!

Sprinkle the surface of the pizza with a bit of sugar, or fold a couple tablespoons of sugar into the cream cheese before spreading.

Clean and dry the berries and arrange them in a pleasing design. Slice and serve.

Fishy Facts

Tripletail you say! What the heck is that?? The Atlantic tripletail (Lobotes surinamensis) is a warm-water marine fish found across the tropics; it can grow to over 30 inches long and weigh nearly 40 pounds. They are found on the Gulf Coast from April to October and then migrate to warmer waters during winter. In the spring, tripletail concentrate just offshore at Port Canaveral, Florida and Jekyll Island, Georgia (April–July).

Tripletail are known for their unusual behavior of floating just beneath the surface with one side exposed to the sky, mimicking a leaf or floating debris. This is thought to be a feeding strategy because of the locality of their prey items and the floating structures associated with this behavior. The behavior has resulted in a rapidly increasing incidence of recreational fishermen sight-fishing for the floating tripletail, resulting in severe bag and length restrictions in Florida and Georgia to ensure future populations. 

A few tons of tripletail are fished commercially on the east and west coasts of Florida, and marketed fresh, frozen, or salted (this is what I got). Tripletail is targeted by recreational anglers for its delicious flesh.