Easy Boat Food - Mexican Baked Fish & Roasted Potatoes -

In an effort to continue to broaden my seafood cooking horizons, I found this awesomely easy baked fish recipe that I derived from an AllRecipes Recipe.

The potato recipe is very basic and comes from T's grandmother's recipe collection.

Mexican Baked Fish:

• 1 1/2 pound cod fish
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips
• 1 avocado - peeled, pitted and sliced

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Lightly grease one shallow 8x12 inch baking dish.
2. Rinse fish fillets under cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Lay fillets side by side in the prepared baking dish. Pour the salsa over the top, and sprinkle evenly with the shredded cheese. Top with the crushed corn chips.
3. Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until fish is opaque and flakes with a fork. Serve topped with sliced avocado. 

Roasted Potatoes:

• red potatoes - 5-6 medium size
• paprika to taste
• dill to taste
• olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces and place in shallow baking pan.
3. Coat in olive oil. 
4. Add paprika, dill (and anything else that sounds yummy!), and salt & pepper to taste. 
5. Bake, uncovered, for 35-40 minutes turning over with a spatula every 10-15 minutes.

Happy Baking! 

Easy Boat Food - Taco Casserole

Cooking aboard Ma'alahi has been an adjustment (to say the least).  With limited space, it has been a challenge to find meals that are easy to prepare and don't create a lot of dishes.  Ma'alahi's galley is our kitchen so I have made a point of learning to cook and prepare meals as efficiently as possible.  

I have found a few nearly-one-pot/pan meals that are delicious AND I will make a point of sharing them with you. 

Happy Cooking! 

Taco Casserole Recipe: 

(From AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 8 ounces macaroni
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
• 2 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 cup crushed tortilla chips
• 1/2 cup sour cream (optional)
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain.
3. In a large skillet, cook and stir ground beef and chopped onion over medium heat until brown. Mix in tomato soup, diced tomatoes, and taco seasoning mix. Stir in pasta.
4. Spoon beef mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle crumbled taco chips and grated cheese on top.
5. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Serve with chopped green onions and sour cream, if desired.

Ma'alahi Tour - Galley/Kitchen -

Adjusting to a marine galley has been difficult.  Ma'alahi has one of the better and more spacious galley designs out of all the boats we were considering.  

The Galley - located on the stern port side

Ma'alahi's galley is equipped with a 700 watt microwave.  The microwave theoretically can be used while at anchor, however, as general practice, we only use it when hooked up to shore power.

Dishes, bowls and cups are stored on the fixture above the sink.

There is an additional ice box (without refrigeration unit) just bellow the dehumidifier (next to the sink).  Tupperware and dry food goods (flour, sugar, etc) are stored inside.

The countertops are made of corian.

Double Sink, Brita Water Filter, Cabinet w/ Cleaning Supplies

Three Burner Gimballed Princess Propane Stove (Bakeware is stored inside the oven)

Storage behind stove/refrigerator

Top and Side Access Refrigerator/Freezer

"The Cave"/Pantry

Folding Counter-top & Garbage Can

We keep a large garbage can aboard.  We fill the can (mostly with diapers) about every other day.  We remove garbage from the boat so frequently that we have not had to deal with icky diaper smell.

Silverware Storage (container is on pivot)

Cupboard forward of Microwave (storage for cooking utensils and oils)

Cupboard aft of Microwave (storage for snacks, mugs, and toaster)

Swinging Spice Rack (just to stern of refrigerator)

Pantry - Top (Cookware, Pressure Cooker, and Measuring Cups)

Pantry - Center (Food Storage)

Pantry - Bottom (TBD... a lot of space though!)

Grilled Tuna Teriyaki

I do not like cooking meat.  I chronically over cook it.  I am uncomfortable working with it.  I am always worried that it is not clean enough (although I am not like the "real housewife" that cleaned a chicken with dish soap).  It is expensive.  

I have dreams of being offshore with the family and reeling in a large tuna for dinner (and beyond).  I am romanced by the idea of hunting/gathering our own food.  

Then there is reality:  I would have no idea about what to do with a fish.  How to fillet it.  How to turn it into something edible... maybe even yummy.  

I suppose now is a better time than ever to start practicing.  I will hold off on my ambition to learn how to fillet a fish, and start with figuring out how to cook one:  

The following is a well reviewed recipe from the AllRecipes website: 

Grilled Tuna Teriyaki:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 2 tuna steaks (about 3/4 inch thick)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a shallow dish, stir together soy sauce, rice wine, garlic, and ginger. Place tuna in the marinade, and turn to coat. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Preheat grill for medium-high heat.
3. Remove tuna from marinade, and discard remaining liquid. Brush both sides of steaks with oil.
4. Cook tuna for approximately for 3 to 6 minutes per side, or to desired doneness.

I was pleased with the flavor of the fish/marinade.  However, I (( GASP )) undercooked the fish... ugh (there goes $10!!... I am cheap). 

Finished Product (served with pasta, sauteed mushrooms and Parmesan)

 

 

We nibbled around the edges and fed the rest to Buddy.

He thought it was good. 

I am pretty sure it was me that was the problem - not the recipe. 

Photo of the Week - Boat Cake

I had to laugh when I pulled this out of the oven - no explanation necessary.

Side note:  our boat is not listing and we have a gimballed stove.

Crab Louie

I made an genuine effort to ketch a Dungeness crab this last week (I released a lot of legal red rock crabs).  I was able to get one legal Dungeness and a larger sized red rock crab (I didn't want to bother with cooking just one crab).

T cleaned the crab and I cooked them in the pressure cooker (in the galley) for 5 minutes on the low setting.  Once the crab was done cooking, I carefully carried the pressure cooker to the stern of the boat and released the pressure (steam) outside the cabin.  I was pleased with the complete absence of crab smell inside the boat! 

T asked for Crab Louie... here is my simplified version:

Crab Louie:

• Iceberg Lettuce
• Avocado
• Hard Boiled Egg
• Cooked Crab (meat picked)
• Tomato
• 1000 Island Dressing

When I shelled the crab, I separated the Dungeness and Red Rock meat so that T and I could see if we had a preference.  Both of us agreed that we liked the taste of the Red Rock slightly better... however, it was still full of shell (despite my best effort).  The Dungeness was much easier to pick and the shell of the crab was easier to crack.  For practical purposes, I prefer the Dungeness.   

Totally worth the effort this time.  Yum. 

Red Rock Crab - our first scavenging experience

I purchased my crabbing license last week for $17.  I dropped my husband's collapsible crab pot off the dock on the off chance that I could be successful. 

We caught three red rock crabs (supposedly as tasty as dungeness... I am not sure I would go that far).  After watching numerous videos on YouTube about how to kill/clean crabs we went for it with success.  We choose to pressure cook them to minimize shell fish odor.  

It was a good learning experience and the finished product was decent.  However, when I drop the pot again, I am going to hold off for a nice large dungeness.  The meat of the Red Rock crab was decent but the crab itself is much smaller than dungeness and it was far too much work to get the meat from the shell.  Despite my best effort, there ended up being a lot of shell in the meat.  Lesson learned.