Eating Alaskan.
It’s our passion and our goal to create fresh food from the last frontier. We find our inspiration in recipes from sourdough cookbooks and family tried and tested menus. We use fresh ingredients from the garden, forests, and waters to showcase great food in “the Great Land”.
Crab and Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms
These delicious stuffed mushrooms are very easy to make and are a lovely appetizer for guests before dinner or to take to a potluck or a party. They can easily be made without the crab if that’s not your thing or if you want them to be vegetarian friendly. They are perfect if you have a little left over meat from a night of feasting on crabs ( my personal recommendation is Dungeness crab).
Curried Cauliflower Soup with Seared Scallops
I feel like every fancy dinner party should have a soup course. You don’t have to make very much of it as everyone only needs a small bowl since it’s one course among many. I like making pureed soup for parties because they are really simple, can be made ahead of time without overcooking, and look super elegant. They can be made with almost any vegetable, in any color you desire. We had a seafood theme for the night I made this so I garnished it with a lovely seared sea scallop and topped it with locally grown radish and amaranth micro-greens for a pop of color.
Non-traditional Palak Paneer with garden greens
I love the idea of using garden greens that normally get tossed into the compost. Broccoli, Turnip, and beet greens are all edible and highly nutritious. Traditional palak paneer utilizes spinach and paneer cheese. It’s a dish from Northern India.
Blueberry Scones
I had my first real British scone in the town of Grasmere in the Lake District of England. It was light, airy, and I ate it in the sunshine on an ancient stone patio surrounded by fragrant British roses. I love scones slathered in salty whipped butter, clotted cream, honey or freshly made salmonberry jelly. If you keep the basic recipe in mind the flavor combinations you can make are endless. In the summer they are great with fresh Alaskan berries, or in the winter they can be made with dried fruits and nuts. They are delightful at breakfast, scrumptious for an afternoon snack, or delicious for dessert. Usually when I make them, they end up being all three.
Pan Seared Rockfish with Ancho Corn and Peach Relish
This recipe is remarkably easy yet extremely impressive if you are having a dinner party. This dish is perfect for the summer months, surprisingly light and vibrant from the garden fresh chives and seasonal vegetables.
Salmon with Mushroom Dill Sauce
I’m always searching for new recipes to make with salmon, since it’s so easy to fall into a rut of my favorite preparations. This is a sauce that I usually make if I’m cooking a German-style dinner of pork chops or schnitzel. I thought that by adding some fresh dill to the recipe it would really compliment some simply grilled salmon. Wow was I right! This was a home run all the way. The sauce really melded with the delicate salmon and also goes great as a gravy on top of a side dish of mashed potatoes. Garnished with a vibrant dill sprig this meal just pops with flavor and is perfect if you are having guests over for dinner. The salmon was prepared by simply cooking it on the grill, wrapped in an aluminum foil pouch with salt and pepper for about 7 minutes. Super simple, no fuss, delicious.
Fourth of July Chipotle Smoked Salmon Chili
In the summer of 2013 I attempted to compete in my home town’s 3rd Annual Chili Cook-Off. I wanted to make something really special, something that would help me stand out from the crowd.The last time I was I there I had made a chocolate mole chili and let’s just say not everybody appreciated it, but I thought that this one would be a contender! The smokiness of the chipotle accented the smokiness of the salmon, and this particular batch (that my dad smoked himself) was a tad dry so it had almost has a pancetta quality to it. Alas, I did not win…but my family was especially surprised with the tastiness of my chili experiment.
Freezing salmon
This seems to be a controversial subject in Alaska. Most Alaskans have an opinion on what to do with fish once its come out of the water. Many anglers face the daunting task of dealing with 30 or more salmon after a full day of dipnetting or casting.
However once the salmon is caught, it’s imperative that the fish does not sit in water until you get home. If fish is kept in a cooler, make sure the cooler is drained every hour or so to keep the fish from swimming in a murky blood bath.
These suggestions for preserving and freezing fish are my best methods along with some tips from old timers and many forum discussions.
My method
At the fishing hole:
1. After the fish leaves the water, cut the gills to start bleeding the fish. This prolongs the freezing life of the filets.
2. Avoid unnecessary violence. Bruising and bumping the fish will damage its cellular tissue.
3. Keep the fish on ice and protected from seagulls. Make sure the ice melt can drain from the fish.
At home or processing site:
1. Rinse the whole fish with fresh water as completely as possible. Waiting to gut until you are home creates more mess but avoids sand in your filet. Gut the fish and remove the bloodline.
2. Filet salmon in your favorite style- I’ll discuss my method in another post. Pin-boning the salmon is easier to do once the fish has been frozen and thawed.
– It’s best to minimize the amount of fresh water you expose your fish to. Fresh water will enter the cells of the fish and upon freezing will rupture causing a softer texture. If possible rinse fish with a salt water brine instead. The theory behind brining is that the salt keeps the water from entering the salmon cells (something about osmosis) preventing crystallization of the flesh when freezing.
3. Create a brine of 1 gallon water to a half cup of salt. Rinse filleted salmon in the brine.
4. Pat dry filets and lay on cookie sheets or racks and freeze until stiff.
5. Vacuum seal filets that are nice and slime free. If you wish to put two fillets to a bag make sure the fish is packaged flesh to flesh avoiding contact with skin. This is also a good time to pre-season fish with a marinade or teriyaki.
6. Label and date making sure to use fish with any air or other packaging imperfections first.
Glaze method
This method forms an icy shell on the surface of the fish. It is similar to how you would purchase chicken breasts or other frozen meats from the grocery store.
1. Same process for steps 1-4 as above. Instead of vacuum sealing the fish, take the frozen filet and dip it in icy cold water.
2. Refreeze on the cookie sheet again until completely frozen and package in ziplock bags or in a food saver.
3. When defrosting, do not leave the fish sit in the glaze liquid.
Make sure you eat what you catch. Every year craiglist and the classifieds are filled with old, freezer burnt salmon. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of catching the fish, but extremely wasteful (and distasteful) throwing out the old fish every spring.
I’ll be posting recipes on using up year old salmon but some good bets are: salmon patties, smoked salmon, and salmon chowder.
More information can be found from UAF Cooperative Extension and the National Center for Home Food Preservation
Chard and Leek Gratin
The one time I attempted to grow Swiss Chard in Interior Alaska it grew like crazy and went to seed before I could manage to do anything with it. I tried sauteing it and I tried adding it to a salad and I have to say that I was never particularly impressed. This is an easy (yet impressive) way of adding leafy greens to your diet. It’s not a particularly healthy preparation, but boy is it delicious!
Grilled Salmon with Arugula and Kale Salad
My garden is full of greens thanks to plentiful sunshine this spring. I’ve got arugula going to seed! Its a race to keep the flowers trimmed back for leaf production. This salad is a nice accompaniment to grilled meats- in this case its Sockeye Salmon from the Kenai River last summer. This recipe was found in the New Alaskan Cookbook and is a modified version of Jens Nannestad’s recipe for Salmon with Arugula salsa. It’s a light dinner for a hot summer evening.
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Emily & Nina
We are both born and raised in Alaska, land of the midnight sun and fishing at 2am. We love to find new ways to use fresh ingredients or put a modern spin on an old Alaskan classic. We hope you will enjoy tasting Alaska.