Crispy Lemon Baked Salmon
Brassica Soup
Move over juicing! This soup has lots of fiber and vitamins and is loaded with vegetable power. I created this soup with the intent to use some of the kale and broccoli greens I preserved last fall that have been in my freezer this winter. It’s been a favorite around our house, and with a nice loaf of bread and salad it becomes a meal.
Sesame and White Pepper Glazed Salmon
Happy Chinese New Year!
This sweet and lightly spicy glazed salmon is my own interpretation of more traditional Chinese fish presentations. I’ve included some classic flavors like white pepper and Chinkiang vinegar for a delicious East meets Alaska salmon dish.
Game Day Snacks…Alaskan Style!
Well it’s nearly that time of year again and whether you are hosting the party or heading over to someone else’s cabin you want tasty snacks that are shareable and crowd pleasing. Here I’ve made two dishes that are perfect for any game day spread.
For the first dish I couldn’t quite settle on a name. Queso con Carne de Alaska? Queso con Alces (moose)? Basically you can call this whatever you have sitting around in your freezer. I’m not a huge fan of wild game but I think the flavors of this spicy cheese dip help to mask the gaminess a bit. I used bison because that’s what I had on hand, but if you have ground moose, caribou, or venison that would be pretty fantastic too. Another thing to note is that in general I am always a big proponent of making cheese sauce from scratch (and just about everything else), but for Superbowl Sunday who wants to be stuck in the kitchen cooking! So here I’ve opted to use Velveeta…it’s basically the only day of the year I do. Once you’ve put everything together I highly recommend keeping it warm in a crock pot, nobody wants to see this cheesy goodness congeal back into a yellow block.
Secondly we’ve got a delicious and uniquely Alaskan BBQ sauce with which to bathe cocktail sausages in. Cocktail sausages are one of my favorites on any party or potluck snack table, so I’ve made a recipe that can be made that day or ahead of time incorporating the Alaskan Brewing Company’s Smoked Porter.
Persimmon Salmon Salad
It’s late fall and that means it’s persimmon season. Although persimmons are a rare find in Alaska, they are delicious, and if you see them at the grocery store try to buy as many as you can. They are best when they are between ripe and very ripe so you may need to leave them out on your counter for a few days. I prefer Fuyu persimmons, which are the most commonly found. This simple, yet tantalizing dish is perfect for an elegant lunch or a romantic candlelit dinner.
Pumpkin Spice Party!
Pumpkin Spice is not just a flavor, it’s a meme. To honor this fun seasonal latte flavor I decided to throw a pumpkin spice party complete with sacrificial pumpkin carving.
Everyone was tasked with bringing some pumpkin flavored dish to a table already laden with orange carving pumpkins. This is a great way for your friends to stay regular and ensure everyone is ready to quickly move on to another flavor fad for christmas.
Our menu of pumpkin inspired dishes included:
Pumpkin Alfredo
Sauce:
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tbs. salted butter
1/2 c. pumpkin puree
1 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
Directions:
Saute garlic in butter on medium heat in a medium saucepan until soft and translucent. Add nutmeg and saute for another minute. Add pumpkin puree and heavy cream and stir. Season and add cooked pasta once sauce is heated through.
Pumpkin Lentil Soup
Ingredients:
1 lb brown lentils, washed and examined for duds
2 tbs. olive oil or ghee
1/2 medium diced onion
2 carrots diced
1-2 potatoes (waxy or fingerling) diced
2 quarts chicken broth
1 tbs ground ginger
1 tbs curry powder
1 c. pumpkin puree
1/2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
Salt, pepper, lemon juice to taste
Directions:
In a large dutch oven, sweat onions in olive oil. Adding a pinch of salt with quicken the process. Add the ginger and sauté until softened and fragrant. Add the curry powder and toast for a minute to bloom the spices. Add the carrots, squash, potatoes, lentils and chicken broth. Simmer for 30-40 minutes or until lentils and vegetables are tender. Add the pumpkin puree and simmer for another 5 minutes, seasoning along the way. Fresh lemon juice and sautéed sage leaves really light up the flavors of this soup.
Pumpkin Cake
Roasted locally grown Spaghetti Squash with Kale Pesto
Ingredients
1 large Spaghetti squash per person, seeded and cut in half
2 tbs. Kale pesto per person
1 tbs. grated parmesan cheese per person
Salt, pepper, olive oil
Directions:
Brush squash with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast at 375F for 30-40 minutes or until squash is tender.
Scrape out insides of squash and mix with pesto and cheese.
Locally grown potato gnocchi and meatballs with pumpkin alfredo
Pumpkin cookies
Pumpkin Soup
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Applesauce- The Essence of Autumn
I love autumn, the colors, the crisp air, the last harvests of the season. Unfortunately Alaska has been dark, moist and bleary so far. I recently got my fall fix when I went to visit my friend Sarah in Michigan where the apples and fall where crisp and beautiful. We visited an orchard and picked a variety of apples i’d never heard of before- let alone tasted. We were not alone at the orchard! It was Detroit city schools day at the farm as well. Many of the kids clambered over hay bales and made faces as they tried tart, fresh apples.
After our trip we made applesauce following Sarah’s family’s tried and true method of making applesauce. It really showcases the varietal flavor of the apples we picked and I learned something new- freezing applesauce preserves the tart sweet flavor better than canning. These steps can be applied to Alaskan apples as well. If you are bent on using crabapples for your sauce make sure to mix in some sweeter variety as well to decrease the amount of added sugar you will need. If using commercial apples go for organic and pick smaller apples, they tend to last longer on the shelf and will retain better flavor in shipping.
Since this is a method based project I will not include a recipe, just let taste be your guide along the way.
Simple Applesauce from the Orchard
You will need:
A hand operated food mill/strainer- these can be found at Sportsmans’ Warehouse, Cabelas, and specialty food stores.
Apples- Tart and sweet, in our case Jonagolds and Empires.
Large heavy bottomed pots
Spatulas, wooden spoons
Knife and cutting board
Water
Sugar
Cinnamon
Red Hots (candy)
Step 1.
Cut the apples in similarly sized pieces. No need to peel or core the apples, the food strainer will do this. I usually slice the apples down to 6 slices per apple.
Step 2.
The bottom of your large cooking pot should have an inch of water in the bottom to prevent burning as the apples “melt” down. Add the chopped apples of similar sizes to the pot, filling no more than 3/4 full (the apples tend to rise during the cooking process).
Step 3.
Cook apples until fork tender as you would for mashed potatoes.
Step 4.
Carefully remove extra juice from your cooked apples and then scoop the apples into the food mill hopper and begin to grind the apples into mash, being careful not to overload. You will need to spatula the sauce away from the exit of the mill so that the exit area doesn’t overflow.
Step 5.
Once your sauce is processed add sugar, cinnamon, and Red Hot candies to taste. To preserve your sauce, label into freezer safe containers or follow the Alaska Cooperative Extensions’ steps for canning applesauce.
Caribou Fajitas with Cilantro Lime Rice
Flank steak is generally a tricky cut to work with, especially from a lean meat like caribou. We use a salt marinade to retain moisture in the meat without the acidification that can create a mushy texture. When cooked rare, this cut is tender and delicious; when over cooked it can be tough and chewy. I like to serve this with Cilantro- Lime Rice.
Summer Poke
Obviously one of the best things ever is to be sitting on a beach in Hawaii drinking a Mai Tai and eating some fresh Poke.
But hey! You can have that experience here at home!
Alaska has some gorgeous beaches (less crowded too) and fabulous seafood and for that one day a year…maybe July 28th…when the weather is perfect, you too can make your very own Poke and sit on a beach with a bottle of Alaskan Summer Ale. Knowing with absolute certainty that this is actually the best thing ever.
Rice Family Pulled Pork
We are big eaters of all things smoked in my family. From my dad’s mouthwatering smoked salmon all the way to my husband’s fall-off-the-bone pork ribs. This is the recipe my husband used to use for pulled pork before we sold our smoker, but it’s just as good (if not easier) when made in the slow cooker.
Start off the night before with your thawed pork shoulder (pork butt). For this recipe we used two 1.5-2 lb. shoulders. Rinse them off and pat them dry with a paper towel. In a bowl combine all of the dry rub ingredients and then using your hands, rub that baby up. Don’t be afraid to really work the rub into all of the crevices. Once they are thoroughly covered, place them in a baking dish covered with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
If you are lucky enough to have a toddler wake you up at 6am, you’ll be able to put the meat in the slow cooker bright and early. We cooked this one on ‘low’ for about 9 hours, rotating the meat once half way through. No liquid was added to the crock pot, only the meat covered in the dry rub.
After your 9 hours are up, take out your meat and let it rest for about twenty minutes so it cools off a little. Using two forks, the meat will pull apart easily. Remove any large clumps of fat or connective tissue. Take your freshly pulled pork and place it in a baking dish. Now crank your oven up to 500°F, and let the meat broil for about 10-15 minutes. This allows you to get some wonderfully crispy bits on top.
Money shot. Look at all that meaty goodness.
At some point during the day you’re going to want to make the BBQ sauce. It’s pretty easy, just combine everything in a saucepan on the stove and let it cook on medium-low for about 20-30 minutes. Stir it often so that it doesn’t burn, and don’t let it reduce too much. Just cook it long enough to let all of the spices and powders rehydrate and dissolve. After you have cooked it and then let it cool put it into a storage container or a large condiment bottle and put it in the fridge. Leave it there for at least 4 hours letting all of the flavors meld together.
Serve the pulled pork by smothering it with BBQ sauce, with or without a bun (I like a crispy English muffin), and some creamy, tangy coleslaw on top.
Halibut with Chimichurri Sauce
This is a recipe I borrowed from my mom, because even though I have never been to South America, she has been to Argentina many times where chimichurri is king. A green sauce as traditional as salsa verde or pesto, this sauce uses up all of that parsley your garden has been producing all summer. Traditionally served with beef this sauce adds an herbaceous richness to halibut. The heat from the sauce can be tempered with the accompaniment of a dollop of lime-sour cream.
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.