seafood night

As far as I'm concerned, I can eat seafood almost everyday :-) Coming from a country of many islands, I was introduced to fish and shellfish early on. My mother's favorite were blue crabs. She would just steam and serve them with a garlicky vinegar dip very much like what I served with these Alaskan crabs.

Alaskan King crabs served with garlic vinegar dip

salmon escabeche 

Another one that instantly brings me back to my childhood is Escabeche, as shown above. Back in Manila, our preference for this dish was "tanigue" fish or Spanish mackerel.


It's a good size fish commonly sold at the markets usually sliced into steaks about 3/4" thick. A good option is any white meaty fish like snapper. The medium size ones are more often fried whole until the skin is crispy. I substituted my favorite salmon, shown above. Sliced to about 1/2" thick, dredged in a little flour then pan-fried. For the sweet and sour sauce, saute fresh ginger strips, sliced onions and garlic in a little oil until fragrant. Toss in strips of red bell pepper and carrots. When crisp-tender, transfer to a plate. For the sauce, mix vinegar, sugar, water, tomato sauce or ketchup for color and a little cornstarch. Slowly pour into the hot pan and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add more water to thin out the mixture if needed. Add the sauteed vegetables then pour over the fish. Garnish with sliced green onions. I've made this dish many times and will never get tired of it. Serve with steamed rice.