Try Some Great New Dinner Recipes Featuring Alaska Seafood

Looking for something new and exciting for dinner tonight? Why not try some popular Alaska seafood recipes instead of the same old processed or prepackaged dinner? Not only delicious but good for you, it's easy to know you're choosing a fresh, wild, organic dinner when working with Alaska seafood! Get started with some of these favorites!

Fish Tacos are a favorite in many parts of the country and combine the best of the American northwest and southwest into one great dish! One of the most popular Alaska seafood recipes around, start with a marinade of soy sauce, olive oil, and lime juice and cumin to taste (just a dash!) Marinade strips of Alaska Halibut in the marinade mix for at least an hour, then bake them on a lightly oiled sheet at 350 degrees. Cook until the fish is slightly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. After the fish is ready, it's the simple process of putting together a taco with your favorite ingredients! Reccommended are sour cream, cheese, corn tortillas whether soft or crunchy, and cabbage instead of lettuce to really enhance the flavor!

A favorite all across the southern US but especially in Louisiana with a Cajun and Creole influence is Etouffee. Try Etouffee with Alaska crab for a great twist on this popular southern recipe. Start with two pounds of thawed Alaska Crab legs, from a variety like King, Snow or Dungeness crab. Remove the meat from the crab shell. Begin by heating in a skillet chopped celery, onion, and bell pepper in vegetable oil for about 10 to 15 minutes until softened. Next throw in minced garlic, bay leaves, and about a half cup of clam juice and water over reduced heat. Slowly add in about a tablespoon of flour to thicken the mixture. Last, add the crab meat, with parsley and green onion to taste. When the mixture is heated, after about five minutes, add cayenne pepper and salt to taste. This mix is great served with a starch like rice, or beans and rice!

For a twist on the normal cookout, try grilling Alaska Salmon Burgers instead. This is one of many popular Alaska seafood recipes that include salmon, which is great cooked many ways but is a real summer treat when grilled. Start with canned salmon, about two cleaned and drained cans, and mix with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, ¾ cup dried breadcrumbs, and a ½ cup sliced green onions. Once mixed (easiest with the hands) add in three egg whites. When the mixture is ready, shape it into patties and throw it on the grill! These burgers are great served with the regular fixings like tomato, onion, lettuce and cheese on a bun!

Crab cakes are one of the most popular Alaska seafood recipes of all time, and there's no better ingredient than fresh, wild caught Alaska Dungeness Crab! Combine in a big bowl 12 ounces of thawed crab meat, a cup of soft bread crumbs, a quarter cup of celery, a quarter cup of green onion, three tablespoons of mayo, a beaten egg, hot sauce to taste, a dash of salt, and a dash of black pepper. Chill the mixture about an hour in the refrigerator, then shape into about four patties or 'cakes.' Sprinkle flour over each cake and sauté each in hot vegetable oil about 10 minutes on each side. When the crab cakes are ready they will turn golden brown!

Seafood Pasta Salad - - Fresh Summer Salads, Perfect For a Picnic Or Down at the Beach

Do you like seafood? If you do, do you like pasta salads? If you don't like seafood but like pasta salads or if you dislike salads but like seafoods - I think it does not matter. Give this recipe the chance to turn you around. Actually, let us rephrase that - give experimentation the chance to turn you around.

What do I mean by this? I mean that, there are - literally, without an ounce of exaggeration - endless opportunities of variation when it comes to food. You can use any ingredient you want to use - and not only that, but you can use any amount of any ingredient, and you can use any amount of that ingredient with any amount of another and another and another. In other words - there are a billion possible ways of cooking something. Yes, you might have to develop your tastebuds to really notice the difference but if you want to that is entirely possible.

Let us go into a simple seafood pasta salad. Actually, let us begin with the ingredients for the salad:
8 Oz. pasta
Sliced olives - 1 small can
Clove of garlic - 1 small
Fresh ginger root
Parmesan cheese
1 340 gram (or similar bags; in case there are none simply measure that amount). bag of frozen mixed seafood

For the dressing you will need: If you have, sesame oil (and if you don't, don't worry).
Lemon juice
if you want, mayonnaise
Olive oil (if you lack it, use other salad oil)

This is how to do this dish:
Cook pasta, al dente - meaning not very soft; more firm than soft. The time needed depends, on the pasta, but - a rule of thumb is - look at the package and subtract one minute or two from what is specified on it as a good time to cook the pasta. Now do what you usually do with pasta (letting it cool etc).

Chop, then put into a large bowl, the vegetables. The garlic you peel and mince on a grater. Mince a little ginger root, too. Add both to bowl.

Drain olives of water and add to bowl. Add pasta to bowl - mixing it in. Remove seafood from freezer, put in a colander - then rinse with cold water (really cold water).

Take a large pan. Pour, into it, oil - olive, or other - enough that the cooking surface is covered.
If you have it, add some sesame oil - and an equal amount of wine/sushi vinegar.

Put a cover on the pan - put heat on medium temp. until the oil has been heated.

When oil is hot, put into the pan seafood - then cover it. Raise the temperature a little.

While the seafood is cooking, every once in a while stir it. This should not take more than 5 minutes.

Use a spatula to set the seafood on top of the salad. Now, let cool and mix into the salad.

Add a couple tablespoons of lemon juice, salt and pepper and parmesan to taste off.

Cover, refrigerate, then eat your salad!

Buy Fresh Seafood Online For Your Next Special Event

When hosting a party for friends and relatives or a special group event, it can be difficult to determine a menu that will delight every guest. And when serving seafood, getting high quality, fresh seafood can be a problem. After all, where can you buy fresh seafood to provide a tasty meal or finger food that will make your guests say WOW?

Supermarkets offer seafood, but are sometimes limited in how much you can buy. And you really never know about the "freshness" of the seafood in a supermarket. What if you live nowhere near the coast but want to serve delightful seafood appetizers that can't be found just anywhere? What if you need cheap lobster or a large amount of fresh jumbo shrimp and want to impress your guests with specialty cocktail sauce? The answer is right at your fingertips! You now have access to some of the finest seafood in the world...from your home computer.

The thought of buying fresh seafood on the Internet might startle you, but it's really the best way to obtain the finest seafood if you don't live near a harbor or a seafood specialty market. Buying online opens the door to many rare seafood products that you might not be able to find locally. And when buying direct from an exquisite seafood restaurant, you will benefit from the chef's years of experience in seafood preparation.

Seafood Galore

Some of the tasty seafood you can order online includes gourmet lobster ravioli, canned smoked salmon, crab, ahi tuna, abalone, Cape Cod lobster, scallops, shrimp, oysters, octopus, mussels, clams and caviar. Online stores also offer their own special sauces and seasonings to prepare your seafood or for dipping. Some examples are Cajun tartar sauce, gourmet lemon dill tartar sauce, sushi ginger, red clam sauce, seaweed salad, tempura batter mix, wasabi paste, white clam sauce, garlic juice spray, pepper plant hot sauce, cocktail sauce, and horseradish sauce. Using specialty seafood sauces and/or seasonings can produce a tantalizing taste that your guests will never forget.

Also, ordering online provides the option to buy pre-cooked seafood. You can order mouth-watering appetizers and entree items already cooked and ready to eat such as smoked trout, smoked salmon fillet, crab quesadilla, canned albacore tuna, herring cutlets, seaweed salad, bay shrimp and more. You'll also find special bargains on king crab legs, live lobster, fresh shellfish, caviar, Dungeness crabs, fresh abalone, fresh halibut or fresh salmon.

Where to Buy Fresh Seafood Online

Be sure to buy fresh seafood from a reputable website. Look for a company that is actually a fish market and/or a seafood restaurant. Read customer reviews about the company and check it out with Better Business Bureau and other online resources to verify its trustworthiness. Seafood companies online should provide adequate information via their website, such as who they are, how they obtain fresh seafood, what you can expect in terms of shipping and keeping the seafood fresh during the process, and how to properly store the seafood after arrival. Ordering from a fine seafood restaurant offers many benefits because you can read recipes, order specialty sauces and find rare seafood dishes. You can also benefit from specials and purchase cheap seafood at times.

Use these tips to buy fresh seafood for your next event. Whether it's a company meeting, holiday party, anniversary party, graduation, birthday, or any type of celebration, serving fresh seafood is one way to provide a tasty, unique menu that your friends will talk about for months to come.

A Quick Guide to Alaskan Seafood Varieties

To get technical, the term shellfish technically describes any "exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food." This leaves the actual category wide open, as far as the average seafood fan is concerned. A classification used by both the culinary community and fisheries worldwide, the layman may still be wondering exactly what the world of shellfish encompasses. When it comes to great tasting seafood which comes wild from the icy cold Alaskan waters can't be beat for taste and quality. Although this particular variety of seafood is often higher in the calorie count than other nutrient rich species that come from Alaska, they are still excellent sources of protein and can't be beat for impeccable taste and texture. There are a variety of options for fresh or fresh-frozen shellfish, the most popular of which are simply explained below.

Clams. The growing Alaskan market for clams includes varieties like Geoduck, Horse, Razor, Steamer and Littleneck. Clams can be found both hard-shelled and soft-shelled.

Abalone. Divers are employed to harvest this firm textured, mild tasting mollusk found in the Southeast Alaskan waters. When looking for abalone at a nearby grocer or fresh seafood market, it will be available fresh when in season, or frozen whole-in-shell. Outside of season look for just abalone meat sealed in vacuum-packaging.

Shrimp. Alaskan varieties of shrimp include Coonstripe, Pink, Sidestripe or Spot shrimp, sometimes also called prawns. The sizes vary greatly from an inch in size up to Spot Prawns which can reach 9 inches in length. Find Alaskan shrimp sold frozen raw in-shell, or quick frozen in bags.

Crab. Of all the Alaskan seafood delicacies, crab is one of the most popular. Varieties harvested fresh from the icy Alaskan waters include King Crab, Dungeness Crab, Snow Crab, and Hair Crab. Crabs can be purchased whole, live or frozen, or just the legs and claws can often be purchased on their own.

Oysters. The Pacific Oyster has a grayish purple colored shell, and the color of the meat can range from mauve to white. Generally oysters are harvested and available fresh year round.

Scallops. Famous for their delicate flavor, Alaskan scallops are harvested nearly year round. When buying scallops look for fresh specimens in your local seafood market, or quick frozen scallops sold in lots of either 10, 20, or 30.

Other. Other varieties of Alaskan shellfish include the sea cucumber, sea snail, sea urchin, and mussels. Although these may not be as readily available as the aforementioned varieties, these sea delicacies are often found in fine seafood restaurants. Creative meals and cooking techniques really bring these lesser known shellfish to life in culinary settings.