Tour of Fifty States: Alaska's Meal

For this meal, I was thinking about what Alaska is famous for … Alaskan King Crab legs (way too expensive), Reindeer sausage (I’m not willing to pay those shipping fees), Salmon (too fishy for my taste), another kind of fish?  I know there are TV shows about fishing in Alaska, so I decided to go check it out. I found a recipe on an Alaskan fish company’s website and decided to give it a try.  It called for Halibut.  Of which I know nothing except that they are very, very large.

When it came time to serve Alaska’s meal and I started shopping for Halibut I found myself in a dilemma.  Do I buy 5 Halibut steaks at $9.99 each from Grocery Store 1?  Do I buy one and we all share it? Do I buy a couple of pounds at $26 a pound from Grocery Store 2?  Or at $25 a pound from the local fish market?   I checked the Big Box store and they didn’t have Halibut, nor did the Warehouse store.  Grocery Store 3’s fish guy looked at me like I was crazy. 

Then I thought, what other kind of fish is Alaska known for other than salmon?  Stumped, I typed the various fish types that the grocery store did have into my phone looking for their place of origin.  I settled on Alaskan Cod, which according to my phone, was fished in the Aleutian Islands.  It happened to be on sale BOGO, so for $9.00 I got 10 Cod filets.  Perfect … until I got home with the package and it said “PRODUCT OF CHINA.”  Oh well, at least the species is found in Alaska! 

Menu:  Spicy Denali Alaska Halibut Cod, Steamed Asparagus, Sourdough bread, Individual Baked Alaska with Berry Sauce

Outcome:  We’d never had Cod before but we can compare it to Tilapia and I’ll add it to our rotation of dinner items.   The Cod was light and mild tasting, and cooked up nicely.  The spice mixture was really spicy and I ended up scraping off most of the spice layer since my mouth was on fire.  The Asparagus was yummy, and the Baked Alaska was, “The best dessert you’ve ever made,” as spoken by Ben!  As for the Sourdough bread that was to be in honor of the Alaskan Gold Rush…it’s still in the freezer.  L

Next up:  My turn to choose and I got New Jersey!

Alaska's Meal

Spicy Denali Alaska Halibut

 Prep time:  5 min. Cook time:  10 min.

Ingredients

• 1½ Tbsp. paprika
• 1 ½ tsp. each dried oregano and dried thyme
• 1 ½ tsp. each onion powder and garlic powder
• 1 tsp. each black pepper and salt
• ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 6 (6 oz. each) Alaska halibut steaks, thawed if frozen

Directions

1. Mix together all dry-seasoning ingredients.
2. Place Alaska Halibut steaks on a non-stick or spray-coated baking sheet or broiler pan. Brush butter onto top surface of halibut. Sprinkle seasoning mixture over the surface of each halibut steak.
   
3. Broil 10 minutes per inch of thickness, measured at thickest part, or until fish flakes when tested with a fork.
4. Store remaining seasoning mixture in airtight container for future use.
5. Serves 6.

Individual Baked Alaska with Berry Sauce 

The name of this dessert was created at Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York City as a celebration of the purchase of the Alaska Territory.

Cook’s note:  Instead of using a Pound Cake, I used the little tart-sized sponge cakes that are usually found near the strawberries in the produce section.  They’re already round and the divot in the center holds a single scoop of ice cream perfectly.

Prep time:  45 min.  Cook time:  1 hr. 2 min.

 Ingredients

• 1 loaf Pound Cake OR tart shells
• ½ gallon vanilla ice cream

Meringue:

• 6 egg whites
• ¼ tsp. cream of tartar

  

  Just before going in the freezer

• ½ cup sugar

Berry Sauce

• 3 cups frozen mixed berries
• 1 cup sugar, more or less to taste
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Directions

1. Slice the pound cake loaf into ½ inch slices. With a 3 inch round cookie cutter, cut pound cake into 6 individual portions and place on a cookie sheet.
2. Place a large scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of each round cake. Freeze cake and ice cream until very hard, at least 1 hour.
3. While the ice cream freezes, make the meringue:
4. Preheat the oven to broil and place a rack 8 inches from the top of the oven.
5. In an electric mixer with the whip attachment, on medium speed, beat together the egg whites and cream of tartar to soft peaks. Continue to beat and add the sugar, 1 Tbsp. at a time. Whip until meringue has reached stiff peaks.
6. Place meringue in a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip.
7. Next, make the berry sauce.  Add berries, undrained, to a pot and add ½ cup sugar.  Cook over medium heat until bubbly.  Simmer 5-10 minutes until slightly thickened.  Taste and add more sugar if needed.  If the sauce is too thin, thicken it with a tablespoon of cornstarch that is dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water. 
8. Remove the ice cream from the freezer. Quickly pipe the meringue evenly over the ice cream, covering completely. (Cook’s note:  Or use the back of a large spoon.)
9. Place in the broiler and broil just until tops are browned, about 2 minutes. Remove from the oven and spoon some berry sauce directly onto the plate and slide the Baked Alaska on top.  Serve immediately.  
   
   Serves 6.

   

   Yummy Baked Alaska with Berry Sauce