Seafood

Tea is for drinking to be sure, but what about tea for eating? Many of us know the marbleized tea eggs and tea-smoked duck of Chinese kitchens or the green tea ice cream found in many Asian restaurants, but how often have we encountered oolong-brined turkey, salmon lacquered in green tea or "smoky" black lentils cooked in lapsang sou- chong tea?

When it comes to using up leftover ingredients, chefs are not that different from the rest of us. Foie gras and truffle oil might not be in your refrigerator or pantry, but you may have lobster shells left from a celebration dinner, as Andrew Wilkinson did one day.

In my flurry of experimenting, I found that virgin coconut oil had a deep coconut flavor that persists even after cooking. Refined coconut oil, which has been processed enough to raise the temperature at which it begins to smoke, lacks the same coconut profundity, but supposedly works better for stir- and deep-frying. In my recipe testing, however, the smoke point of virgin coconut oil was not a problem.

Use shrimp shells from the Shrimp fra diavolo recipe, Old Bay, tomato paste, and leek to make stock. After 15 minutes, you have a rich base for shrimp stew. Add leftover shrimp in sauce to sweet red pepper, black beans, and cilantro. Serve the stew with crusty bread and a salad. The second-day dish isn’t as spicy as the first. It’s up to your valentine to add the fire. 

Fra diavolo (“brother devil’’ in Italian), is a deliciously spicy Italian-American tomato sauce in which you simmer calamari, lobster, or shellfish of any kind, along with oregano and cayenne, or fresh chilies and parsley. To make an intimate dinner for your valentine — one with a great deal of zip — buy large shrimp in their shells. Put some music on and shell the shrimp leisurely (save the shells to make a quick stock for shrimp stew another day). Set a pot of long-grain rice on the stove top.

Flavorful Cajun seasoning adds a pleasant kick to this colorful, satisfying entree of tilapia, broccoli, bell pepper and brown rice.

Tangy feta cheese creates a melted blanket of flavor over shrimp in tomato sauce and orzo (rice-shaped pasta). It makes a hearty supper.

Many fish-cake recipes begin with uncooked fish, which means the thick rounds spend a long time in the skillet. Use cooked salmon, a few cracker crumbs, generous spoonfuls of chili sauce (the kind you serve as a dip with shrimp cocktail), and the cakes need a brief saute only. Add red-pepper mayo and a handful of greens to the plate. If it’s breakfast you’re looking for, garnish each plump salmon cake with a rasher of bacon and an over-easy egg.

Use a food processor to make these, but pulse the motor gently so the fish does not turn into a puree.

Many cooks turn to salmon for celebration meals because the meat is rich, the color pretty, and the taste universally popular. And there are many ways to cook salmon. Roasting, the simplest, brings out the best qualities of the fish. Give cherry tomatoes a head start in a hot oven. When they’re collapsed and glistening, push them to the sides of the pan, and set the salmon in the center. In just a few minutes — measure the salmon at the thickest part and roast it 10 minutes per inch of fish — the flesh is firm, flaky, and pleasingly moist.

Begin the pasta with a quick homemade tomato sauce, much more satisfying than sauce from a jar, and a lot cleaner and fresher. Buy whole tomatoes and crush them yourself (instead of using canned crushed tomatoes, which are dense and heavy). Simmer them with fresh fennel for 10 minutes, then add olives and shrimp for a second-day dish as elegant as the first.