Archive for the ‘Fish’ Category

It’s good to have ‘sources’. Today, a whole 8 lb Northern Pike found its way into my kitchen. After much gutting, skinning, and deboning [boning being the correct term, but deboning sounds less vulgar, no?], I had a good platter full of fresh fish to play with. And a copious collection of veg oil that I didn’t want to bring with me on our impending move. So:deep fried northern pike with yukon gold fries.

I’m a pretty big fan of Steelhead Trout. I know. It’s farmed. And yes, I’ve made fun of Walmart for labeling it ‘Steelhead Salmon’. But it tends to be a good value, and I dig any fish even closely resembling trout or salmon.

Night One. My wife suggested I poach it. Did I? No. I pan fried it. Looks nice, but was okay. And man, when you’re showing your home in an effort to actually sell it, this is NOT a dish to be making. Talk about fishy smelling odors. Yucka.

So on night two, still from the same fillet, I actually listened to my wife and poached it. Poached fish doesn’t seem to be something that people do a lot at home, and I don’t get it. I creates a giant margin for error on doneness, and preserves the delicate moistness that I love so dearly in fish. Screw roasting and baking and everything else [except maybe deep frying..], poach that fish!!

In this case, the fish was atop what I like to call a ‘grain and veg mush’. Yeah, been making a tad too much baby food around here. Brown rice, red lentils, mirepoix and red pepper brunoise.

On the left: lake Perch ‘Meuniere’ with potatoes, carrots, and herbs from the garden. Simple but good. While cleaning the fish, I was eyeballing the milt [sperm sac] – but decided to only go down that road with extremely fresh fish. Once again, I have my dad to thank for the supply of lake fishes from the clean waters of Northern Saskatchewan.

So bizarre. This thing is hard like a chunk of lumber. And the bones are dang sharp – sharp enough to make you bleed, apparently. It’s also bizarre to have a fillet of fish in your fridge for weeks, and it not smell of anything but a faint suggestion of fresh fish.

So now I have this brick of salt cod in my fridge, that will apparently store for months…at least that gives me some time to figure out what the heck to do with it. I really can’t see how this can have a nicer flavor and texture than fresh fish. We’ll see about that.

My tongue feels like someone’s piercing it with a hot metal poker. But aside from that, this is easily one of the best soups I’ve ever made. I needed a quick lunch, and here’s what went in the pot:

2 cups or so of chicken broth
1 cup or so of pork broth
A healthy shot of leftover Nuoc Cham [see previous post]
1/2 tsp or so of chili garlic sauce
~3″ of lemongrass, minced
A minced small green chili
A small portion of fresh rice noodles for Pho
1 filleted and deboned rock cod

Poached the fillets in the stock, then in went the rest. Add a Thai basil palate cleanser and an ounce of Japanese plum wine to quell the sweet tooth. Wow. Rock cod poached is amazing – the perfect blend of density and flakiness. I dipped mine in hoisin, of course. And the lemongrass gave the complex broth a fantastically fresh aroma. I don’t expect you to run out and make this. I just wanted to post it so that I wouldn’t forget what I did. But if you were to make it, you’d be in for a treat.

I have a confession to make. I had fish and chips again for supper tonight. But it wasn’t my fault this time – at least – it was someone else’s idea. My dad had a slab of halibut in his freezer that should have been consumed long ago, so we bid it adieu this evening. He was keen on ‘my’ beer batter [the recipe I've bastardized actually belongs to one of my heroes, Alton Brown]. And really, I haven’t gone through the fuss that AB does, with all due respect. My recipe: ya take flour. ya take beer. ya kick in a little baking powder, and maybe some salt. The only key, as my cousin Gerry taught me, was to ensure a loose consistency. Another confession? My favorite fish so far for deep frying has been pickerel. Who knew.

Is ‘holy shit’ an adjective? If not, I hereby dub thee, and if so, it is being appropriately used. I used my 36-lbs-of-cod-deep-fry night experience tonight to nail some deep-fried-forgotten-in-my-trunk pickerel. Now is that an adjective? It describes the noun, and I can spell it, so yes it is.

AFTER

And an aside for your reading pleasure: http://lacubanagringa.com/2007/07/25/lets-go-to-costco/

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen today. Lunch was a thai green curry ling cod with rice and chard. Supper was a steak sandwich with grilled shoulder of beef and pagnotta garlic toasts. I thought shoulder of beef needed a moist cooking environment. I was wrong – it’s excellent grilled. I should have known, as my favorite bit of grilled pork = shoulder. This evening I prepped a kilo of vanilla bean ice cream base that’s ready to be churned, a pint of vanilla bean creme anglaise [and yes, I have something up my sleeve with these two items], and a paté de campagne. So after deboning fish, skinning and deboning pork shoulder, grinding and cleanup of the meat for the paté, and all the million other things involved, I’m pooped.

Add to that: we’re nearly positive Evelyne’s teething. That’s not good news. I suppose it has to happen some time, but now it’s throwing off her sleeping and eating, and she’s crying from discomfort. So they who said ‘straight from colic to teething’ were right. Lucky us.

Lastly, a photo from yesterday. I’m working on my ‘garden beet salad’ recipe. This one’s got goat cheese, tarragon from my garden, and a Tuscan olive oil vinaigrette. It was good. But I’m hoping to do better.