Farm share! and other adventures in local eating

[magid]

This week was the first pickup of my summer farm share, through Red Fire Farm, in Granby, MA.

This week's haul:

• two heads of lettuce (I chose a ginormous red leaf lettuce and a Boston lettuce for variety (and the hope that I'd make it through all the lettuce))
  
• a small bunch of smallish beets with greens
  
• a small bunch of medium Hakurei turnips with greens
  
• a bunch of cilantro (given away to some other cilantro enthusiast)
  
• a bunch of collards or kale (I chose the huge collards because I'd just missed the end of the lacinato kale, and only purple kale was left)
  
• a bunch of baby garlic with greens (think: garlic equivalent of scallions, not garlic scapes)
  
• two-thirds of a pound of spinach
  
• a third of a pound of mesclun

Which is to say, green, green, and green, with red and white accents. Pretty much what I expected. I'm happy it's started!

Monday I biked to work, and took a long-cut home, which took me by Land's Sake, Weston's organic farm. They listed rhubarb, which inspired me to meander back yesterday to get some. I was pleased to find that they were offering their own honey. I couldn't resist, and last night cooked them together for a very local, um, compote? dessert topping? Something. Though I think I prefer the clear sweetness of sugar with rhubarb, letting the flavor through without changing it.

Next Tuesday I have my first fish share pick up. I'll be getting 4–6 pounds of locally caught fish (though I admit I don't yet know the methods they use for catching them; the minefield of sustainable fishing is so large...). The tricky part, for me, is that that 4–6 pounds will be gutted, but otherwise intact, fish. I need to learn how to descale and fillet the fish, and figure out what to do with the other parts to use as much as possible (and I keep hearing that the fish cheeks are the best part). For the pickup, I have to get a cooler (I can do that), and I should probably acquire a filleting knife, and perhaps a descaling tool.

Query Does anyone have suggestions for good filleting knife, or features to look for? Anyone with mad fish skillz?

Comments

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Clearly I haven't been paying enough attention earlier, but - fish share?? Can I have the details, or a pointer? That sounds really neat!

I am clueless about the knives or skinning/descaling methods, though.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I hadn't mentioned the fish share here before. It's through Cape Ann Fresh Catch, and it's just starting this season.

They sent out feelers, expecting perhaps 100 replies, and got something like 900! Which is to say, I'm not sure whether they've sold out or not, or whether there's a waiting list.

The basic plan: they've arranged a number of different drop-off points (there were two in Cambridge, one on Mondays, one much closer to my house on Tuesdays), each a 2-3 hour window. I'm to bring a cooler, they'll provide ice, and I'll get 4-6 pounds of whole gutted fish (a half share; full share is 8-12 pounds). The share runs 12 weeks.

I think they're going to give pointers or lessons on how to fillet a fish at this first drop-off, but I'm not absolutely sure.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

ZOMG it looks like they are still taking sign-ups. O.O Thank you!!

[magid.livejournal.com]

Cool! I'm glad it'll work out!
(And then I'll have someone to trade fishy ideas with :-)

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't have confirmation just yet, and I can't get my check in the mail until tomorrow, but *fingers crossed*

Mostly I have broiled fish that was already filleted, though I've done up whole salmon before. I don't have a lot of ideas about doing other things with other kinds of fish, though baking it whole is probably one of the simplest things to do (at least it saves on having to scale/skin/bone the fish!).

I have a nice recipe for sole fillet with lemon, cooked stovetop, which I haven't done in probably 10 years, but it may be time to pull that one out again.

I may also look into turning fish remains into plant food. *ponders*

[magid.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about fish stock, too. Also perhaps trying to make gravlax. My usual standbys are either cooked atop greens or other veggies, or broiled under stuff like chutney (or something else that will hold moisture in), or chowder.

(And now I'm second-guessing myself, wondering whether I should've gotten a large share, and perhaps figured out how to seal and freeze extra, or can it, or something...)

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Cooked atop greens sounds really tasty!

I/we went for the small share because 1) how much time do I really want to spend filleting/other prep work? and 2) limited freezer space (if only we had a chest freezer!) and 3) not sure just how much fish I can stand in a week, at least at this point.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I make sure the greens are pretty much done, because I do this only with the white fish that cook so quickly. With onions and lemon (or preserved lemon), very yummy. Also possible: cooked in the liquid of a rataouille. Or a curry.

1. I'm hoping once I get the hang of it, the prep work won't be take too long.
2. I hear you on that. I've been trying to eat down the freezer so I'll have more room for the summer's bounty, but a chest freezer would be great. Though I hear it's an energy hog...
3. When I was growing up, we'd have fish at least once or twice a week, much more than chicken. (Beef or other non-poultry meats were an occasion, a few times per year.) I'm assuming I won't run out of wanting fish.

[cellio]

Fish share? Ooh! (Though I don't know how to post-process whole fish either.)

I have fish 2-4 times a week (not always at home). Some easy favorites:

Whitefish: oil or butter a casserole, then put fish in, then sliced onions, then tomato sauce over all, then oregano, garlic, and black pepper to taste, then bake at 425 until done.

Whitefish: put equal parts olive oil and melted butter in a casserole, stir in some minced garlic, nuke (covered but vented) for 2 minutes, then stir un fresh spinach (coating it) and nuke for another 2 minutes. This wilts the spinach. Now place fish on top, season if you like, cover with some of the cooked spinach, cover, and nuke until done.

Whitefish: good old broiling, with lemon juice and your favorite seasonings.

Salmon: cover with a mix of sour cream and mustard, seal in foil, bake at 425 until done.

Salmon: apply soy sauce, sprinkle with sesame seeds, cover with foil, bake at 425 until done (remove foil for last few minutes to lightly toast the seeds).

As for the spare parts, fish stock is the first thing I thought of.

[magid.livejournal.com]

A friend has suggested checking YouTube for videos of fish processing by hand. I haven't had the time to do that yet, but I bet there's something.

Thanks for the recipes. I'm currently sans microwave, but the others are definitely possible.

[cellio]

I wonder if you could do the microwave one in a (covered) skillet somehow. I'm not sure how long you'd need to cook it after adding the fish, but one could experiment.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Back when I ate it, possibly my favorite fish preparations was steamed sea bass at our favorite Chinese (we were usually the only non-Chinese there) place in Brooklyn. And yeah, the cheeks were considered the most tender, etc, bits, but they weren't THAT much better than the rest of the fish. :)

They steamed it whole (but gutted) and did the final prep at-table, but being the precocious adolescent that I was, after a few times, I took over doing the cut-off-head-separate-remove-spine-reassemble-to-look-pretty thing myself.

I'd imagine this would work with other fish, too?

[magid.livejournal.com]

I generally do something similar in a pot, figuring since the fish is on top, it's not getting direct heat, so it will be a more gentle process on the fish.

In general, that's my biggest worry, that I'll overcook the fish badly. Which is why I haven't much tried baking it at 350, rather than the higher heats (covered in a layer of something-to-retain-moisture, whether mustard or chutney or slices of mango), which seem to do a good job of "searing" it so the middle doesn't get dried out.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you'd ever eaten fish!

I've had the whole steamed sea bass with scallions and ginger at the kosher Chinese place, but didn't do anything else, leaving it up to me to figure out how to get the fish off the skeleton myself....