[local eating] Fish share, week 4, and a midweek dinner

[magid]

Another cod* this week, a large one because the other people picking up just before me had smaller bags that couldn't accommodate this one; I had a bit of difficulty closing my cooler, with the tail trying to flop out one side and the nose trying to peek out the other. I managed, in the end. And felt particularly thankful, having read about how Lebanon is running out of fish. (Even though fish don't pay attention to political boundaries, I'm assuming fish loss like that is a bad thing for us here, too.)

Anyway. I really liked how last week's fish turned out, along with the relative lack of fuss, so I stuffed the whole fish again, though with slightly different things (partly because I haven't yet made it to the store to get more fresh lemons), including thinly sliced onion, roughly diced garlic, diced preserved lemon, pine nuts, eggplant-garlic spread, and the rest of the parsley (from the farm share a number of weeks ago; I'm impressed that it held up perfectly until now).



Note how much more challenging it is to fit a less yoga-flexible fish on my largest baking tray by comparing with last week...


My current plan is to make a slaw to go with it, mostly because I have lots of slaw vegetables (cabbage, carrot, kohlrabi, Hakurei turnip), and I haven't yet found the energy to make either sauerkraut or kimchi.

* As the guy at the distribution pointed out, it's called Cape Cod for a reason.


I got home latish and hungry, and sure that dinner would include some of the lovely new potatoes, both red- and brown-skinned) I got in last week's farm share. (Having a fast day last Thursday and going out of town for Shabbat meant I have a lot more veggies left than usual.) I started by cutting the larger potatoes to about the size of the smallest (thumbnail size) and boiling them until just done. Once they'd cooled just a bit, I added some pickled garlic scapes I made a couple of weeks ago with its dill and vinegar. I added some tuna, black pepper, and a bit of olive oil, then ripped up the end of the head of red-leaf lettuce (far less greenery than I'd wanted, actually) and tossed that in, too. This was my first foray into vinegar pickles at home, and I'm glad they turned out well :-).

Comments

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

::waves at cod::

have you read any of the Mark Kurlansky books relating to cod/salt/gloucester? I enjoyed the ones I did.

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

And speaking of large cod (http://home.sprynet.com/~galligan/holy-shit.htm)....

[magid.livejournal.com]

*now partly eaten cod does not wave back, lying inertly on the tray*

I haven't read any of those, though I've heard about them for years. Perhaps a trip to the library is in order.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I think.

I'm not going to be able to look at my fish with pure eyes again...

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

I still find it amusing that we go in almost completely different directions with the fish every week. I filleted and skinned our cod and poached it in some white wine, lemon juice and a bit of cream. I made stock with the trimmings.

[magid.livejournal.com]

That sounds yummy. I think Hrafn filleted some of her fish, and made a tasty-sounding soup.

I shouldn't've punted on filleting; I could use practice.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Filleting does get easier with practice, but it's important to have the right tools. We didn't have good kitchen shears the first week and it made getting the fins off... interesting. Fortunately nobody got bloody. Really, you just need a good set of cutting shears, a large cutting board, a relatively short filleting knife (straight-edge) and a bowl to put all the cut-off bits into. At least, that's whats worked for me. It still takes me about 15-20 minutes to filet the fish, but I'm also trying to lose as little fish as possible.

I don't have the fish cheeks down yet; so far they've gone into the stock.

And all that said, if the whole fish works for you then keep on with it as long as you like it. I am one of the first people to say there's nothing wrong with yummy-but-easy.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I have everything but the shears. I haven't figured out whether I'd need two pairs, one for fish, the other for meat.... Plus I'm just cheap enough that until they feel necessary, I'm unlikely to bother.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

I understand on the cheap part :P We did make it a point to invest in shears that come apart for easy cleaning. I was in a hurry so I was not looking for more than that at the time.