Sardines (POST Eating)

So we didn't die. I marinated the little headless-wonders in garlic and fresh herbs with a little lemon zest and olive oil. Grilled to bronzed perfection they were quite nice! The Husband was perturbed by the bones (as quite honestly so was I) and kept saying, "I might get punctured."

The bones, I was told, were supposed to be cooked out... they weren't. And one can only assume that I have more calcium than I did this time yesterday. But the fish were crispy skinned and yummy.

I paired them with an eggplant pesto pasta, which in retrospect was not that right flavor combo for the same plate. We made the eggplant pesto by roasting a whole eggplant with an onion some garlic cloves and cherry tomatoes. The pureeing it in the processor adding some olive oil, a little red wine vinegar. I made it a couple of hours ahead, then when the pasta was almost done I spooned the right amount of eggplant mixture into a sauté pan and added a little ricotta and some Romano cheese, a little pasta water and heated it through. Then I poured in the orecchiette (because I first had this dish in Bari), turned off the heat and tossed in a little chopped basil. It was great! but not exactly right. If anyone has a recipe like this I'd love to know it. We had it originally at La Cecchina restaurant in Bari and it's one of the great food memories.

So that's that. Next up: squid.... They are frozen in the freezer right now... and I have to pull out their eyes and stuff.

Sardines (Pre-cooking)

Okay, so I haven't cooked them yet but I need some therapy. I just beheaded and gutted my very first fish. All those fish previous to this have already been done for me, in the sense that I didn't have to do any of the actual work apart from cooking them... But then came Sardines.

There's been a lot of hoopla about sardines in recent years. Probably for a number of reasons not excluding that sardines are high in Omega3s, a renewable-fish-resource, they're yummy... Apparently the best in the US come from California. I got mine from a fish guy on Howard who I'm not sure I trust, and therefore not sure that I trust the fish, but they were frozen and looked alright for the most part.

Here might be my first mistake... Find a fish guy you trust, especially living in the midwest. I mean, most seafood that we eat today has been previously flash frozen on the boat from which it was caught. SO really ALL seafood you see at Whole-Paycheck is from a frozen status. That's right. FROZEN. The only place you can get real fresh seafood is on the coast...and sometimes not even then, so swallow your pride and just get the frozen stuff.

So we're going to assume I have confidence in my neighbor fish guy. These puppies actually look okay! I took them out of their bag and thawed them in the sink under cool water. I think I've mentioned before that I have no patience for letting things thaw slowly... probably yet another mistake. Whatever. So the fish are in the sink and they are looking at me. This is not fun. I have to behead them and remove their entrails. YUCK.

And so I took one and chopped off it's head.... and I screamed.

So basically no one told me how much gunk there is inside a fish. I mean I knew they had to have working bits inside... All the red stuff though. ugh. One site told me I had to use my fingers to get the entrails out. No. No no no. No way. I used a knife. If you ever want to eat fish again do not use your fingers. It's gross. I used a knife and then pulled out what I could, sliced them down the belly to scrape the rest and now...

They actually look quite pretty. I'm quite pleased. Oh yeah, so we're grilling them tonight. I'll send word how they are. If this is my last posting, you'll know I have died from something fish related. Go find the fish guy on Howard and chew him out please.

We got crabs.

On a job in rural Virginia with Lorin Maazel. Sometimes we need to escape the farm, and what better way to do this than to get us some crabs. Not necessarily the kind your health care professional thinks about but the tasty critters from the sea.

Being so close to Maryland the home of crab cakes, it's only natural to find the critters not only in cake form but in the natural steamed state. As in still within the shell and the guts there enclosed. These little guys, Blue Crabs by the common name, are plentiful around here as well as in the gulf of Mexico. And while they are fun to play with ala puppeteering post steam, they are equally exciting to eat.

The night we went to Blue Ridge Seafood outside Gainesville, VA several of us opted for the steamed crabs by the dozen. Saturated in Old Bay seasoning, clarified butter on the side. Then you get into the cleaning, or the "picking" as some define it. You pull off the male defining appendage with the assistance of a knife, then separate the top shell from the bottom meat and cartilage. Scoop out the guts and pick out the lungs which look like pointy sponges then you're left with two sides of body cartilage and legs, and the meat there in. Then get it out using any means you like. My favorite trick on the legs is rolling the cracker from small end to big like a steam roller to get out all the yummy crabby leg-ness. It will be messy, you will get butter all over your clothes, you will be dirty when you are finished. But you will be full and have eaten with such purpose and accomplishment, the satisfaction will be two-fold.

We also had a kickin' Lobster Bisque. In reality (or maybe my false reality) I could have eaten a gallon of that concoction. You definitely have to try it.