The life Aquatic

Unfortunately, I've been contributing to the death aquatic. My fish choices have not been the most responsible as of late. Last weeks snapper already made me feel a bit guilty, but I figured it was the only one we've bought in the last two years, and the shrimp were the most responsible (and most delicious) you can buy. But I had a moment of stupidity or perhaps some kind of Freudian willful blindness at the supermarket yesterday. There was all sorts of fish they don't usually have, some of it much fresher than usual, at Market Basket, where there is no fish counter--just a refrigerator case with the day's 'catch'--usually a bunch of farm-raised salmon, tilapia and shrimp imported from china, and random bits of cod, scrod, and haddock.

But yesterday, there was hake, mako shark, swordfish (pretty sad looking though), halibut, and others. It was strange, a great diversity of fish all at once. So I somehow convinced myself that it these fish must be 'in season' and if they were so cheap they probably weren't threatened species. I bet on the Hake, and the Mako Shark. Turns out hake is neither an 'ecobest' nor and 'ecoworst' choice on sustainable fish purchasing guide, meaning that it was probably an ok choice. I probably should have thought a little harder about the shark, though--A clear ecoworst, as well as a source of unhealthy amounts of mercury. Apparently both mako shark species are categorized as 'vulnerable,' in no small part because the practice of 'finning' them for shark-fin soup in Asia. It looked so fresh and firm though, and it was ridiculously cheap, that I just didn't think it all the way through.

I did make something delicious out of it though. This was tonight's dinner: mako shark ceviche, with sweet corn, yukon gold new potatoes, avocado, and pickled onion. It really was the perfect fish for this preparation, with a firm texture and clean taste, but farmed striped bass is apparently and an 'ecobest' choice and would probably work very well. This is super easy to make and delicious. You just cube or dice the fish, and marinate overnight in 1 clove garlic smashed, one chile pepper (serrano) halved, a teaspoon of sea salt, black pepper, a few sprigs cilantro, and enough lime juice to cover (I juiced 8 limes). The lime juice really does 'cook' the fish and gives it a terrific fresh flavor. I pickle the onions in rice vinegar to same me the time and money of juicing that many limes.



The night before we had the Hake (or Merluza as it is called in Spanish) in a tomato stew with potatoes and peas. I'd been saving some tomato sauce in the freezer that I had been meaning to use and I thought this was a good opportunity. It was a really delicious late-night dinner.


Finally. This meal had got to be one of the best ones I've posted about here. I purchased a can of fresh crab claw meat from the supermarket a few weeks ago (apparently canned and refrigerated, it keeps for several months) because it seemed like a good idea and was pretty cheap for crab. I wanted to make something special out of it, since we don't often get a hold of large amounts of what I hoped would be good quality crab meat. After thinking for a while, I decided I would make crab cannelloni. I adapted a mexican recipe from Rick Bayless, for fish with poblano chile rajas and cream, and made a filling out of shallots, roasted poblano chiles, green onion, garlic, crabmeat, pine nuts, and a little cream. I then filled thin egg pasta sheets from Capone's, covered the cannelloni with bechamel and grating cheese , and into the oven for 30 minutes. The presentation may be lacking, but no presentation, or picture for the matter, can really do these justice. They were exquisite.



Plated