The Fishman Cometh

I took delivery of our first seafood order, which had been swimming happily around the North Pacific the day before, and delighted in the very, very happy place that our food is going to. Up until now, the fish selection around here has been pretty bad, and I’ve had to console myself with the world-class local meat, cheese, and grain and our own produce. But fish is so wonderful, and gets me so inspired to do creative things that I’ve been sorely missing it. Until now. I ordered a side of sockeye salmon and a pound of side-stripe shrimp (both completely sustainable) figuring that it would be a good way to stretch one weekly delivery into several meals.

The salmon I have cured, and it will be gravlax in a day or two- just in time to take it to VT so my family can eat the whole damn thing; I also smoked 4 pounds of miso-cured bacon and will be bringing ONE pound up with us for that very reason. The shrimp were dinner tonight. I seasoned (garlic, salt, pepper, 5-spice) and skewered them, then put them in the smoker for a few minutes to cook. Why waste a good fire, right? Especially since it was 90˚ and jungle-muggy today. I had intended to do something fancy by agar-clarifying Blanche’s bloody Mary mix to make a clear cocktail sauce, but it got late, so I just used the agar to thicken it up from tomato juice texture to sauce texture and left it at that. We murdered them. There was other stuff, too- some leftovers, and a little new potato gratin, but these were the star. The ever-so flattering spotlight was a 2006 Max-Ferd. Richter Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett. As good as it is- especially for under $15- better still was the 06 Graacher Himmelreich we had a couple of days ago with coconut curried chickpeas. Not a very photogenic dish, but tasty, and just ridiculously delightful wine.