Cape Ann Fresh Catch [Greater Boston Area, MA]

We can only hope, and vote, fd. Thanks for a lighthearted post with some heavy thoughts.

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It was redfish this week, with scallops as my second order. As I’ve said, this is an intensely busy time for me, so I haven’t the time for anything elaborate. I panfried the redfish with some cayenne, salt and potato starch. I dusted the scallops with a few flecks of urfa pepper and a pinch of salt and did them quickly (about 90 seconds on the first side and a minute on the other in brown butter in a nonstick pan[*]. Tiny squeeze of lemon in the pan to shovel out with the remaining butter in the pan on top of the scallops. Not bad, but only because – as so much fish cookery requires – I was lucky in getting the timing right. Twenty seconds too much and it’s the fish that’s cooked you (or, at least, your goose).

[*] I detest nonstick pans but they have three uses: (1) pancakes, (2) soft, custardy scrambled eggs, and (3) scallops (which brown in these pans without developing a crust).

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Hake last week (they have about 5 or 6 things they rotate through) with salmon as my additional choice. I’m still in fastest-cooking mode, and I find panfrying fits my present constraints best. But I try to keep things interesting by dipping into my collection of peppers, seeds, etc., to use as a dry rub or as a topping. For the hake I used Curio’s Piment D’Ville Basque Chili, salt and my It starch of the moment, potato. Potato starch is sticky, like tapioca, but I like the crisp bits that get stuck to the pan. Scraped off and drained on paper towels, they make a nice crunchy, salty topping on the fish.

I panfried the salmon on a separate day, with just salt on the skin side, and salt and hint of Kashmiri chili powder on the the other. I panfried it skin side down till the skin started to crisp and brown, flipped and peeled the skin off what was now the top. Took the fish out of the pan, but left the skin in the pan, turning a few times so that it continued to crisp and brown. Crunchy salmon skin is a favorite in my family, and it gives bacon a run for its money. The salmon itself was close to raw in the center and I served it on warm rice sprinkled with shichimi togarashi, a few previously cooked veggies and a squeeze of lime. Not quite chirashi, but one has to make do with what one has on hand.

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In Heart & Soul, Jacques Pepin has a recipe for broiling skin-on thick fillets. Slash the skin, rub it with oil and dry seasonings, broil skin up, do not turn. The skin is deliciously crispy. You could mistake it for chicken skin.

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Your preparations continue to wow! We’re taking a break from the fish CSA for now because our vegetable CSA is at its peak this time of year.

So I’m taking notes about your marvelous meals for later, when we’re back in the swim.

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By the way @tomatotomato we’d talked upthread about Fly by Jing. Did you order anything from them. They faced all kinds of problems in June, but I just got one jar of their chili crisp today and their three-year aged doubanjiang. I used the bean paste in a pork stir fry. It’s got a lot of funk, and discernible beans, shreds of red pepper, etc.

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Oooh, I haven’t ordered yet. Must correct the error of my ways.

You had me at funk. :star_struck:

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