California Spiny Lobster Bisque

Courtesy of Tom Gatch
Reward yourself after your next successful foray for California spiny lobster with this delicious variation of a favorite classic recipe.

Ingredients:
2 freshly boiled, well cooled, California spiny lobsters weighing about 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. each
1-3/4 oz. butter
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 oz. tomato paste
4 garlic cloves, crushed
A few sprigs of thyme
4-1/4 fl. oz. brandy
2 fl. oz. sweet white wine, such as Muscat
2-1/8 pt. fish stock or water
17 fl. oz. cream
Salt, to taste
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
A few sprigs of parsley, to garnish

Method:
Twist off the tails, remove the veins and wash out the heads. Remove the meat from one tail, cut it into 1-in. cubes, and set aside to use later as garnish. Chop remaining tail and carapaces into large chunks.

Place a large saucepan on high heat and melt the butter. Add the onion, carrots and garlic. Cook while stirring until the onions turn translucent. Add the chopped lobster chunks, tomato paste, brandy, sweet white wine, chopped tomatoes, thyme, cayenne pepper and salt. Stir well and add the fish stock.

Add the cream to the saucepan and allow to simmer over low heat for approximately 1 hour, and strain the broth into another saucepan (be sure to press and strain as much liquid from the lobster chunks as possible before discarding them). Whisk the strained soup vigorously until it is lightly frothy.

Ladle the soup into a serving bowl. Garnish with a few sprigs of Italian flat leaf parsley and cubes of lobster tail meat. Enjoy this elegant chowder with your dining partner on a rainy winter’s day along with a loaf of warm sourdough bread and a couple of your favorite beverages.

Sweet and Sour Whole Rockfish

Here’s my simple recipe for the 9 Mile rockfish I cooked tonite. It was caught 9/21. My wife also fried up a filet from a 6-8 lb Red. I cooked up a teenager, a 3 pounder.

Sweet and Sour Rockfish
(1) whole 2-6 lb rockfish
box corn starch
veg oil

Sweet & Sour Sauce
1/3 c catsup
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c water
1/2 tsp salt
Mix all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Whisk and boil on med heat until liquid is translucent. Put aside covered.

Wash fish. Gill, gut, scale and leave rest of fins on. Do not put slits into the skin. Rub both sides and cavity with raw garlic then ginger. Then salt heavily on both sides and cavity.

Heat oil in 14″ cast iron skillet to +400 degrees. try to keep temperature at 400 degrees while frying all sides. I use a 15,000 btu cooker outside. Put whole fish in corn starch and rub in each side and cavity. Dust. Put 3/4s of fish in hot oil or whole fish if fits. Cook until it looks golden about 5 minutes. Then put tail section in for about half that time. Flip. Cook other side like 1st. When done remove to a sheet pan with a rack on top. Baste top side with S&S sauce. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes (depends on thickness). Remove, turn fish and baste other side with S&S sauce and return for 10-15 more minutes. Even though the fish pic looks well done it is JUST cooked thru to medium and juicy. Remove to a serving platter. I start eating at the tail and fins (crispy treats), then work on the head. After that i like the tail meat best. My wife said this fish tasted like shellfish. You are what you eat. You get about 1/3 more meat by cooking the fish whole. Lots of the tastiest meat is in the cheeks and fin/head areas. Parts that you throw away when fileting.

Fish Chowder – Reds, whitefish, Bass

3 lbs mixed fish (reds, whitefish, bass, etc)
2 lbs yukon gold potatos
2 med yellow onions
3 Tbsp butter
5 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp fresh parsley
fresh chives
4 oz salt pork
1 1/2 c heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and slice potatoes into 1/4-1/3 inch slices. Cut onions to med dice. Remove rind and cut salt pork into 1/4-1/3 inch cubes.

Leave fish fillets whole but cut so that when the fish flakes, it will become large chunks.

In a 4-6 qt pot, cook salt pork over medium heat. When the pieces get crispy, remove with slotted spoon and set aside (leaving pork fat behind). Add onions, butter and thyme and sweat until onions get soft and translucent (about 8 minutes). Add potatoes, broth and parsley and bring to a rull rolling boil. Cook about 10 minutes until potatoes are al dente. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add fish fillets and simmer 5 minutes.

Remove pot from heat and let sit for 10 minutes covered. Add cream and gently mix. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

This chowder is hearty but not real thick and creamy. For thicker chowder, you can thicken it with roux. Use 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp flour and make a blond roux and whisk in a cup of the chicken broth and then add with rest of the broth when you add the potatoes.

Serve garnished with fresh chives and reserved bits of salt pork and crackers.

Great filler for those cold winter days/nights and great way to get rid of some of that fish in your freezer.

Proste!

Oysters Rockefeller

Ingredients

• ¾ cup chopped fennel bulb, bulb only
• ¼ cup chopped leeks, green and white parts
• ¼ cup finely chopped curly parsley
• ¼ cup finely chopped scallions (green and white parts)
• ¼ cup chopped celery
• ¼ cup ketchup
• 1 ½ cups frozen spinach, cooked, drained, and chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
• ½ teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon ground anise
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ cup Herbsaint liqueur
• 1 cup (2 sticks) melted, salted butter
• ½ cup seasoned dried breadcrumbs
• 12 cups rock salt
• 6 dozen oysters on the half shell
• 12 lemon wedges

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, combine the fennel, leeks, parsley, scallions, celery, ketchup, spinach, salt, white pepper, cayenne, thyme, anise, Worcestershire, and Herbsaint. Purée the mixture thoroughly. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the contents of the food processor into a large bowl. Stir in the butter and breadcrumbs. Ensure that the mixture is well blended.

Pour enough rock salt into twelve 8-inch cake pans to cover the bottom of the pans. Arrange 6 oysters in their half shells in each pan.

Fill a pastry bag with the Rockefeller sauce and pipe equal portions of the sauce over each shell (if you do not have a pastry bag, use a large tablespoon to distribute the sauce).

Place the pans in the oven and bake for 5 minutes, or until the sauce sets.

Turn up the heat to broil and broil the oysters for an additional 3-4 minutes, until the tops are bubbling. It may be necessary to bake the oysters in batches.

Line each of 12 dinner plates with cloth napkins that have been folded into neat squares. Carefully nestle the pans of the oysters within the folded napkins. Garnish with lemon wedges and serve at once.

Recipe Details

Serves 12

Home Sushi Kits will turn you into a Sushi chef!

* Do you wish you could eat Sushi more often but think your budget can’t afford it?
* Do you wish you knew the secrets of buying and preparing Sushi-quality fish and making incredible meals?

With Catalina Offshore Products, you will make amazing sushi creations at home! As you know, Sushi and Sashimi must be made from high quality extremely fresh fish, which can be very hard to find locally. Catalina Offshore Products has been selling the finest fresh seafood to fine dining restaurants and sushi bars for over 25 years and now you can purchase the same high quality products at wholesale prices!

To get started, just choose the fish of your choice from this week’s featured items or any of our other sushi-quality seafood, then select one of our Home Sushi Kits to begin enjoying Sushi and Sashimi just like you get from your favorite Japanese restaurant, but at half the price!

This beginner’s sushi making kit comes with everything you need to make your own sushi at home, just add your choice of seafood. The kit contains a helpful set of instructions to easily make your own sushi.

The following items are included in each sushi making kit package.
1. Yamasa Soy Sauce (12 0z)
2. Urashima Nori (10 sheets)
3. Nishiki Premium Rice
4. Mitsukan Powdered Rice Seasonings
5. Powdered Wasabi
6. Small packages of ginger (10)
7. Sushi Press Mold
8. Sushi Rolling Mat
9. 5 Pairs of chopsticks
10. Rice Paddle
11. Sushi Instructions

Order yours now from Catalina Offshore Products.