Uni is in!!

Live fresh Local Sea Urchin. UNI!!

So how to clean and get at the yummy goodness inside? Read on, and we'll explain how to open and clean an UNI.

First.Buy a nice Uni. Now typically the heavier the Uni, the more inside. However, it still can be like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get.

This is going to be a little longer post, but I think it's worth it to check out the steps. It's pretty easy to get your own fresh uni and clean them yourself! Sushi on folks!

Start with one large, heavy uni

Turn the uni over. WEAR GLOVES!! The urchin's spines aren't too hard to
deal with, but they will stain your hands & fingers. Search for the mouth. 

Cut all the way around the Mouth or beak of the urchin. If the center falls
into the cavity, don't worry we'll retrieve it later.

Looking inside, you should be able to see the Yellow clusters around the
inside of the shell. We're looking at the Urchin gonads here...

Usually there are 5 lobes within the shell. Using kitchen shears or a knife,
cut BETWEEN the lobes, about halfway down the sides of the urchin.

Gently pry the halves open, exposing the lobes, and the inside "waste".
Usually urchins eat live rock, coral, algae, so this is a slimy mess inside.

To make extracting the lobes easier, usually gently separating the shells
into sections is best. Take care not to break apart the lobes as much as
possible. These are usually fairly soft.

Some lobes, will fall out easily. with a good slotted spoon, we'll clean these
off and rinse. I'll get to that in a bit...

Gently work with a good slotted spoon between the shell of the urchin and
the lobe, scraping the shell as close as possible. This is a fairly easy step.

By working from top down to the bottom, the roe will end up resting on
the spoon as you go. You can hold the shell in one hand, and guide the
spoon with the other. Doing this fast is a sure way to damage the lobe
if your not seasoned at this step.

It should end up on the spoon mostly, some membranes will hold, but
those can be gently pinched off. You should only try and extract and
rinse one lobe at a time.

Under gently running COLD water, rinse off the particles that cling to the
lobe of the uni. Pull off any attached membrane, and rinse the "roe" itself.
Try to get as much clean water to flush any residue.

Continue to rinse until the lobe is nice and clean, gently pull off any
membranes that are stuck in the creases near the bottom. These
are very bitter and not tasty!!

If you have a nice tray or plate, put slightly damp paper towels down to
rest your cleaned uni lobes until your ready to use or eat them.
This will help any additional water drain off, and make them a little easier
to handle.  

not fish

Since I'm getting real tired of seeing that last old post... I'm adding something new.  I haven't been doing much cooking lately, but I did make a couple Plum Tortes tonight - using the Italian Prunes that people are giving me!

Smokey fish... but only slightly

So I do this kind of crazy thing.  I should preface this by saying: I sometimes feel like a little alder smoked salmon.  When I was younger, much younger, I liked the salmon at Ivar's Salmon House. I don't care much for it now... too dry. I've tried using smoker bags, the ones you find in many seafood departments in grocery stores, but those tend to cook smaller pieces of fish too much, too fast.  I'm only one person.

Here is my little experiment for today.

3/4 lb. Sockeye (1-1/4" at its thickest point) - lightly season with salt, pepper, & paprika.

Place some alder chips into a sturdy piepan (I think mine was originally from Marie Callender's) . Cover with heavy duty foil, seal it up, and indent a bit around the inner edge to catch any released juices.
Poke about 8-10 small holes around that inner edge of the indented foil with the pointy side of a bamboo skewer.
Place seasoned fish on foil.
Cover with another piece of foil and seal well.
Turn stove burner (I have electric) to medium high heat.
Place pietin directly on burner.  Wait a minute or 2, then turn heat down to medium low.
Time it for about 13-15 minutes.

The end result was moist, had a light smokey tinge in flavor, and the fish retained its wonderful color. I was pleased.

I ate half before it occured to me that I should taken a picture!  Here's the best I could do.

pig roast pig roast yummy yummy pig roast...

I went, I watched, I ate....   and I fried smelt!

Little Lake Smelt from Canada.  You can find them in the freezer section at The Store.  Very affordable at $2.99/lb.

Dust with seasoned flour:
1 cup flour
1 Tblsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 hefty dash of cayenne

Then fry 

Serve with lemon wedges

















I did say I went to a Pig Roast...!

In Store Specials 07.19.2012

Only until next Monday (7/23) LIVE DUNGENESS CRAB is on sale!

$4.99 per lbs. Live
$5.99 per lbs. Cooked

One of the best prices in town at the moment! And on top of that we've got some nice sized ones too!
2+ lbs.! Sweet!!

I made a great Dungeness Crab Orzo.

Dungeness Crab - shelled out, meat only.
Marinated Artichoke Hearts
Fresh Asparagus
Cherry tomatoes

Recipe and Picts coming!! Yummy!

I'm goin to a pig roast I'm goin to a pig roast

I love a pig roast... yum yum yum.  What am I gonna make?  Just wait and see!

How to clean Ocean Smelt

Gotta run, but wanted to post quickly the pictures of cleaning Ocean Smelt

UPDATE!!

So To start! Get a very sharp knife - I'm using my filet knife here. Cut from the anal opening through the belly and up to the gills. Cut all the way through belly.

 

Next cut behind the pectoral fin angled from the top of the head to the belly. Have the knife touch the backbone, but DON'T CUT THROUGH the backbone. DO BOTH SIDES!

Grip the top of the head of the smelt, and flatten slightly from top. You should be able to see the backbone through the meat on the top of the head. place thumb inside and slowly separate the backbone downward torwards the belly cavity.

Gripping the head in one hand and the backbone in the other - pull apart slowly. This can also be done under a trickle of water to rinse at the same time! :) You will usually have all the rib bones and pinbones coming out at the same time. I usually leave the guts in as well, as these come out at this time cleanly anyway! 

Tada! One fillet of Smelt. I don't cut all the way through the anal fin to the tail, as it give a nice little handle of sorts when your going to fry these. Also nice to be able to bite up to a certain point too. Like good finger hors D'oeuvers, you need something to grab!

Top of the fillet. 

New Fresh Fish in THE STORE! 07/06/2012

Hey All,
Just in today 400 lbs. of Washington Coast Albacore Tuna!

Sweet!! They are beautiful, nice meat, and tasty!!

Pictures to come soon!

UPDATE: 07.09.2012

Pictures of our Fresh Tuna! Whoo hoo!! Fresh Sashimi!

Fresh in 07.03.2012

The latest fresh Fish in to the STORE!


We got our first shipment of Fresh Ocean Smelt today! These are smaller silvery fish that are about 6 inches in length and 1 to 1 1/2 inches diameter. These can easily be cleaned and pan fried. Actually, I usually hear that is how most people eat these smaller fish. I've never tried it personally, perhaps I need to this season.


There are some pretty interesting facts about this fish, but I find this the most intriguing.


-They are also known as "Candlefish" This nickname comes from the fact that the smelt are so full of oil that when dried, placed upright, and lit, the fish would burn from end to end like a candle. 
(I want to try that...but I think that wouldn't be a very pleasant fragrance )

There are some nice historic references found here. Also included is a basic recipe.


Looks like these have also been recently tagged as being a threatened species. Particularly here in the North West.
Info. about that here.


Also in are Fresh Iwashi, or Sardines!

These I've had, but only grilled like Saba, Mackerel. While that is tasty, it's hard to avoid all the little bones! 
Iwashi Shoyuyaki is a pretty common Japanese way to prepare this fish.


So that's in and Fresh these days! Stop By!


On a completely different note, I will try and locate the download cable to my digital camera to add pictures to all this stuff. Hang on! should be coming soon!

Spam Musubi Fiasco

So at THE STORE on Sat. we were supposed to have a Spam musubi making class.

No one came!!

Felt bad for the person who organized the whole thing, so I ended up creating a few Spam musubi for demonstration purposes.

I guess they should have had Mar/Com promote the class a bit more. Ya'think?

Father's Day Dinner!

Missed a few days...so we'll catch up!

Made Black Bean Clams and En Papillote Kinki Rockfish.

Both are great, and can be easily done at home.

For the Kinki -
Basically salt and white pepper the fish to taste.
Put fish on a bed of julliened fresh ginger and scallions.
Add a little Michiu (Chinese cooking wine) and tightly seal in a pouch made of aluminum foil

Place on a cookie sheet to catch any leaks and bake about 20 (give or take depending on size of your Rockfish)

Once the pouch puffs up a bit, the fish is most likely done. Cut open with knife taking care to avoid the released steam.

Enjoy!

This can be done with any number of white, sweeter flakey fish.

Sometimes you just feel like a little fried food for dinner

...and tonight these were the 2 likely suspects.  Ebi fry: What can I say?
Take 'em out of the package, drop into heated oil, and they're ready to eat in less than 5 minutes.  Sure beats the 3-step breading process (flour, egg, panko) - and the dirtying of dishes!

The same goes for the croquettes.  Think, one big poofy tater tot!!!
Into the same oil they go, and a few minutes later, <voila!> it's DINNER.

We're starting up!!

Well here we go! Finally up and running. So we decided to make our first post somewhat related to
"who we are" and explain the header. Kasuzuke is a traditional Japanese dish made by pickling fish or vegetables in sake lees, known as sake-kasu. Sake kasu is the rice mash used in sake production.

In this case we are referring to a popular dish, Gindara Kasuzuke, translated: Black Cod Kasuzuke.
Most recipes for making the marinade are similar, but the best I've found and tried is below.

INGREDIENTS
1-2 lbs. Fish Fillets - Black Cod, Salmon (FRESH!!) Snapper or Chilean Sea Bass. I like SKIN ON, BUT SCALED!!
1/2 cup Sake Kasu
2 Tbsp. Sake
3 Tbsp. Mirin (Sweet Cooking Sake)
1/4 cup Warm (room temp) Water
3 Tbsp. Brown sugar

1/4 Tbsp. ground fresh ginger (OPTIONAL)
or
2 Tbsp. White Miso Paste (OPTIONAL)

This will coat well about 1.5 lbs (680 gms) fish. I suggest playing around with the brown sugar in case you like it a little less sweet (or more sweet depending on your taste). If you use regular white sugar, cut the amount by 1/2 or else you'll make fish candy.

DIRECTIONS
With your fish, gently salt and let sit at least 1 hour. Overnight in a sealed container is best. Pat fish dry before applying the Kasu mixture.

Start by mixing the Sake, Mirin, and Brown Sugar. Lightly stir to get the sugar to start dissolving in the liquid. 

Add the Sake Kasu and mix.

Add the water last, mixing a little at a time, to blend the paste into a consistency much like paper mache paste. 

Apply to fish with a spatula or spoon. Be generous with your marinade!! I like to put fillets in Plastic Ziplock baggies and get as much air out as I can. I leave them in the back of the fridge for 2-3 days. I've also frozen them this way as well.

COOKING
Kasuzuke is best broiled or grilled. If you are grilling, make sure you have a fish wire or basket, otherwise you might have bits falling into the fire!

I start usually in the oven or toaster oven, skin side up. I'll let that brown, to caramelize a little, and then flip to the meat side up.
I'll finish that way, checking on the fish until golden or a nice color has developed and check for cooking completion.

If the fish is not quite cooked, I'll close the oven and leave in for 5 to 7 minutes checking to see if the meat flakes well.

That's it! Take that out and eat!!