Fish-tales!
Saturday morning, as I was planning my dinner menu and a trip to Delano’s
Seafood in Waldoboro for some fish, the fish came to me! This is not to imply
some fanciful scenario, where a fish hopped up our front steps and announced
itself with a tap of a fin. Hallucinations do not manifest themselves on beautiful
sunny June mornings. Rather our friend Alfred, who takes good care of our lawn
and is an accomplished fisherman, arrived on our doorstep to generously share a
fish from his bounty.
It was a beautiful lake salmon, which unfortunately reminded of my own
love-hate relationship with fishing. The problem is, I am seriously
‘challenged’ in this endeavor. I love to go fishing, with the fresh air,
interesting scenery and the lack of guilty feeling for not doing something
strenuous, since fishing is an active verb. But to be honest, I have only
caught 3 things in my entire life.
Years ago in Pennsylvania, fishing with my sons, I managed to catch a catfish
so large, I was afraid to dislodge the hook from it’s mouth. Good to have sons
that are not so squeamish. The second incident occurred near the mouth of a
river in Oregon, I was standing on a large rock in the river, when with a
mighty yank I pulled up next to me on the rock – a large Dungeness crab, which
was waving his claws dangerously in my direction. While I contemplated wading
or leaping ashore, the crab sensibly let go of the hook and went back home.
Yes, I did catch a mountain lake trout in the Sierra’s once, but on closer
inspection it turned out that I had hooked the leader of another line that the
trout had managed to break. The salmon I caught in Katmai, Alaska don’t count.
They were running so thick that if you snagged one with a cast hook anywhere
above the gills, it was a legal keeper.
When we moved to Maine many years ago and bought a house on tidal Medomak, I
had high hopes for changing my fishing record. My husband obligingly would take
out our small boat at high tide and I would fish. The typical results of a
morning’s endeavor were 4 for the two ospreys fishing in the same area and 0
for me. At that point I gave up fishing and concentrated on recipes suited to
what was available locally at the fish store, or on the kindness of good
fishermen like Alfred.
Baked or grilled whole fish
This recipe can be used for 1- 1 ½ lb cleaned fish like lake salmon or trout or
a smaller middle section of a large fish. If the fish is frozen, thaw it first
in the refrigerator. Rinse the fish inside and out and dry with paper towels.
Rub inside with salt and a little pepper. Line the cavity with: 1 thinly sliced
lemon, and sprigs of thyme, parsley, chives, oregano and celery tops. Use
skewers to pin the two halves partially closed. Place the fish on an oiled pan
with sides and lay the fish on several pieces of celery as a rack. Baste the
fish with 2-3 Tblsp. melted butter and bake at 400 degrees for about 12 - 15
minutes, or until the flesh is barely opaque. Remove from oven and allow to sit
for 5-10 minutes before removing the herbs. Serve whole with lemon slices on
top.
The fish can also be baked at lower temperature, like 300 degrees for 25
minutes, but in that case carefully pour in the pan around the fish ¼ cup
orange juice mixed with some chopped thyme, pepper and orange zest and cover
the pan tightly with aluminum foil.
The fish served with basmati rice and some grilled asparagus is bound to please
even a person accomplished in fishing.
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