Fish - Many Ways!
03 January 2016 | Bahia Tenacatita, Mexico
Deanna
On New Year's Day, we left our favourite anchorage of Tenacatita to head to town for fresh provisions in Barra de Navidad. We followed our good friends onboard s/v Harmony, so we could benefit from their local knowledge of "going through the gap," a tight passage between some steep, ragged rocks (as pictured). Just as Harmony entered the narrowest part of the passage, we saw a large shiny fish jumping in front of our boat. Indeed, a big Dorado was attached to Harmony's long fishing line running behind their boat. The fish thrashed vigorously; however, the gang on Harmony got their catch after much excitement and hard work. And later, they generously shared a large portion of their Dorado with us. Wow - it's exciting to see your dinner being caught - seafood doesn't get much fresher than that. Moreover, we appreciated getting a bag of fully cleaned and portioned filets ready for cooking.
Mark and I aren't really fish people. Although I often order fish when out for lunch or dinner, it's not a staple in our house or onboard Speakeasy. Mark abhors the "fishy smell" and I dislike the messy process that must take place once the hooked fish is brought onboard. We've enjoyed having friends do some fishing onboard, and they've also prepared and cooked the fish wonderfully; however, our knowledge, skills and desire to fish and cook it up could use some beefing up, so to speak. With a 20-30 day sea passage nearing and rumours of very expensive groceries in the South Pacific, I have been wanting to bone up on my fish cooking skills - the fresh Dorado was the perfect opportunity to do so.
After reviewing all my onboard recipes books, including my galley cookbooks which devote many pages to fish, I opened up the test kitchen and prepared the Dorado five ways. The first was a simple saut in butter, garlic and onion - nothing ever tastes bad slathered in these three ingredients - but like most newbies, I sauted too long and the fish was dry. Next, I tried another saut and I cheated by coating the fish in Montreal Steak Spice, which tastes good on everything as well - a very quick saut with less than a minute on the second side, and the Dorado was flaky and moist. Next, I followed a pan fry recipe, which has the fish lightly coated in egg and then herbed flour - again, just a minimal fry time in the oiled pan created a tasty result. Finally, two separate pieces of fish were marinaded for four hours before being microwaved. Although my cilantro lime dorado was dry perhaps due to the pre-cooking that happens in lime juice, the teriyaki marinaded fish was pro bably the best, while extremely quick to cook and full of flavour. Next time we get fish onboard, I plan to test oven and grill recipes. Your favourite recipes would be most appreciated!
In keeping with our fish theme, on January 2nd we anchored in an area nicknamed the Aquarium. The water was exceptionally clear and the preferred snorkelling area was within swimming distance of Speakeasy. For the first time this season, we donned flippers, googles and snorkels, swam out and peered into the deep waters below. As always, sea life puts on a very colourful show - long snouted yellow fish, tiny iridescent blue fish, puffy brown and white fish and spiny sea urchins. Reminding myself to slow down my breathing, I consciously viewed the delightful variety of sea life below the waterline. What a treat it is to appreciate fish in the kitchen and in their home above the ocean floor.