Friday, November 12, 2010

The most delicious fish I think I've ever had

Yep, you read that right.  FISH.  I loved it.  Generally I'm not the biggest seafood fan, but tonight something went right at dinner time.  The Smith family gave us some fresh caught walleye and since it hadn't been frozen, we decided to cook some up for supper tonight.  I looked up a few recipes not really knowing what to do with it....I even started cooking rice with no plan for the fish.  I soaked it in milk for about an hour, made sure all the pinbones were out, and came across a recipe that looked good.  It was a simple seasoned bread crumb coating with a few other spices thrown in there...onion powder, parsley, salt and pepper.  I pan-fried it with a little bit of vegetable oil and steamed a bunch of broccoli in the microwave while it cooked. 
Violet asked me as I was bustling around the kitchen, "What are you making for supper?"  I told her, "Rice, broccoli, and fish."  She wrinkled up her nose and waved her hand in front of her face and said "Yuck, I don't like fish."  I said, "how do you know that?  You've probably never had it like this."   She shrugged and just went off to play.  Calvin then came up to me a few minutes later and asked what I was making.  I gave him the same answer.  He said "Oh! Is dat the fish right dere?" pointing to the dish with the raw fish on it.  I said "yep!" and he said "oh!" and ran off.  Apparently he hadn't associated fish with yucky yet.
When supper was ready, I put the fish on the table, and we served it up on their plates.  Calvin immediately started scooping up bites and shoveling them in his mouth, and in 30 seconds his section of the plate with the fish on it was cleared.  I offered him more and I got an enthusiastic nod.  He ate even more than his first serving.  Violet was observing his behavior so she started eating hers, and with in seconds, the soft tender fish was gone from her plate too.  She said to me "Mom, can I have more chicken please?" I said, "Sure! But its fish, remember?" She got a very puzzled look on her face, and said "I'm relieved because I thought you were making REAL fish!" Which made us all laugh.  I told her "Violet, this IS real fish!"  And I had to explain that we didn't eat the whole fish with the eyes, fins and tail, but everything else was cut off and we ate the meat, just like other animals.  She lost interest in my explanation and thoroughly enjoyed her fish.  Dave and I liked it too.  I don't think I have ever eaten freshly caught fish like that before, it has always been frozen and thawed.  Either way...it had been a LONG time since we served seafood for a family meal and tonight's result made me want to include it weekly!

2 comments:

  1. Delightful story!

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  2. hi Maria this is mom...
    I was blessed to go to my grandparents lake cabin almost every Sunday or weekend through the summer and my grandfather's FAVORITE thing to do was catch fish...and only walleye or Northern Pike was acceptable. He'd prepare the fish to fry in his "fish house" and totally pulled the bones out in one piece in the process. Grandma would soak it in milk for an hour before frying it in butter with salt and pepper...no other seasoning and it was always delicious...a Sunday treat.
    After that we'd have an ice-cream Sunday creation grandpa would make and he'd top the generous scoops with just about anything available...even ketchup!
    I'm glad you all enjoyed the fish!!
    If you're interested, I have a super easy fish recipe that is good for all types of fillets.Mom

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