I Wrote You A Poem

Hey Y'all,

It's Daylight Savings Time this weekend! Yay! Let's have a party at the neighborhood pool this weekend! Isn't it time for the beach? Get out the sunscreen! Where are my shorts?

Fin Mail

I am so thankful that Amy sent me this note and recipe. I don't get many recipes for side dishes that are perfect for seafood and this one is just that!

Hi Kathleen,

Though it’s not Lent yet, I wanted to have the Verlasso salmon tonight that I picked up at your John’s Creek store. So glad I did!

I baked the salmon (with salt/pepper, garlic powder, dill and a bit of olive oil), roasted the brussel sprouts and had some Greek inspired cooked chick peas. I didn’t like chick peas until I had these made by my friend who is from one of the Greek islands (see recipe below)!

I rarely take pictures of my meal but this was an exception. Thanks to Kathleen’s Catch and Elena, I had the best meal of the week.

Amy

Greek inspired Chick Peas Cooked in Tomatoes

Ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup dry chickpeas or 2 cans cooked chickpeas
1 small onion chopped
¼ cup olive oil
1 carrot chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 can of chopped tomatoes (16 ounces)
½ teaspoon sugar
salt/pepper to taste
Chopped parsley

Instructions

1. If you are using dry chickpeas, soak them overnight. Rinse and put in a pot, add water so the beans are covered by about 3 inches and the bay leaf. Cook for about an hour until the beans are soft. Halfway through cooking add the chopped onion, pepper and carrot.
2. If you are using canned chickpeas, you can just boil the carrots, pepper and onion for about 20 minutes and drain.
3. Once the chickpeas are cooked, drain them along with the other vegetables and set aside.
4. In a pan heat the olive oil, and sauté the chickpea mixture for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and sugar and mix well and let it simmer for about 15 minutes until all liquids has been absorbed. You can add small amounts of hot water if needed during the cooking.
5. Remove from heat. Add salt and pepper and sprinkle with some parsley

Thanks, Amy, for this delicous sounding recipe.

Now for a little about chickpeas:

I have had a mixed relationship with chickpeas. My very first job was at a Western Sizzlin back in the day when salad bars were all the rage. My job was to keep the salad bar full. Garbanzo beans came in a #10 can. I didn't like them. I did, however, love chickpeas.  

An Ode to Chickpeas

Garbanzo beans from a jar
on the Sizzlin steakhouse salad bar.
Oh no, oh no I am not a fan
I do not like beans from a can.

Chickpeas are delicious
and oh so nutritious.
But garbanzos are icky
and funky and stinky.

What? You proclaim!
They are the same!!
They are both appetizing!
Well, that is rather surprising!

It just goes to show

who am I to know?
Garbanzos and chickpeas
Why yes, I'll have more please.

Also in my fin mail I found Lou Hiers' ideas on the best way to cook salmon.

Hi Ya’ll,
This is the third time I have cooked salmon in my air fryer and unless I decide to smoke some I will not cook it any other way. I set my air fryer to 390 degrees, the max for my unit, and when it reaches that I add the salmon that I have seasoned with Emerills or some other seafood seasoning (ed: Helloooo - Kathleen's Catch seasonings are fresh and great on salmon!). The air fryer really is just a new name for a convection oven and it cooks the salmon perfectly. Moist and done all the way thru at 10 minutes at 390. Cheers!

I love these three pictures that show off how gorgeous our salmon is raw and cooked!

Some Cool Fish This Weekend

• Striped bass from Rhode Island
• Golden Tile from (Two Jerks Seafood in Jupiter, FL -- really)
• King Clip (good for seafood stews, very white, sweet, holds together well)
• Monkfish (best tasting ugly fish ever. Poor man's lobster.)
• Red snapper from Madiera Beach, Florida
• Arctic Char from Iceland -special price of $16.25/lb this weekend only
• Icelandic cod - extra big fillets. Pretty white flakey fillets

By special order only (order Friday for Saturday delivery)

• Pompano from Naples, FL
• Opah from California

This Weekend We are Stuffing It!

We have a batch of fresh crab stuffing that we are stuffing fish with. Pick up some stuffed fish stuffed with stuffing or just pick up some stuffing to stuff your stuffed fish with. (I have been waiting all week to write that sentence using the same word for an adjective, a verb and a noun.)

Catch to Go

Through Sunday, in honor of this week's Mardi Gras, Catch to Go is New Orleans Shrimp Creole. By the way, I heard that on Wednesday, the city of New Orleans retrieved 93,000 lbs of beads from the storm drains in a five block area following Mardi Gras parades.

Next week starting Monday, the ever-popular Honey Jalapeno Salmon with Spinach, Black Beans and Corn Salad.

And Finally
So here we are at the start of Lent. Just when we managed to forget all those New Year's resolutions, we are hit with sacrifices for Lent. No matter who you are or what you believe in, you have to agree that taking a personal inventory every now and then is not a bad idea. Just keep in mind that, even if you didn't quite manage all those resolutions from the beginning of the year, today is a new day! And keep in mind that if you encounter some obstacles on your path to perfection, well, that's a good thing. After all, if you have made it to perfection, you are dead.

Here's to an imperfect life.

Blessings,
Kathleen