Cudos, Fish Ladders and What's Good This Week

Dear Fish Fans,

I sent out a few customer emails after the holidays to make sure that all seafood holiday meals went as planned. For the most part, everything went very well! I thought I would share this email from Jamye Swick about her holiday meals because I am very very proud of the role we are playing in keeping our customers stress-free and healthy.

Hi Kathleen,

As you can see I have started the New Year a bit behind. I did want to tell you
that my Christmas order was terrific and we decided to start a new tradition
of cold seafood pick up buffet during Christmas Day instead of
pulling out the china and crystal for the ham or turkey.

My New Year's order was great too. I picked up your Cioppino recipe kit
for 8 on Tuesday. The girls packed all up for me in ice and I headed to our
house in Big Canoe. Wednesday we had 3 couples come up and join us for
Cioppino New Year's Eve dinner. I used the recipe Sara emailed me and
all came out grand!

Having all the seafood all ready to go (I even had you shell the shrimp)
made attempting this new recipe less intimidating and helped this
"not so great" cook willing to dive in. I got rave reviews! Just served
thick slice Italian bread to dip in Cioppino broth and Gelato for desert. 

With out a doubt, since you opened your shop, Michael and I are
eating sooooo much more fish than we used to.
Thanks for helping us be more healthy!!

Jamye

More About Atlantic Salmon

When I wrote last week about the disintegration of the wild Atlantic salmon population, I tried to be brief and not overwhelm you with too much detail. In fact, I think my post was misleading in that it appears that I was faulting fishermen for the collapse of the fishery. The biggest culprit in the collapse was the construction of dams all along the rivers that were breeding grounds for the fish. Once the dams were built, the salmon could no longer reach their spawning areas to reproduce. It might be too late for the Atlantic salmon population, but one way the Pacific stock is being protected is by fish ladders. Here is a picture of a salmon making its way up the ladder next to the Nimbus Dam near Folsom, California.

And just because I have never seen this in real life and think that wild salmon are some of the most interesting creatures on earth, here's another salmon picture. It's an awesome sight, isn't it?

'Tis Not The Season
The season for halibut ended in November but we are getting some beautiful Pacific halibut that was frozen at sea. It's very close to the quality of our fresh halibut and a treat during the winter months when halibut used to be unavailable. Give it a try!

This Week's Specials
Two great fish at great prices. I just couldn't choose between them:

Fluke Flounder - $11.65/lb

Alaskan cod - $9.99/lb

Something New On Our Shelves
Check out the gorgeous dishware we have on display. It's hand-painted and perfect for serving your next seafood dinner. Let us know what you think.

Catch to Go
Why not give yourself a break one or two (or four) nights this week and let us do the work for you? These meals are so much better than restaurant take-out because they are hot and fresh right out of the oven. All you do is preheat the oven and bake!

Lemon Rosemary Salmon with Roasted Potatoes

Hoisin Glazed Cod with Asparagus

Mango Grouper over Coconut Rice

Ginger Sea Bass with Wilted Greens

Whole Fish This Week
Stuff with lemon slices and fresh herbs and bake or grill. Delicious!

Flounder

Black Bass

Oysters This Week
(We shuck 'em for $.25)

Duxbury (my favorite - big and salty)

Sewansecott

Blue Point

Sweet Jesus

Kumamoto (from the west coast)

Pocomoke

Discount Freezer

Rockfish - a pretty little flatfish

Barramundi - pick up a recipe card when you get this fish

Rainbow Trout

Black Drum

Catfish

Kampachi

And Finally
The last few days have been lifesavers. Dropping spring-like weather right smack dab in the middle of winter is simply a gift. The cold and wet was getting to me and I was desperate for fresh air and sunshine. We still have a ways to go before we get the spectacular spring for which Atlanta is famous. But after the last few days, I think I just might make it until April. The world looks like a much better place when you are squinting in the warm sun, doesn't it?

Blessings,
Kathleen

Jeanette Gilmore Can Cook Your Dinner, My Best Seafood Dinner Yet and A Boy and His Dog

Hey Fish Friends,

Winter is not my favorite time of year.  In the summer I can start off these notes with a recap of some fun hike I took or a party in the backyard or swimming with my grandkids.  In the winter it's much harder.  Let's see, I hiked around the neighborhood sidewalk two times a day every day (boring).  And I stayed inside and built Lego cars with my grandson (not boring - but not exactly a party in the pool) and the only thing I have done in the backyard in the last month is clean up puppy poop.   COME ON WARM WEATHER!

Peter Hall is a braggart.  Now don't get me wrong - I love Peter and his wife, Jeanette.  But sending me a picture of this meal is pushing the limits of acceptable behavior.  Granted, he is bragging on his wife's cooking, but please, Peter.  Not all of us get to eat this way.

 Chilean Sea Bass and Seared Scallops over Puréed Chickpeas 

with Sautéed Green Beans

Paired with a nice Pinot Blanc 

(that I am sure Peter purchased at Johns Creek Wine and Crystal)

I guess you can't blame him for bragging and guess what?   Jeanette can cook for you too.  It's simple.  Just send her an email at jeanettegilmore@bellsouth.net and ask her to put you on the email list for updates.  She'll let you know what she is cooking this week and you sign up for what sounds good.  Next to our Catch to Go meals, this is the easiest home-cooked meal in town.

Fun Fish For Sale
We have some interesting items in our seafood cases this week.  Locally caught tilefish (not as local as the Chattahoochee but as local as the Georgia coast) and triggerfish.   We also have what must surely be the last of the fresh shrimp for the season.  And they are big -16 to 20 in a pound.

Also kumamotos for the Pacific oyster lover (you know we sell more oysters than anyone else) and very tasty little blue crab cocktail fingers.

Last Week's Contest
Last week I gave you an opportunity to win a free lobster roll by figuring out the "oops" in the following article:

http://tracker.dailyburn.com/nutrition/fish_salmon_atlantic_wild_raw_3_oz_3_oz_85g_calories

Apparently I stumped you.  Thanks to you who took a shot, but nobody got it right.  You didn't have to open the link to see the mistake. The link address tells  you that the article is about "wild Atlantic salmon".  If you have been reading my blog or emails for a while, you might know that Atlantic salmon does not really exist in the wild.  The population was over-fished for so long that there is virtually none left.  It's a sad story about excess and greed and lack of concern for the future of our natural resources.  It is also a story about man's ingenuity in coming up with more and more efficient and effective ways to gather food - so much so that they gathered just about all the Atlantic salmon there was to get.  And its a story about fishermen doing what they can to feed their families.  It's dreadful in so many ways.

But, the bright side, if there is one, is that man's ingenuity is turning toward aquaculture and the future looks good for our children's children.  They will never see an Atlantic salmon in the wild, but they will continue to have the opportunity to eat one of the healthiest protein sources in the world because companies like Verlasso have learned the proper techniques for raising these fish in controlled environments.  

There are still species of wild salmon in the Pacific - kings (chinooks), sockeyes, coho and chums are plentiful out west.  In fact, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute just released numbers for the 2014 season which show that the wild sockeye salmon harvest broke all kinds of volume records. The sockeye harvest totaled 44 million fish in 2014 which was a 49% increase over 2013 numbers.

That is a lot of fish.

What I cooked For Dinner Last Night
Maria Riley special ordered some black cod (sable) last week.  When she stopped in to pick it up I asked her how she was going to prepare it so she sent me this recipe.  

Nobu's Miso-Marinated Black Cod

It took some advanced preparation.  First of all, you have to order the black cod.  Then you have to prepare the marinade and put the fish in the marinade for 2 to 3 DAYS. (!)  And the marinade had white miso paste which I finally found at Whole Foods.  

But OMG was it worth the time and trouble!  This was very likely the best seafood meal I have ever prepared.  

This was my side dish:  Sesame Noodles

A word about black cod - It's also called sable.  It has a high fat content and a soft, velvety texture.    It is extremely popular in Japan, making it more difficult to get here in the U.S.  I buy this fish whenever I can get it fresh, which is not often, but last night's dinner was a frozen-at-sea fish.  And it was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth delicious.  

Let me know if you want to give it a try.  I'll be placing another order soon for a repeat performance at my house.

This Week's Special
West Coast Dover Sole
 $11.99/lb
This mild, sweet, small fillet is every kid's favorite fish.


Catch to Go

Ginger Sea Bass over Wilted Greens

 (recipe compliments of Pam Ellis)

and

Mango-crusted Grouper with Coconut Rice

(it will remind you of a warm summer day)

In the Discount Freezer

Cod

Amberjack

Tilefish

Catfish

Redfish

Pollack

Branzino

Monkfish

Hamachi

Swordfish

Barramndi

Mahi

Corvina

Cobia

Kampachi

Black drum

Rainbow trout

Snapper

Black bass

West coast Dover sole

And Finally
On Sunday Mike and I were babysitting Joel while Sara was at work.  We were busy shampooing the carpet because we have a new puppy.   Nemo is almost 4 months old and Joel is almost 4 years old. They are at EXACTLY the same emotional/intellectual/mischief level.  I was moving some furniture to clean the carpet so I put the little fish tank on the floor just for a minute to get it out of the way.  Joel came along to "help" me and dumped the entire contents of the fish tank (fish and all) on the carpet.  Sayonara to the little blue fish I took home from the fishing village fundraising dinner in September, but thankfully I was already in the process of carpet cleaning anyway.

Mike came along to scoop up the dog and the boy and take them into our bedroom to get them out of my way.  After a while he reappeared in the doorway to tell me that things were not going well on his end.  The boy and the dog got out of his sight for a minute and he heard Joel squealing with laughter.  Joel was peeing on the bathroom floor and the dog was licking it up.  Gross.

Mike tossed Joel into the bath to wash off the pee.  I went for a towel and by the time I got back the dog was in the bath too and Joel and Nemo were splashing water all over the place.  Unfortunately, Nemo's very first obedience training class was in less than an hour so he was a sopping wet dog on the first day of school.

I know this doesn't have anything to do with the seafood business but at least there was a fish in the story.

Hope your week is less than chaotic.

Blessings,

Kathleen

Unwelcome Emails, Unwelcome Company and A Week Long Feast of Seven Fishes

Hi Fish Fans,

2015 is the year of technology for Kathleen's Catch.  We've got lots of ideas about how to make seafood shopping easier in 2015, but the first order of business is to get a handle on inadvertent email. By this I mean those two weird emails that accidentally got sent out over the last two weeks.   I really love our Christmas card this past year but there is no reason for me to send it out on a weekly basis.  I promise to do my best to get a handle on this blog and do things correctly.

If you were in our store on Christmas Eve and (let's face it, who wasn't?), you know that we had huge crowds!  All our best made plans went out the window when so many people came at the same time.  Luckily everyone seemed to handle the chaos pretty well, and there was holiday cheer to spare!.

Jim Daunais from Johns Creek Wine and Crystal sent me a picture of his Christmas Eve dinner.  I bet our rope-cultured black mussels from Prince Edward Island tasted just as good as they looked!

We sold boatloads of lobsters, mountains of cioppino kits and all kinds of fish to make up the Feast of Seven Fishes for your Christmas Eve dinners. At my house I am trying to do a week long Feast of Seven Fishes.  Here's my dinner plan for the week:

Monday -  Hawaiian Garlic Salmon
Tuesday - Rainbow Trout in Hazelnut Brown Butter (use up those leftover holiday nuts!)
Wednesday - Crab cakes from Kathleen's Catch
Thursday - Catch to Go Swordfish with Lemon Caper Sauce and Baked Zucchini
Friday - Oven Fried Catfish
Saturday - Beef fillets and lobster tails
Sunday - Seafood Stew

Why Eat FIsh?
I ate way too much over the holidays and now I am having to carry around some extra "company" on my hips - and I don't mean a new baby.  Everybody knows that to lose weight you have to cut back on calories, exercise more, drink less alcohol, drink more water and eat more fish.  But good healthy living is not all about the size of your jeans.  Here's a list of health benefits besides weight loss that are linked to eating seafood compiled from notable institutions such as the Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University and and other hospitals and universities worldwide:

The omega-3 fatty acids in seafood have been found to:

• Aid infant development
• Reduce childhood asthma
• Lower risk of breast cancer and curb breast cancer growth
• Protect against coronary disease, including sudden cardiac death, congestive heart failure, acute coronary syndrome
• Prevent stroke
• Reduce risk of age-related macular degeneration
• Slow progression of Alzheimer's disease
• Halt mental decline (My primary reason for eating fish)
• Reduce depression
• Reduce tissue inflammation and alleviate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis
• Improve overall health

Oops
Here's a contest for you:  One free lobster roll to the first person to comment on this blog with the problem (inaccuracy) found at this link:

http://tracker.dailyburn.com/nutrition/fish_salmon_atlantic_wild_raw_3_oz_3_oz_85g_calories

What's New This Week?
Triggerfish from North Carolina has a firm white flesh that is almost sweet in flavor - closer to crab than fish.  Besides being a delicious substitute for crab meat, they are interesting fish. The spiney fin of the trigger can be held in place by a second spine to make the fish  more threatening.  They back into a hole when they feel threatened and lock their trigger up so that it catches on the hole.  This keeps them from getting pulled out by predators.  And if they do get yanked out, swallowing those extended triggers is an unpleasant experience for a bigger fish.  

This week trigger is $24.99/lb.

This Week's Special

Petrale sole - it's a flatfish - thicker like flounder with the texture of West Coast Dover sole.
$10.99/lb

Epicurious for Petrale Sole with Lemon-Shallot Brussel Sprouts

from Epicurious

To prepare the brussel sprouts before cutting them, be sure to pull of the tough outer leaves.  Thin slicing and simple seasonings with convert those who aren't fans of brussel sprouts.  Petrale sole, a Pacific Coast fish, is prized for its delicate flavor and thick fillets.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper plus additional for seasoning
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 12 ounces petrale sole fillets
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
• 6 ounces Brussels sprouts, trimmed and thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh Italian parsley

PREPARATION

Combine flour, lemon peel, coarse salt, and 1/2 teaspoon white pepper in shallow bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in each of 2 large skillets over medium heat.  Coat fish in flour mixture and shake off excess.  Add fish to skillets and cook until opaque and golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side.  Remove from heat and season to taste with salt.  Cover loosely with foil and set aside.

Wipe out 1 skillet, add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and heat over medium heat.  Add shallots and saute until almost translucent, about 2 minutes.  Add Brussels sprouts and broth, increase heat to medium high and cook, stirring occasionally, until Brussels sprouts are tender and liquid is almost completely absorbed, about 8 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in butter,  Season to taste with salt and white pepper.

Spoon Brussels sprouts onto plates.  Top with fish.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Catch to Go
We have two selections this week:

Swordfish with Lemon Caper Sauce and Baked Zucchini

and

Chipotle Salmon with Pineapple Avocado Salsa 

In The Discount Freezer
What doesn't sell in two days gets vacuum sealed, frozen and sold at a discount.  

Pacific cod

Walleye

Grouper

Catfish

Halibut

Opah

Wreckfish

Pollack

Branzino

Wreckfish

Sheephead

Hake

Hamachi

Swordfish

Rainbow Trout

Barramundi

Black drum

Mahi

Covia

Corvina

Kampachi

Striped bass

Flounder

Snapper

Black bass

And Finally
My Christmas gift turned into my New Year's resolution.  There's no better encouragement for getting outside for a walk than big, brown, begging, puppy eyes. Even in these bitter cold temperatures, we are managing a few minutes every day outside for making poopsicles.

Here's to another successful year of fish selling!  We couldn't do it without you.  

Oh, and by the way, hope you got enough scarves, gloves, hats and heavy coats for Christmas.  You are going to need them this week.

Blessings,
Kathleen

Merry Christmas!

This and That for the Holidays

Dear Fish Elves,

We are into the countdown now.  Seven days to get it all finished and if we don't get it all done? Well, it's a good guess that no one will notice anyway.  Just do the best you can and then relax!  But keep in mind that spectacular food goes a long way toward making people overlook the things you didn't get accomplished. 

Nantucket Scallops
These beautiful little scallops are available fresh for a very short period of time during the year.  They are smaller than a sea scallop, bigger than a bay scallop and are known for being perfect to eat raw when they are fresh!  They are as sweet as my new puppy and they caramelize beautifully when heated.

Farm Raised Halibut
Great excitement greets the start of the wild halibut season in March as halibut is a favorite for almost every fish-eater.  Conversely, it's a sad day in November when the season ends. 

Suffer no more halibut mood swings!  We are now adding halibut to the list of beautiful farm raised fish we sell at Kathleen's Catch.  Halvard Leroy, the same people who farm our fabulous steelhead trout, are farming some beautiful halibut.    And at  $29.99/lb you can enjoy halibut year round.  This is a picture  we took of some of the halibut we are getting. Granted we are not photographers, but truly,  I've never seen halibut so pretty!

Stone Crab Claws
Nothing says Christmas in the south like stone crabs. Unlike many other crab species, stone crabs do not burrow, but rather hide among rocks or in sea grass beds.  They feed on small mollusks like oysters and other crustaceans. This week we are expecting to receive mediums (5-8 per lb), large (3-5 per lb), and jumbo (2-3 per lb) and maybe even a few colossal (under 2 per lb) and megas (9-14 oz per claw or larger) by the weekend. These huge claws are some of the most impressive we have ever seen!   It's Christmas! Let's celebrate! 

Fresh King Crab Legs
Came in from Dutch Harbor, Alaska last night and will be arriving in Johns Creek this afternoon!  You haven't had crab until you have eaten fresh king crab.

Woohoo Walleye!
Walleye from the Great Lakes - here in Johns Creek on Friday - $23.25/lb.  

Caviar

We have ten caviar options for this holiday season. A few of our favorites include:

UGA Ossetra Baeri.  ($80.00) This beautiful caviar is packaged in a 30 gram jar with the UGA emblem on the lid. It is sustainably raised in North Georgia by the University of Georgia Forestry Department. It has a very unique nutty flavor and ranges in color from golden to dark brown. 
 
American Hackleback ($36.75) comes in a 1 ounce jar. This American sturgeon roe is grey to black with a firm texture and mild, subtle flavor.

Trout Caviar ($16.25) and Smoked Trout Caviar ($25.45) are available in 2 ounce jars.This pristine caviar has a mild and delicate taste similar in flavor to salmon roe. The smoked option is slightly seasoned with sea salt and smoked using apple and cherry wood.

Caviar is best served as simply as possible, the food and drink that accompanies it should be slightly bland to never overwhelm or distract from it. Caviar goes further when served as an appetizer. Here are a few appetizer serving suggestions.

Toasted Brioche Rounds with Creme Fraiche and Caviar

1 one-pound loaf brioche, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 eight-ounce container creme fraiche or sour cream
2 ounces caviar, or more

1. Using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, cut 36 rounds of brioche from slices. Place 1
tablespoon butter in a 12-inch skillet. Melt over medium heat. Add half the rounds; cook
until golden, turning once, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining butter and
rounds. Let cool on a wire rack or paper towel. Store rounds in an airtight container at
room temperature for up to 2 days.

2. Place a dollop of creme fraiche on each round, and top with caviar.

Caviar Egg Dip

8 Hard boiled egg
3 ounces creme fraiche or chive cream cheese
Salt and pepper
Dry mustard
1 jar of caviar
Sour cream

Drain caviar well. Hard boil the eggs and chill.
Chop eggs and mix with chive cream cheese and season to taste
Place mixture in bottom of bowl you are going to serve it in. 
On top of egg layer, spread 1/2-inch thick layer of sour cream. Over sour cream, spread a well drained jar of caviar. 
Place in refrigerator overnight or for a few hours.

Marchetti International
Join us Saturday from 3:00 to 6:00 to sample some of these amazing balsamics and olive oils.  They make great gifts for the foodie in your life.

Cioppino kits
We are making cioppino kits to help you with your Feast of Seven Fishes.  
For $59.99 you get:
6 cups fish stock
1 dozen clams
1 lb mussels
1 lb shrimp
1.5 lb cod or salmon

For $13.99 add 1 lb 10/20 calico scallops
For $26.99 add 1 lb regular lump crab meat

Gift Baskets
Looking for the perfect gift for the seafood lover in your family? Well, we've got you covered! We have put together a couple different varieties of gift baskets for you to choose from:

- The Grill Basket includes: 2 alder wood planks, lemon bags, Kathleen's Catch Seafood seasoning, Rub With Love Seafood Rub and Rub With Love Salmon Rub for $39.99.

- The Italian Basket includes: Vigo linguine, Arborio rice, Kathleen's Catch Tuscan Smoke Herb Blend seasoning, Robert Rothschild Garlic Caper Picatta sauce, and mini Marchetti olive oil and balsamic vinegar for $39.99.

- The Sushi Basket includes: Sushi Chef panko, sushi rice, pickled ginger, wasabi powder, nori, and white sesame seeds, organic soy sauce and a sushi rolling mat for $39.99.

- The Fish Fry Basket includes: Zatarain's Fish Fri (original and seasoned), Kathleen's Catch Cajun seasoning, Old Bay, Red Robot hot sauce, and Kelchner's tartar sauce for $29.99.

Each gift basket includes a $10.00 gift certificate to Kathleen's Catch.

Fresh Shrimp
Fresh shrimp coming this weekend from Brunswick, GA.

Special Orders
We are taking special orders for all kinds of holiday treats.  Live lobsters and lobster tails, cioppino kits, fish, shrimp, caviar, scallops, jars of oysters for chowder, snow crab cocktail claws, all kinds of platters, soups, Surf and Turf dinners, king crab legs, stone crab and lots more!

Have you placed your order yet?

This Week's Special
Yellowfin Tuna - $7.25 per six ounce portion.  It looks like this:

Not too shabby, eh?

And Finally,
I'm probably not going to get a chance to write any more before the holiday crunch really gets going.  Did you know that Christmas Eve is actually our busiest day of the year?  I'm going to send out my Christmas card a little later in the day but I wanted to be sure, before I get too distracted by work, that I tell you from the bottom of my heart how much I appreciate your friendship and your business.  And even if you don't celebrate Christmas or you don't celebrate it the same way I do, I hope it's okay for me to send you my very best wishes for a peaceful and joyful season.  There is so much turmoil in the world.  Let's all wish and pray for peace on earth.  We could start something really good right here in Johns Creek.

Blessings,
Kathleen

Pups, Platters and the Feast of Seven Fishes

Dear Fish Friends,

Happy Holidays!!!  I  know you, like me, are scratching your head that it is already mid-December!   I am very blessed to see my grandchildren every day; but sometimes I stop to look at them and think, "When did they get so big?"

A new way to gauge the passage of time at our house is to watch this guy grow.

He's my new pup and the very best Christmas gift I ever got for myself!   A mixed breed rescue; his mom, believe it or not, was a shih tzu so his daddy must have been a border collie.  He already had a name when we got him and I guess we could have changed it to something we might have liked better.  But when a fishmonger adopts a dog named Nemo, well, you just have to go with it.

Fin Mail
From  Facebook friends:

The lobster rolls, shrimp, oyster stew and corn crab chowder are D-lecious! Thanks so much, Kathleen! This seafood market has got to be Atlanta's best kept secret. Everything looked so fresh! We will be back for sure!

Jon Anderson

From email friends:

Hi Kathleen + Crew!

I HAVE to have your recipe for the salmon quinoa cakes -- they sound (and look) AMAZING! What will it take for you to share the recipe (I imagine it is Sara I need to bribe??) If not Sara, tell me who I need to butter up!

Love y'all,
Amanda Gustin

Party Planning

Have you ordered your party tray yet?

Smoked Salmon Platters

Shrimp Trays

Hot Smoked Seafood 

Christmas Eve Feast!
The Feast of Seven Fishes is an Italian Catholic tradition.  Many Catholics abstain from meat on Christmas Eve, as they do on many other days throughout the year.  Now, before you object to the next comment, let me say that I am a Catholic and have done my share of abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent.  It's a period of repentance and you are supposed to sacrifice.  What strikes me as a bit ironic is calling a seafood meal a sacrifice!  In fact, the Feast of Seven Fishes is the opportunity to indulge yourself in seafood!   The idea is to eat seven different sea foods in your meal on Christmas Eve.  Why seven?  No one knows for sure why but a few suggestions are  that seven is the most repeated number in the Bible and appears more than 700 times. Seven also is the number representing completion, or it could involve the creation story, the seven Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, the seven hills of Rome, even the seven deadly sins! The number seven is also the number of perfection which, we can all agree, is a Feast of 7 Fishes.

Coming up with 7 seafood items for one meal is not very difficult.

1.    How about a seafood appetizer? You could pick from crab artichoke dip served with  goldfish crackers (this could count as two seafood servings) or a shrimp cocktail or a serving of snow crab cocktail claws with cocktail sauce.

2.    For a salad - fresh lobster meat or Kathleen's Catch lobster salad over mixed greens

3.     Kathleen's Catch fresh crab cakes

4.    Cod bouillabaisse

5.    Cioppino with mussels, clams and shrimp

6.     Brown Sugar Chili Cured Salmon by Jim Malaby from Blue Plate Restaurant in Mullica Hill, New Jersey

Ingredients

6, 6 ounce cut salmon filets

2-2 1/2 fingerling potatoes (boiled in well salted water, then chilled)

1 ounce chives (chopped)

6 ounces extra virgin olive oil

Brown Sugar-Chili Cure

2 teaspoon paprika

4 teaspoon cumin seed

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons oregano

4 teaspoons garlic powder

½ cup light brown sugar

¼ cup kosher salt

Method

Take all the ingredients for the Brown Sugar Cure and mix them together.

Using the Brown Sugar Cure, dust each salmon filet, coating them totally, set aside for 20 minutes

While salmon is resting, add chives and olive oil to blender. Puree smooth, set aside.

Taking the palm of your hand, smash each fingerling potato. In a deep skillet with ½ of canola oil heated to medium heat, fry potatoes till golden crispy brown. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.

In additional skillet with 2 tablespoons of canola at medium heat, add salmon filets. Cook until a rich golden red color then turn over and cook additional 4-6 minutes to desire doneness.

Serve with crispy fingerling potatoes and chive oil.

7.  And for dessert?   Swedish fish of course.

Cioppino Kit for 6
To make the Seven Fishes easy for you, for the holidays we are offering a cioppino kit for 6.

6 cups fish stock

1 dozen clams

1 lb mussels

1 lb shrimp

1.5 lb either cod or salmon

$59.99

Add 1 lb regular lump crab meat - $26.99

Add 1 lb calico scallops - $13.99

This Week's Special
West Coast Dover Sole - $9.59/lb.  Because West Coast Dover sole is a flounder, it works great in any flounder recipe.

Sauteed Flounder with a Spicy Remoulade

This recipe is especially easy if you just buy our awesome remoulade sauce instead of making your own.

In the Discount Freezer
As you know, if fish stays in our case for two days it gets vacuum sealed, frozen and sold at a 20% discount.  Stock up for the busy days surrounding the holidays.  And if you need help cooking frozen fish, check out the rack of recipes next to the discount freezer.  You will find many ways to cook fish from its frozen state.

This week we have swordfish, tuna, snapper, salmon, hamachi, steelhead, Hawaiian garlic salmon, Arctic char, amberjack, monkfish, wahoo, wreckfish, pollack, cod, haddock, hake, drum, opah, branzino, tilefish, triggerfish, sheephead, flounder, rainbow trout, corvina, catfish, cobia, rockfish, kampachi, black bass, barramundi, mahi, and striped bass.

This Week's Catch to Go
You know we are serving Catch to Go every day now, right?  We change the meal every week - this week we are offering

Marinated Shrimp Skewers
Over Orange Parsley Rice

and

Parmesan Caesar Glazed Dover Sole
with Baked Squash and Zucchini

And Finally,
Sometimes life spins so fast we can hardly keep our feet on the ground.  I, for one, have to make conscious decisions to slow down and focus.  This week I promise myself that I will take the new pup for a walk every day, I will read one book a day to the kids and read 30 minutes a day to me, and I will limit myself to three cups of coffee a day (yes, limit myself to 3!).  Exercise my body, my heart, my brain and my self-control.  Sounds like a recipe for a good week.  How about you?

Blessings,
Kathleen

P. S.  There is a little place to make comments on my blog entries.  I'd love to hear what you think.  Start a conversation!

Salmon Quinoa Cakes, Mahi Special and Fireworks Mistakes

Dear Fish Friends,

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are now enjoying lots of fresh fish this week as a way to compensate for all the mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie you ate last week.

Fin Mail

Catch customers have been on the road again! Here's a picture of a French fish market - taken by Adam Feinberg while he and his wife, Faith, were traveling in Paris. This fish shop is on a famous street known as the Rue Claire which also has bakeries, cheese shops and a cafe on every corner.



Thanks, Adam, for sending me your pictures.  Now I know what a poissonnerie looks like!

And this from Hank Shea:



Something New-- Salmon Quinoa Cakes!

These 4-ounce cakes are made with wild-caught keta and sockeye salmon and instead of breadcrumb binder, these are held together with healthy quinoa! Full of the flavors of kale, red peppers and roasted corn, these are easy to prepare. Just saute in butter or oil for 3 minutes on each side or bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Try them on top of salads or as a sandwich or wrap.



Party Trays!!






This is a party tray we created for a Thanksgiving gathering this year. It's made with beautifully seasoned domestic shrimp (not Asian tiger shrimp), fresh Maine lobster meat, snow crab claws, hickory roasted salmon and hackleback caviar over chopped egg and creme fraiche. Can you imagine something like this on the table at your next holiday feast?

We have lots of other ideas for party trays. Give us a call and let's talk about the best one for your holiday gathering.

Have You Tasted Our Tuna Salad?

Why is our tuna salad the very best? Canned tuna is made from all kinds of tuna - "chunk light" tuna can be yellowfin, bigeye or skipjack. Canned "solid white" tuna is albacore. The big difference between my tuna salad and canned tuna is that we make it from our prime cut yellowfin tuna meat. Typical canned tuna is made from cuts of fish that include the bloodline and most of the rest of the fish, sometimes including ground-up bone. By the way, this is the reason canned tuna has a higher concentration of mercury. Mercury levels are higher in the bloodline of the fish because that's the filtering part of the fish (like the liver in mammals).


Think of it this way, comparing our tuna to most canned tuna is like comparing filet mignon to hotdogs.


Sing to the music of the Oscar Mayer weiner song...
Oh I am glad I'm not a Gold Kist Tuna.
That is what I'd never want to be
Cause if I were a Gold Kist tuna
No one would be in love with me. 
(like they are with Kathleen's Catch tuna salad)

Catch to Go

Long day at work? How does a gourmet meal requiring little-to-no effort sound? Our Catch To Go meals are perfect for those days when you don't have time to plan a meal or just plain don't want to. All you have to do is preheat the oven, open a bottle of wine, transfer the prepared meal from the foil container to your own dinner plate (or not if you don't want any dirty dishes), and enjoy! Fast, easy and delicious. This week's selections are:

Honey Jalapeno Salmon over Black Bean and Corn Salad (one of our best sellers)and
Swordfish Skewers Over Rice Medley (exceptionally delicious)

This Week's Special

Starting today we will have 6 oz. Mahi portions on special for $7.99.  Try brushing the mahi with olive oil, rubbing our blackened seasoning on it, and baking it at 450 degrees for 10 minutes per inch of thickness. The high temperature will make the outside of the fillets crispy without burning it. Serve the fish over warm corn tortillas with chopped onion and fresh cilantro. You can thank us later.

In the Discount Freezer

As most of you already know, the fish in our display cases have (with a few exceptions) never been frozen. This allows us to vacuum seal and freeze the fish that doesn't sell after a few days, and mark it down 20%. If you love to stock your freezer at home with our frozen fish, but hate to dig through the mess that was our discount freezer, you are in luck! Thanks to two of our wonderful customers/closest friends, Janice Howard and Celeste Gravois, we have a new freezer! It is much easier to sort through, so stop by a pick up some frozen fish today.

We have:

Verlasso salmon, red grouper, arctic char, amberjack, monkfish, wahoo, wreckfish, pollack, cod, haddock, hake, flounder, opah, bronzino, tilefish, triggerfish, tuna, swordfish, rainbow trout, corvina, red snapper, catfish, cobia, rockfish, kampachi, black bass, barramundi, mahi, striped bass and Buy 1 Get 1 Free bags of smelts.

And Finally

Think of this as a public service announcement.

I use the fact that I am a very busy person to excuse myself for every absentminded thing I do. Especially at Christmas.

Every year I do my best to fill the stockings on the mantle with unusual things. Last year I had a great idea! Fireworks for New Year's Eve celebrations and cute little chocolates filled the stockings. I was pleased. It was going to be a nice surprise.

It was a cozy Christmas morning as we gathered in front of the fire to open the gifts. I just love the look on everyone's face as they open presents I have lovingly picked out especially for them. I just love the look on their faces as they take down their stockings to remove the clever little gifts I put inside. I just love the look on their face as they stare... with horror!!!???!!! into their stockings and remove very hot (soon to be ignited) fireworks and melted chocolate.

Oops.


Be safe this holiday season.

Blessings,
Kathleen