Softshells, Hormones and Crawfish Stuffing

Hey Y'all,

It's that time of year.  You know how it is when the weather changes and you drag out the box of spring/summer clothes that you tucked away last fall.  You try on a few things and realize that there is a little bit more of you to love this year than last.  For you and me, this calls for either a diet or a shopping trip. 

Rather than going shopping, when a blue crab starts to feel a little tight inside its shell, it becomes hormonal.   Yes, hormonal. 

A hormonal crab gets a little hard inside.  It becomes "thin-skinned."  It stops eating and, because it is vulnerable to predators, it takes shelter.  It absorbs water, so much water that it can't hold it all and eventually it splits in two.   Then it begins the long difficult journey of backing out of its old shell.  Once out, the new shell fits just fine - in fact it is one third again as big so the crab has plenty of room to grow into it.

"Soft shell" is not a type of crab - it is actually the point in its development between when the crab molts (sheds its shell) and the new shell hardens.  This hardening of the shell lasts a few days but there are only a few hours when the new shell is truly soft.   Crabbers watch for signs that they are soon to molt and they put them in tanks to watch them until they finally shed and are taken out of the water.  Once out of the water, the shell will not harden.

What to do with soft shell crabs?  Two of my all-time favorite Atlanta restaurants served up some of the very best soft shell crabs with crawfish stuffing.  Neither Taste of New Orleans or Tiburon Grille is still around, but lucky for you I know their recipe for the stuffing.  Jeremy Brown, former chef at both restaurants, gave me the  recipe but he did so in typical chef fashion.  His makes 5 lbs!!  And there are very few actual measurements!  I tinkered with it and came up with what might be a reasonable amount of stuffing for a family dinner.

First, you have to clean the soft shells, unless you bought them from me, in which case they are already cleaned and ready to go.

Then you slit the crab down the middle and stuff it full of the crawfish stuffing (see recipe below).

Then you dip it in an egg/milk wash and dunk it in flour and drop it in boiling oil.

Take it out when it is golden and crispy.

Crawfish Stuffing

Ingredients:

1 bell pepper

1onion

2 stalks celery

1 stick butter

1/4 c flour

1/4 c white wine

1 t cayenne pepper

1 bay leaf

1 t thyme

1 t oregano

1t Worcestershire

1 t Tabasco

1 lb crawfish meat - chopped

1/2 c cream

1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

Bread crumbs as needed

Directions:

1.  Chop bell pepper, celery and onion coarsely and then pulse in food processor until pieces are broken up a little more.  Don't over do it.

2.  Strain and press mixture to reduce moisture.

3.  Saute vegetables in a very hot, large saute pan.

4.  Add butter and flour and stir until thickened.

5.  Add wine and reduce until thickened.

6. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the bread crumbs and reduce to a very thick paste-like consistency. 

7.  Add breadcrumbs at the end if needed to further tighten it up.

Adjust accordingly for smaller or larger batches.

Serve stuffed soft shells with remoulade or jalapeno tartar sauce.

We will be looking for a consistent supply of softshells over the next few weeks. If you would like to pre-order you can call the store at 678-957-9792 or stop by and put your name on our pre-order list.   Do it.  I promise you will thank me. 

Blessings,

Kathleen

 

All You Need to Know About Mussels and Catch on the Web

Dear Friends of Famously Fabulously Fresh Fish,

Guess what?  You can now buy Kathleen's Catch online!  We have lots of fans that now live in other cities and we wanted to make our products available to everyone.    Check us out here www.kathleenscatch.com.  We just went live this week, but even after months of work, there are probably still a few changes to be made so if you spot something that needs fixing, PLEASE let us know.  Take a look if you get a chance because you just might find some staff pictures and a poem or two.  Maybe you have an out of town friend or two who doesn't have access to the freshest fish available.  Send them the link - they'll thank you for it.  And so will I.

This Week's Special
In honor of halibut season, this week's special is, well, halibut.  $11.25/6 ounces.

Catch to Go
Honey Jalapeno Salmon over Black Bean and Corn Salad
Roasted Halibut with Green Beans and Asian Cilantro Sauce
Parmesan Salmon with Asparagus
Swordfish with Lemon Caper Sauce over Squash and Zucchini

All You Wanted to Know About Mussels

There's been much pent up demand for black mussels since the weather shut down operations at Prince Edward Island.  Now that they are available again, I thought I would whet your appetite with a little bit about them.  Grab some this weekend and experience these easy, inexpensive and delicious little sea treasures.

What is a rope cultured mussel?

In the spring, mussel farmers begin collecting seeds by hanging "spat collectors" or  frayed ropes from a main horizontal rope line suspended between buoys.  These collectors provide a surface for the mussel larvae that are swimming in the ocean to attach themselves to.

 Spat Collectors

Throughout the spring and summer, mussel larvae continue to attach to the collectors and by fall they have grown into seeds which are large enough to be "socked."  This process involves taking the seeds from the collectors and placing them in socks made from plastic mesh.  These socks are then hung from the horizontal rope lines and spend the winter about six feet below the surface of the water to avoid damage from the ice.

Socks

There's not much to do to care for the mussels in the socks because all the nutrients they need to survive are right there in the waters around Prince Edward Island.  The farmer's job is to keep the mussels safe from predators (starfish, seabirds), make sure the socks are clean so that the mussels can get the food in the water and to continue to add flotation to the long lines to keep it from sinking under the increasing weight of the socks.

 Starfish munching on a mussel

After about two years in the socks, the mussels are ready to harvest. In the winter, the PEI bays are covered in as much as 4 feet of ice. To harvest the mussels below the surface, growers use chain saws to cut through the ice and scuba divers to help haul the line up through the ice

 Mussel farmers driving to work - March 2015

After harvest, the mussels are taken to processing plants where they are removed from the socks, washed, graded, de-bearded  and sent to market.

Mussels at Kathleen's Catch

How to cook them?  Mussels are best if you steam them.  Try this:

Chop an onion and 6 cloves of garlic and cook in 1/4 cup of olive oil until the onion is transparent.  Stir in 3 tablespoons chopped parsley and 2 cups drained chopped canned San Marzano Tomatoes in Thick Puree, 1/4 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes.  Simmer all this for about 25 minutes, partially covered.

Take a look at your mussels (about 1/2 lb per person) and toss the ones that have damaged shells or do not close when they are handled.  Rinse them (no need for soaking our mussels) and  debeard any that might have been missed in the processing plant by tugging the  beard down to the hinged-end of the mussel shell and then pulling it off.

Stir the mussels into the sauce, cover the pan and cook for about three minutes, occasionally shaking the pan.  Remove any mussels that have opened and return the lid to the pan.  Continue steaming, shaking and checking until all mussels have opened and been removed.  If the mussels don't open after 8 minutes, toss them.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper and pour over the mussels.  Serve with pasta and a slab of hot bread.

What wine?  Johns Creek Wine and Crystal expert (Scott) and Kathleen's Catch wine expert (Colin) agree that Georges Burrier Saint-Veran Burgandy, 2013 ($29.99) is the perfect accompaniment.  It's lemony, tart and creamy.  Delicious. 

And Finally

Hope you have a great weekend.  It's going to be lovely weather to celebrate Easter or Spring or whatever life-affirming experience you can commemorate.  Take some Benadryl and get outside to smell the flowers.

Blessings,
Kathleen

I Know Where Your Fish Comes From, A Pearl for Dinner and Dreaming Big Dreams

The Price of Fish

Do you know where your seafood comes from?  A recent AP article  "Are Slaves Catching the Fish You Buy?" presents some disturbing evidence that if you shop at some of the big box grocery stores you could be eating seafood that was caught by people who are forced to live their lives on trawlers and in cages.  Overly dramatic?  If your stomach is feeling extra strong today, take a look at the article which describes living conditions for hundreds of Burmese slaves who are living out their lives out as captives aboard huge trawlers in the Indian Ocean.  When the boats are docked in Indonesia, captives who are seen as flight risks are kept in cages in places like Benjina, Indonesia.  They are forced to work shifts of 20-22 hours, they have little food and unclean water and are beaten into submission for little or no pay at all.  Many people die from the treatment and the ones who survive are desperate for the world to know how the food they are eating was caught.

Tracking seafood from Indonesia to its final destination (your dinner plate) is a difficult process.  Huge factory ships bring their catch to processing plants where they are combined with other catches and then processed.  Deciding whether one particular fish was caught by a ship using slave labor is virtually impossible once the fish leaves the trawler that caught it.  Pointing fingers at US corporations that buy fish from that part of the world isn't exactly fair since there is no way of knowing EXACTLY where it came from.  However, the onus is on these large companies to carry out investigations until they know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the food they are putting on US dinner tables is NOT associated with human trafficking and slavery. 

I know it seems that fresh seafood is expensive, or rather seafood done right is expensive and it goes without saying that there are cheaper alternatives out there to the fish I sell.  If you are willing to chance buying inferior quality, fish from unknown sanitary conditions and most importantly, seafood caught by slave labor, then take a look at my competition.  If you want the very freshest fish available,  if you want fish from only sustainable populations or from the very best farming operations in the world, if you value a human life more than the life of a fish in the ocean,  you better stick with me.

Here's a list of what's in my case today and where it came from:

Tuna - Louisiana

Black Drum - Louisiana

King Salmon - Alaska

Red Snapper - Louisiana

Striped Bass- Virginia

Triggerfish - Florida

Dover Sole - Washington

Cod - Alaska

Rainbow Trout - North Carolina

Barramundi - Massachusetts

Halibut - Alaska

Sea Bass -  Argentina

Swordfish - New Zealand

Mahi - Ecuador

Cobia  - Panama

Verlasso Atlantic Salmon - Chile

Steelhead - Norway

Corvina  - Suriname

Scottish Salmon  - Great Britain

Are You Missing Your Mussels?
In case you have been wondering about the limited supply of our black mussels, here's a picture of a mussel farmer driving to work last week in Prince Edward Island:

Enough said.


Our Newest Oyster
I copied this  Montauk Pearl Oysters article from the  New York Times because it has a tasty-sounding recipe in it and features one of our new oysters.  Montauk Pearls are beautifully clean and briny oysters that are not easy to find - unless, of course, you shop at Kathleen's Catch.  Even though they are newcomers, they are well-known in the northeast at restaurants but until recently unavailable in the retail market.  Why don't you give them a try?

Montauk Pearl Oysters for Your Kitchen and More

By FLORENCE FABRICANTAUG. 19, 2014

Photo

The oysters at Bo’s Kitchen & Bar Room in the Flatiron district. Credit Tina Fineberg for The New York Times

To Savor: Hamptons Pearls (The Edible Kind)

Until quite recently, you could get Montauk Pearl Oysters from Long Island only in restaurants. But now these saline beauties are available from several retail sources like Mermaid’s Garden in Brooklyn and the Good Eggs delivery service. At Bo’s Kitchen & Bar Room in the Flatiron district, the chef Alex Pirani serves them raw on the half-shell and cooked. Here’s his recipe for broiled oysters: Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a saucepan, add a quarter-cup of shallots, sauté until soft, then stir in a quarter-cup of flour. Slowly whisk in three-quarters of a cup scalded milk and cook until thickened. Add salt and pepper, refrigerate until cool, then spoon onto 10 oysters on the half-shell. Dust with grated Grana Padano and run them under the broiler to gild the top: Bo’s Kitchen & Bar Room, 6 West 24th Street, 212-234-2373, bosrestaurant.com; goodeggs.com, 646-863-5578; and Mermaid’s Garden, 644 Vanderbilt Avenue (Park Place), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, 718-638-1910, mermaidsgardennyc.com.

Other Oysters Available This Week at Kathleen's Catch

Shigoku

St Ann's Bay

Blue Point

Sweet Jesus

Malpeque

Grand Pearls

This Week's Special

Swordfish  $8.99 per 6 ounces.

Catch to Go 

Honey Jalapeno Salmon over Black Bean and Corn Salad

Asian BBQ Cod with Asparagus

Roasted Halibut with Green Beans and Asian Cilantro Sauce

Oven Fried Catfish with Green Beans

Halibut's Back! 
March 15th marked the opening of the US halibut season and we have some fabulous fish to show for it!   And you better hurry in... the season only lasts until November 15th.

And Finally
The cherry trees blooming outside my window make me look forward to backyard parties and long walks with my dog.  Swimming with my grandkids is just around the corner! I' m going to try this week to take time to appreciate the amazing life we live here in Johns Creek, GA.   When people in other parts of the world are trapped in bamboo cages in between long fishing trips on factory trawlers, I need to remind myself that all is not well throughout the world.  It's on us to dream of a better life for everyone worldwide.  And to be grateful.

 Blessings,

Kathleen

St. Patrick's Day a Day Late

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm ashamed to say that that an entire month has gone by since I have written a blog entry.  Believe me, it's not because I haven't wanted to write - I could sit and blabber all day long on this blog if I had the time!  Too much going on at Kathleen's Catch these days and I just have trouble finding the time to gather my thoughts.

Well, here's some news:

Destiny Meredith comes to us from the panhandle of Florida so she knows a thing or two about fish! Destiny lives in Duluth with her husband, Tyler,  and her son, Cameron.  Stop by to say hello and take a listen to her awesome southern drawl. :)))

This week's special is wild striped bass for $18.50/lb.  I love love love this fish with the flavors of wild mushrooms, wild rice and balsamic.  Let's see.  Wild striped bass, wild mushrooms and wild rice - you are going to have to work on behaving yourself with a wild dish like this.

St. Patrick's Day means Guinness and corned beef.  I'm not about to give you a recipe for corned beef and cabbage although it was my mother's  favorite dish.  Being an Irishwoman, she also loved boiled potatoes.  Erin go Bragh! So let's try to live a few extra years, shall we, and substitute Irish Fish Pie for the corned beef.   This dish is loaded with cheese and butter lest you think you are getting off too lightly.  But at least Fish Pie won't make you thirsty like corned beef and it doesn't get stuck in your teeth.

Irish Fish Pie

Serves 8
Southern translation provided by Destiny...

Ingredients:
1-1/2 lbs cod or other white fish(Is there another white fish besides catfish???)
2 ounces butter
2 ounces flour
1/2 liter milk (just a smidge over 2 cups)
3-1/2 ounces grated cheese (Velveeta)

Scone Topping (Biscuit Topping)
1 cup flour
2 ounces grated cheese (or Velveeta)
2 ounces butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 egg yolk
Milk

Directions:
1.Place fish fillets in the bottom of a round oven dish. (A deep dish pie plate)

2.Make a cheese sauce with the butter, flour, milk and grated cheese and pour over fish.

3.Make scone (biscuit) dough by rubbing the butter into the flour with baking powder and pinch of salt.

4.Add grated cheese and drop egg yolk into the mixture and add enough milk to make a workable dough.

5.Roll out to a thickness of 1/2" and cut into small rounds with a scone (biscuit) cutter.

6.Drop these rounds on top of the fish mixture so that they just about cover the surface and then glaze them with a little milk.

7.Sprinkle some more grated cheese over them and bake at 450F for 25-30 minutes or until the scones (biscuits) are golden brown.

Ireland is not as far away from Johns Creek as you thought :)

This week's Catch to Go selections are: 

Teriyaki Baked Steelhead over Linguine

Red Snapper with Lemon Dill Cream and Roasted Potatoes

Oven-Fried Catfish with Green Beans

Asian Barbeque Glazed Cod with Asparagus

Heather and Alan Collins have been traveling again and sent me this picture from Louisiana Lagniappe in Destin, Florida.  Soft shell crabs the size of the plate!!

Our softshells typically come from the Chesapeake and they are behind schedule up there due to the cold weather.  We are looking for them to arrive here in late May.  Give us a call and get on our watch list to be the first to know when softshells arrive!

Again, sorry to be so long in writing.  I promise to be back on track now.  I miss writing to you and you writing to me.  Let's stay in touch!

Blessings,

Kathleen

Gas Pipe Tuna, Striped Bass and Let's Go Fishing

Hey Fish Friends,

I had dinner with friends a week or two ago and one of them told me a story about buying beautiful tuna at a local grocery store.  She said the tuna looked fabulous but when she got home and cooked it, it smelled and tasted rotten!  How could this be?

Another friend at the table said, "The first question is why are you buying fish somewhere besides Kathleen's?"  hehehe .  Apparently friend #1 was in a hurry that day and she was already at the grocery store and the tuna looked great and it was cheap!

What's the deal with the tuna?  It was probably gassed.  A lot of tuna processors gas their tuna in a chamber filled with carbon monoxide.  Carbon monoxide locks the hemoglobins in the fish so that it retains its beautiful color even after is frozen.  And carbon monoxide will enhance the color of tuna so that off-colored looks gorgeously pink/red.

This is called "smoked" tuna as though it is the same thing as "smoked" salmon.  It's not.

In fact, a knowledgeable seafood retailer executive used the term "tailpipe tuna" to describe the process.  Not very appetizing, eh?

Why is gassed tuna so bad?  What's the first thing you do when you are choosing fish from my seafood case?  You LOOK at it!  With gassed tuna, you can not tell the condition of that fish by its looks  because no matter how old it is, it looks mouthwatering.  Additionally, gassed tuna can take an inferior tuna and make it appear to be sushi quality.  This is fraud.

At Kathleen's Catch, we sometimes have tuna in the freezer.  It's not a great seller because it doesn't look beautiful.  It's still delicious, but it is brown.  And that's what ungassed frozen tuna looks like.  Brown.  Not iridescent red.

Your best bet is to buy from someone you trust.  That'd be me.

Last Night's Dinner
Last night's dinner at my house was one of my favorite meals - Striped Bass, on sale this week at Kathleen's Catch.  I just love this fish because when it is cooked, the meat is absolutely snowy white. (Okay - no snow references.  Instead, it is as white as a magnolia blossom.)  

I make a reduction of equal parts red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar - boiling it on the stove until it is the consistency of maple syrup.  

While that's happening, I hydrate a package of the incredible dried mushroom mix we sell.  I'm telling you, this mix makes it look like you spent the day scouring specialty food stores.  Fry them in some hot olive oil with garlic and shallots and toss in some pine nuts and peeled grapes.  YES, peeled grapes!

Peel Me a Grape

A prepackaged wild rice dish sauteed with some toasted pecans, chopped carrots and celery and maybe even some of the aforementioned mushrooms comes together in a hurry.

Skin the fish (of course we will do it for you if you ask) and cook in hot oil about 4 minutes per side depending on the thickness of the fish.  (10 minutes total per inch of thickness at the thickest part).

It sounds like a lot of work but it's really not.  While that reduction is working, the rest of the meal goes together pretty quickly.  Well, except for peeling the grapes.

Fishing in the Northeast
Feel like doing some fishing but you worry because you can't swim?  Want to get out on the ocean but you have trouble with seasickness?  Get yourself up to Maine and hop aboard a lobsterman's boat. No seasickness or falling overboard - just a pleasant, worry-free day on the water.

Not a lot of fishing going on up north these days...

Blessings,

Kathleen

Chicken Poop, Agent Orange and Valentine's Dinner

Happy February!

Things are going well for us at Kathleen's Catch.  Sales continue to grow every month and we are seeing more and more new customers.  I can't tell you often enough how much I appreciate all the customers who tell their friends and write about us on Facebook and Yelp and Trip Advisor.  We work very hard for you and you make our efforts worthwhile.

Valentine's Day is Next Week!
Can you tell that we have a sophisticated food expert on our staff now?  Colin Kopel, a former manager with Buckhead Life Restaurants and the new Store Manager at Kathleen's Catch,  has put together a fine dining experience for you to enjoy at home this Valentine's Day.  Because it's based on our popular Catch to Go program, all the meal planning, shopping and prep work is done for you.  Just follow our specific instructions for baking the main course and then sit back and enjoy!

First Course
 choose between:

Shrimp cocktail for two with cocktail sauce

or

Crab cocktail for two with cocktail sauce and Joe's mustard sauce

or 

8 oysters on the half shell with cocktail sauce and migonette

The Entree

Two individual servings of Beef Wellington 

and 

two 6-ounce Maine lobster tails

Dessert 
choose between:

White chocolate or red velvet cupcakes from Piece of Cake

$54.99 for two

Chicken Poop and Agent Orange In Salmon
Mark Cotton sent me an article from Yahoo Health! called 8 Salmon Shockers.  In case you also read this article, let me clear up a few things for you about the Verlasso salmon I sell at Kathleen's Catch.

1. When you eat Atlantic salmon you are not eating chicken poop.  Verlasso salmon are not fed chicken poop.  Period. 
2. Atlantic salmon are not painted pink.  They are fed astaxanthin, a carotenoid that is good for fish and good for you.  It causes the flesh to turn pink and causes you to be healthier.
3. Atlantic salmon is not tainted with Agent Orange.  Really? Agent Orange?  If you feel you   need more information on Agent Orange in salmon, you better just call me.

All of these things, plus the other 5 ridiculous claims, should make you question the validity of anything Yahoo Health! puts out.  Consider looking elsewhere for your nutritional advice.

Another Chapter in the "My Customers Can Cook" Saga
Terri #1

Terri Midgett is my new best friend.  She brought me a bowl of homemade soup that was so rich and delicious I've been dreaming of it ever since I tasted it.  I especially love good cooks who graciously share recipes.  Here's Terri's:

Fisherman's Bowl 

from the Duck Inn Restaurant in Virginia Beach

1 can cream of potato soup

1/3 can of cream of celery soup
16 oz canned drained mushrooms
1 tsp dill weed
1 tsp Texas Pete
2 quarts milk

Heat the above - DO NOT BOIL

Once warmed add:
2 lb backfin crabmeat
1.5 small shrimp

Heat and serve


Terri #2
Terri Lamberski gave me an awesome and simple tip.  She breads and fries our Nantucket scallops and uses them as croutons on a Caesar salad.  An easy way to reach the height of decadence!

This Week's Special - Kampachi - $25.00/lb ($4.00/lb off regular price)

People often ask me what my favorite fish is and I often say that  my favorite fish is the one that happens to be on the plate in front of me.  But if I had to choose one fish above all others, it would be Hawaiian kampachi.

Kampachi is a farm raised fish from the clean waters around the Hawaiian islands.  It has no traces of PCBs or mercury.  No GMO brood fish are used.  No growth hormones and no preventative antibiotics are used in the production of kampachi.  Instead, it has a mild, rich white meat that cooks up like snapper.  It's high in Omega-3 and is so pure and fatty that it is perfect for sashimi.  I love to grill it or serve it raw and thinly sliced over ponzu sauce with a bit of chopped green onion on top.

Catch To Go
Baked Salmon with Toasted Almond Parsley Salsa and Roasted Potatoes
Catfish with Apricot-Chili Glaze
Mediterranean Shrimp Linguine
Swordfish with Lemon Caper Sauce and Baked Squash and Zucchini

A Deal in the Discount Freezer
It's full so buy one and get one of equal or lesser value free!

And Finally
At home, we are trying to teach Nemo, the puppy, that Joel (the three-year-old) is the alpha dog so Joel is in charge of everything that goes in Nemo's mouth. The process involves teaching Joel how to feed the dog as well as teaching Nemo to respect Joel. Last night, I left the two of them alone for a minute while Joel was feeding Nemo. When I came back, Nemo was nosing around a bowl full of soggy dog food. When I asked Joel how the food got in the dog's water bowl, he said, "It just slid right in!" Well, I guess it did slide right out of Joel's hands and into the water, but now we have to dump it out and start over! Nemo is a fussy eater anyway and I knew he wouldn't eat that mess in his bowl.  Nemo promptly scarfed down the whole thing and then pushed the bowl around the floor looking for more while Joel said over and over, "See Grandma? See Grandma? He loves it! "

What's the lesson here? Don't be so set in your ways that you fail to see a better idea when it comes along. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Have a great weekend and stop by to see us if you get a chance.

Blessings,
Kathleen

Salt Blocks, Super Bowl and Meditation

Dear Fish Friends,

Dreamy Dishes
Why would you prepare our spectacular seafood and then serve it on undeserving tableware? Now you can present your fabulous meals on these worthy vessels from Kathleen's Catch.

This beautiful Blue Crab Bay Co. stoneware is designed by Jose' Dovis, an Italian whose work "synthesizes the tradition of classic Italian majolica with early New England stoneware, reflecting the coastal life of the Chesapeake Bay." This stoneware is available in small quantities in our store and in larger quantities by special order.

My Customers Rock
Can you guess what this is?




It's a pink Himalayan salt block that Bob Stevens received as a Christmas gift. Bob is a kitchen adventurer willing to try any new culinary technique that comes along.

The salt block is 8" x 8" x 2" thick.

Bob picked up some beautiful shrimp from Kathleen's Catch and cleaned and butterflied them.   He misted them with extra virgin olive oil and cooked them directly on the very hot salt block for about 8 minutes (turning once).

The salt block cleanup involved nothing more than running warm water over it and gently scrubbing the food residue off with a plastic scouring pad - looked good as new afterwards, ready to cook the next meal.

What an interesting idea!  Bob said they were absolutely delicious and he is looking forward to trying more seafood on his new salt block.

This Week's Special
Tuna - $9.99/6 ounces

Catch to Go - 4 choices this week!





1. Hoisin Glazed Cod with Asparagus

2. Lemon Rosemary Salmon with Fingerling Potatoes

3. Catfish with Apricot Chili Glaze and Spinach

4. Baked Steelhead Trout with Toasted Almond Parsley Salsa and Roasted Potatoes

SuperBowl - It's this Sunday!  Are you ready?
Because I'm not really a big sports fan, I generally eat, read a book and nap in between the Super Bowl commercials. I may not know who is playing the game but I can guarantee the food winners!

- Shrimp platters

- Kathleen's Catch Jumbo Jumbo Jumbo shellfish platter (1 lb each of jumbo lobster meat, jumbo crab and jumbo shrimp) and for the serious fan who watches from home without a party and no distractions - a Jumbo Jr. Shellfish platter which is 1/2 lb of each.

- Buffalo Crab Claw Platter - 2 lbs. of Jonah crab claws with buffalo, bbq or Caribbean jerk seasoning

- Oysters - we shuck them for a quarter and and put them on ice. Now you can keep your eye on the game and avoid any football shucking injuries.

Valentines Day

Colin Kopel, Manager of Kathleen's Catch, has this to say about dining out on Valentine's Day. "It's a dumb idea because service is terrible and food is either undercooked or overcooked." Why not save yourself the agony (and the $) and do our Valentine's meal? It's completely easy and you will have plenty of time to enjoy the champagne while the meal is cooking. Three courses make this Valentine's Day fancy. And we do all the prep so it's Catch to Go easy.

1st course

Choice of:

Shrimp cocktail for two with cocktail sauce

Crab cocktail for two with cocktail sauce and Joe's mustard sauce 

8 oysters on the half shell with cocktail sauce and migonette

Entree

Two Beef Wellington and two 6-ounce Maine lobster tails

Dessert

Choice of:

Two white chocolate cupcakes from Piece of Cake

Two red velvet cupcakes from Piece of Cake

Call us for more details and info on how to order your Valentine's feast.

Announcing Our Discount Freezer Sale!!!

Buy one package of fish out of our discount freezer and get one of equal or less value free!  

And Finally
Yes that is a picture of my granddaughter, Reilly, announcing our discount freezer sale at the playground in Duluth.  A friend sent me this earlier in the week:

"I was listening to the podcast On Being, which was playing an old episode with the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He is a proponent of walking meditation, and apparently leads all of his sessions by walking in front, holding the hand of a child. He says the child may distract from some of the focus of the meditation, but will add freshness. I thought, well, Kathleen already knows all about that."

Having three grandkids, a new puppy and a seafood market means I don't do much meditation.  But I like the idea of children keeping things "fresh".  

If you don't have much time for "focus" this week, at least try to keep things "fresh".

Blessings,

Kathleen