Eat Fresh! Support Local Fishermen and Farmers

Our trips to the local Crescent City Farmers Market, K-Jeans seafood and our own garden the past few weekends have netted in some really memorable meals. Nothing fancy, but it is amazing how good, simply prepared, ultra fresh ingredients can make for a really flavorful meal.

For example, yesterday we picked up those beautiful baby zucchini, lots of ripe red tomatoes, butter beans, freshly made cheese and milk at the CCFM, and then some gorgeous tilapia fillets at K-Jeans. We've got more cucumbers and basil coming from our garden that you can imagine, so we had lots of options for dinner!

I started with the zucchini: sliced them in half and salt and peppered them; heated a good amount of oil in a large skillet with some peperoncino and fried until lightly browned. The baby ones pack a ton of flavor, so I didn't need to add anything else!


I couldn't wait to eat those tomatoes so I chopped them and a few of our cucumbers in chunks, added a small amount of sliced onion, with a little fresh basil and oregano from the garden. Dressed simply in 1 part balsamic vinegar to 3 parts evoo, the tomatoes were deliciously sweet and the crunchy fresh cucumbers added the perfect texture.


Next I made the pesto. Kerry planted tons of basil this year and fresh pesto is a staple that we just love in the summer. I took 2 packed cups of basil, a clove of garlic, a pinch of sea salt, 3/4 cup of mainly freshly grated Parmesan cheese with a little Pecorino and 3 T. of pine nuts and threw it in the cuisinart. Pulsed until finely chopped and then slowly added in 1 cup of evoo and pulsed until oil and herb mixture are well blended. This made about 2 cups of pesto. Added freshly cooked pasta and topped with a little more cheese.

Kerry took care of the fish. She made a little lemon butter sauce with 1/2 stick melted butter whisked with 4 t. freshly squeezed lemon juice and a pinch each of cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. She salt and peppered the fillets and dredged them in a little flour. Reheating the oil left from the zucchini fried them over med-high heat until just lightly browned. Sorry, I got to hungry to take any more pictures...

We packed our plates with veggies and pasta, added the fish with the lemon butter sauce spooned on top, and settled down to watch the first day of the Tour de France, our absolute favorite sporting event of the year! We drank a great little Italian white wine, the Vinosia Malvasia, cheered Lance on as we cleaned our plates and commented on how lucky we are to eat such great food. Everything was simple, fresh, local and delicious and we finished it all off with one of my freshly baked Biscotti Amaretti.


A great performance by Lance, and superb meal, what a perfect Saturday night!

Whole Roasted Fish Paired with Adelaida Version White

Cooking fish whole, on the bone with the head and tail attached, is absolutely the best way to eat it. The meat around the bones just seems sweeter and tastier! I ran over to Kjean's Fish Market on Carollton to see what they had and was able to pick up some fresh trout. Just ask them to gut and scale the fish for you. This recipe is actually fairly simple with out a lot of mess in the kitchen and the end result is fantastic! I've adapted from Lidia Bastianich's, Lidia's Italian Table recipe for Whole Roasted Striped Bass. Apparently it is a staple on the menu at her restaurant Becco in New York, and she prepared a version of this for the Pope in 2008!

Makes 6 servings

For the garlic-infused oil:
1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil
8 cloves garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

For the fish:
6 whole trout, about 1 1/4 lb. each, eviscerated and scaled
6 fresh or dried bay leaves
6 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 medium-sized red onions, peeled and cut into 1/3″ slices
6 small, firm vine ripened tomatoes, cored and cut in half

To serve:
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley leaves

-Prepare the garlic-infused oil about half an hour before roasting the fish: In a small bowl blend the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Allow the sauce to steep for half an hour.

-Preheat the oven to 475 F. Use the garlic-infused oil to grease two heavy, large (at least 22 x 18-inches) roasting pans, preferably with low sides. Brush each fish on both sides with the olive oil mixture and enclose the tails in aluminum foil. Place one bay leaf and one sprig of rosemary in the cavity of each fish. Arrange the fish in the prepared pans, leaving as much space between them, and between the sides of the pan, as possible. Arrange the onion slices and tomato halves around the fish in both pans so as not to overlap with each other.

-Season the fish and vegetables with salt and pepper and divide the wine between the pans. Bake until the fish and vegetables begin to brown, about 25 minutes, drizzling occasionally with about ½ cup of the remaining garlic-infused oil. (The rest of the garlic-infused oil will be used as the base of a sauce to be served with the fish.) Remove the fish from the oven.

-Stir the lemon juice and parsley into the remaining garlic-infused oil and season with salt and pepper. Place one whole fish on each plate and flank with the vegetables. Spoon any sauce from the baking pan over each serving.

-Stir the lemon-parsley sauce well and spoon a little over each serving. Set the rest of the sauce on the table for passing as fish is being enjoyed. Pour a nice glass of Adelaida Version and relax!