when in new england
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i never really liked fish. growing up i never recall eating any fresh fish except for the occasional trout caught while camping as a boy scout. and while i could appreciate the differences between a fresh-caught fish and the usual fish stix or the occasional fillet-o-fish from mickey d's the idea of eating fish
voluntarily as an adult was foreign to me.
or rather, it was slow to take. on a road trip across the country i had roadside fried clams, and had my first new england crab cake, and then back on the west coast discovered that grilled swordfish could hold its own against a steak. it took this california boy a little too long to understand the joy of the fish taco (and i won't say how old i was before i got past the mental block that kept me from sushi) but it's been a long, slow, steady climb.
except for shellfish, which i don't consider fish because they're more like spiders to me than sea creatures. and when i say shellfish i mean scallops and shrimp. big prawns with a spicy cocktail sauce, tiny little guys in the fried rice, regular 18/20 pan seared or on the grill... yum! except that i made a paella about a year ago and there were leftovers and i ate them for lunch and, man-o-man, was i sick! i still haven't gotten to where i can eat them though i can sit in the same room with them staring at me, but just barely.
anyway, i don't consider them fish, so we aren't talking about them.
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i'm in new england, my girls like fish, this whole region is buffaloed into believing that the world would end if there was no fish, so i'm figuring i need to get with the program.
i made fish cakes. safe. like fish stix only fancier. 'cause i'm trying to work my way up to crab cakes.
i went with a recipe from the duchess of new england because (a) it was probably safe and (b) because it was nothing fancy. i probably could have found this recipe on the street, it's so basic. i'm not even going to include it.
it was good. i think i would have preferred to have served it with asparagus instead of broccoli but otherwise all went well. that's all.
i wish i had a good recipe for a scallop soup. that might make for a good next step.
Labels: cake, fish, new england, seafood, shellfish