when in new england
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.
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