Here Fishy Fishy

I have a weird relationship with fish. Not a sexual attraction to mermaids, that would be quite normal, but rather in the cooking and eating of the underwater world. I’d say 90% of the fish and seafood I have consumed in my life has either been caught by me or a close friend or family member. I can do a mean bit of battered whiting, but the depth of what I can do with seafood is severely lacking.

Part of this is to do with my discomfort of buying fish, of being uncertain of where it has come from or how it was caught, or how old it is. If I’m completely honest, my favourite way of doing fresh, fresh fish is any type of ceviche. My barefooted lovely cliche of a farmer mate gave me some mullet barely out of the Albert River and the flesh, cooked by the juice of the homegrown lime and lemon, made punchy with the homemade fermented chilli sauce was about as good as fish has ever got as far as my taste buds were concerned.

But I don’t get fresh fish from the neighbour or my uber fisherman brother in law every week, so I need some top shelf fish recipes to cook with store bought fish that isn’t steamed or fried, and so here is the first attempt.

Salmon fillet, slathered with a miso butter with ginger, sriracha and garlic, with a panko crust. Diced potatoes tossed in the leftover miso butter and quickly roasted with some broccolini, drizzled in lime juice. It was pretty good. I’m still left with the feeling of inadequacy though, like I don’t really have that natural feel of how to treat the piece of seafood properly, that understanding of how it cooks and what makes a good bit of fish. I guess the visitors of Lantanaland are in for a bit of experimentation.