Week of November 1 Update

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! I tried giving out frozen shrimp shumai to kids but no takers...Oh, well...

Aaaaaanyway, a great job by so many of you bringing your own bag or buying one of ours. The city has gone no to go plastic bags but won't start enforcing until April 1. As for most of us, we'll need that 5 months to get used to it. The earlier we start,  the better. Just a little tease for now but fair warning that we close for Thanksgiving week. There is not much fresh fish that week anyway due to the nature of that holiday. The week before, though, we will do another holiday extravaganza with lots of interesting stuff. Babka, bagels, Canadian bacon and lots more. Stay tuned.

This nasty weather last week really caused havoc on the fishing front from the Mid Atlantic up to Nova Scotia. The hurricane force winds idled all boats and they are just heading out this week. So we will go west and south for fish. Plus a couple of interesting items to get us mentally out of this dark cold place we are in right now...

Got that? Good.

Going into the week before daylight savings and, therefore, a period of dark nights, I thought that instead of complaining about it (which I just did), we can find some ways to celebrate coziness and comfort. So, the first item we will be featuring this week is something we haven't seen in a while. Black cod!! Or sablefish as it is known. Black cod is found on just about every Japanese restaurant in the US made famous at Nobu with a miso glaze (we make a killer glaze if you haven't tried it). The fish is marinated for up to 3 days in the glaze and then broiled. Now, in a restaurant with their markups, you will see a few ounces for $20. We have it for $16 a pound! These fillets come from smaller fish with the skin on to hold everything together and are perfect for the home cook. 

Second up is a fish we don't see very often but is just terrific. Kingklip fillet! Never heard of it? Well, this is a Southern hemisphere fish that is the favorite of the folks down in South Africa. In South America, it is also loved and sold under the name Congrio. This fish has a firm texture similar to grouper. In fact, when restaurants are trying to get one over on you, they'll sub kingklip for grouper and pocket the difference without you knowing. Amazing seared, grilled and especially cooked in a broth. It can also take the miso glaze well but so many of you have raved about our coconut lemongrass marinade and sauce that we thought we would bring it back this week because kingklip would love it!

The salmon of the week will remain Faroe Island salmon fillet. Man, we see markets in our area selling this good stuff for much more than we do. Silly. Sushi grade and a sustainably farm raised salmon from pristine waters of the North Atlantic, what could be better?

We have an exciting feature for this week. This is a first for us. I always love to look for people making cool stuff that has the versatility of going with fish and also good for other applications. Rajus Korde has been making a delicious Southern Indian tomato based condiment called Tomato Lonsa. It is made from fresh tomatoes and spices in a family secret recipe kind of way. Versatile and delicious.It pairs with a vast variety of dishes. It can be used to elevate and enhance everything from eggs, sandwiches, grilled chicken, fish, veggies, rice, or a simple piece of toasted bread! it would go so well with salmon, kingklip, shrimp but be imaginative and try this. A tablespoon on this, a table spoon on that. It is sooo good. Two flavor choices, spicy or garlic. 

The second feature is a redo from our friend Raul Alvarez down in the Italian market. He makes this amazing fresh pork chorizo in two styles. Red and Green. You will be getting a pound of each frozen. So good with clams or shrimp or tacos or burritos. I actually really loved cooking the green chorizo with diced butternut squash as a side dish. Yuuummm!! Anyway, good stuff and also no preservatives of junk in it. 

Alas, no more scallops. Price has gotten obscene and will get worse. Maybe a surprise to replace it. We shall see. Clams are the shellfish of the week. Oh, that lonsa with that would be sick. Frozen mahi is around. Not sure on oysters for this week yet. And all other usual suspects are available too except for the butter and fish stock. Next week on both of those.

Aaanyway, that's a lot of words....

Look out for the order form Thursday at 9am.

Peace

Robert Amar
Small World Seafood
Owner