Week of October 31, 2022 Small World Seafood Update

Hello , everybody!! Well, the fightin' Phils did what they needed to do. Take one game in Houston. Okay, they punched us back in the teeth in game two but now it's in front of our fans..Can't wait for these games!! And the Eagles...come on...Who's not excited to get a boost to our city pride. Boy , we need it...

Anyway, rolling into November, we are going to start with a couple of super and local fish features as well as start getting into some fun stuff to play with.

First up on the featured fish list is local swordfish!! Anyone who has bought sword from us knows how great it can be. Most suppliers aim to buy cheap and so tend to buy sword coming from far away. The problem is that it is not as fresh and when you eat it, it has a funky smell and taste. Not ours. This is pristine, delicious, tender swordfish that will melt in your mouth. You can cube it and make skewers, you can grill it, you can marinate in our seafood marinade and roast it, you can cook it in a sauce such as a Provencale or puttanesca. This is great tasting stuff. Better than chicken. Yeah. Better...

Next up (hopefully - waiting on boats to come in) we will feature monkfish fillet! Local monkfish is awesome for it's flavor and texture. One of the ugliest fish you will ever see. Look it up. But no shame with its looks when it produces a meat commonly called "Poor man's lobster". Firm and can be easily sliced into medallions and crisped up or roasted whole wrapped in prosciutto. One of my favorite ways to cook it is following Nigela Lawson's Turmeric monkfish curry broth we posted on our website. Just so simple, will perfume the whole house and is just divine.

Now, talking of fun stuff. We tried out this miso dashi tomato sauce with poached albacore tuna on you guys a few weeks ago and everyone came back raving about it. This stuff is soooo good!! It is kind of like if you took a puttanesca sauce but made it with a Japanese sensibility. You can use it tossed with pasta. You can use it to poach the swordfish this week. You can serve it chilled on toast. You can top off seared scallops with it. I made some crab cakes and subbed curry powder for old bay and topped them off after I baked them...Oh my...

The next special feature comes out of a conversation gone sideways. So, there we were, Owen Kamihira, owner of El Camino in Northern Liberties and me sitting around talking about what we could do next that would be fun to make and eat following up on his bacon and sausages. I told him that I loved Char Siu, that beautiful cured roast pork you see hanging next to the roast ducks in Chinatown. Great for fried rices and noodles. Half way through, he asks me what I thought would happen if we cured and roasted salmon instead of pork. Bing! I don't know, I said, but let's try and see what happens! Well, you know what happened? Magic. Char Siu salmon. One of a kind! So frickin good and tasty!! You can heat it up and serve over rice, you can eat it cold, you can crumple it up and make a fried rice or stir fry. You will never see anything like this from anyone else..

Faroe Island salmon is definitely around this week. So many of you are making gorgeous poke bowls with it and, well, that makes us so proud..

And howe about Hokkaido scallop carpaccios and ceriches? Yeah, sushi grade and perfect sears every time..

Mussels are the shellfish of the week. Not sure on oysters yet. Plenty of fish cakes and shu mai along with all the other usual suspects..

Fun time of the year. We have a lot of cool stuff in the works for next month with Thanksgiving coming before we know it.

And that's it for today. I know, I know, lots of words. But, hey, lots of info too, no?

Peace

Robert Amar

Small World Seafood

Owner