Week of January 20, 2025 - Small World Seafood Update

Hello everybody!!

You know, it is certainly easy to complain about the bitter cold. All the layering on and off can be a pain in the ass. All the shuffling around looking out for a slippery patch of sidewalk. It is definitely a little nasty out there. But as so many of you guys know, i always like to place things within a larger perspective. Could be worse, right? 

I just think of the fishermen going out in this kind of weather to catch stuff for us to put on our tables. Can't imagine how hard that would be. Or the football players who hit the field and play through nastiness (Go Eagles!!!!). There also is an icy beauty to supe cold days with bright sun and blue, blue skies. The breath is invigorating and awakening. We are in the heart of winter and it really feels like it...thankfully, lots of you have been loading up on stocks to make soups...

Anyway, the cold weather does limit the availability of lots of things. It is a little hard to shake out what we will have coming down the pike this week but we do have some sense of some things to come..

First of all, Faroe Island salmon is back! We will have more fresh salmon and salmon sides for you guys! I love to see so many of you enjoying steelhead trout. That was good stuff!! But salmon is back and we get to gain an appreciation for it once more. 

Okay, let's talk cheeks. This week, we will have more cod cheeks which are so soothingly delicious. Tastes like cod, texture like scallops..So good. Well, this week, not only will we have more of those but we will also have the larger halibut cheeks as well!! Whereas cod cheeks range from around 10-14 cheeks per pound, halibut cheeks range from 1-4 per pound. So larger but, hey, they come from larger fish anyway! These bigger cheeks cook up more like halibut itself. Because of the fattiness and more connective tissue, i feel that halibut cheeks are at their best when cooked slowly in a sauce or broth. That allows a lot of that potentially tougher membrane to melt away beautifully...Tastes like halibut, texture like scallops. I mean...that's quite a delicacy..

More barbouni this week as well as Moroccan fresh sardines..Really great fish to eat with lots of flavor and if you are a nutrition nerd, you knowe how high the Omega 3s are in fish like these..So good for you...More wild rock shrimp as well. So firm and sweet and they are sushi grade so you can ceviche it up no problem!!

Where last week, we had Boston mackerel as a interesting fish, this week, we have local fresh herring fillets! This is the season for these fish in our parts so that's when you want to take advantage. It makes sense that the fattier fish come down to us in the winter when we need it most. Go for it and learn to love it!!!

And finally, this week we are seeing more monkfish fillet!!! Every time we have monkfish, the crowd goes wild! Meaty, firm and so versatile for cooking in so many different ways. One of my favorites which I will make this week for sure is that Nigella Lawson recipe on our site prepared in a curry seafood broth. My lord, that is good and totally warms the bones!!!

Wagyu ground beef is back. Phew! More spinach linguini. More shrimp and crab cannelloni. More tuna meatballs. And finally, something lots of you have been asking about but it was such a pain in the ass to make. Smoked trout pierogies!!! We make the filling with potato, milk, garlic, thyme and smoked trout. Matt makes the pierogie dough and runs it through his ravioli machine and voila!!! If you haven't tried them, do so. They have the smokiness of bacon but without the bacon. Prepare them as you would with sauteed onions and finish with sour cream. They are awesome! And unique. Where else can you find seafood pierogies??

PEI mussels are the shellfish of the week...Johns River oysters from Maine this week... We lonsa and smoked fish...So many good things... Dill Herring is back as well as kippered salmon..yum! Oh, and babka kits too..breath, everyone..

Plenty of crab meat, shrimp, etc....

I know, I know..Lots of words...

Anyway, as usual, I have to thank all of you guys for being in our lives. What an incredible community we live in...

Look out for the order form Thursday at 9am.

Robert Amar

Small World Seafood

Owner