Gone Fishing

Visiting Long Island means at least one visit to the ocean and a meal of sweet fresh fish literally right off the boat. That's the beauty of living near the sea. Nothing frozen, nothing that's traveled more than a few miles before it hits your plate.

Son and I made that ocean visit a while ago looking for something delicious to put on the grill.

Freeport's Nautical Mile---locally known as the mile---is a stretch of restaurants, fish markets, ice cream and novelty shops anchored at the end by Randall Park and one of the dozens of small inlets and bays dotting the South Shore of Long Island. 

It is also the home to one of the best fish markets I've ever seen (and I have seen quite a few)...Two Cousins Fish Market. Aside from a spectacular array of beautiful sweet smelling seafood the market is manned by nice helpful people who know their fish and take pride in their store.

Daddy used to fill old baskets like these with clams and lobsters...I loved going with him  to gather stuff for clam bakes. 

 Fishing docks are directly behind the market...can't get much fresher than that.

We spent quite a bit of time wandering the store admiring a huge array of lovely briny seafood. We also had a hard time deciding on what we wanted. I could have easily walked off with enough to feed an army it all looked so good.

                                   Huge crab legs...one or two and you have a meal.

                                  These guys were still squirming....easily 3# each.

Final decision for dinner that night: a big bag of soft shell steamers and lots of delicate filet of sole

 

The clams....into a heat proof pan, drizzled with a little wine and fresh lemon, covered with foil and onto the grill 'til they opened. Melted butter and clam broth for dipping and bread to sop it all up. Yum. 

    After the feast..soooooo good.

Filet of Sole on the Grill

1# fresh filets of sole

1 lemon

S&P to taste

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

paprika

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, coarsely chopped

Lay the filets in a single layer in a shallow sided heat proof pan. Drizzle with juice of 1/2 the lemon, season to taste with S&P, dot with the butter and dust lightly with paprika.

Cover the fish loosely with foil and place on a medium hot grill for  5-7 minutes or until the fish just begins to flake. Careful not over cook this fish or it will become chewy.

Sprinkle with the parsley and serve with it's accumulated juices and wedges of lemon.

 

 

Crazy hot...

I don't have to remind anyone how brutal the heat has been the last week or so. My A/C is struggling to keep up and friend Stan tells me it can only cool down 20 degrees from the outside temp. That means I'm living with +80 degree temps in my house. It's just too hot. My energy and my appetite have tanked.

So what did we do for the Fourth of July with little motivation and less interest in food?

Find the nearest watering hole, bring an assortment of adult bevs....

                          And..........a basket load of sweet fresh fruit.

Happy Birthday USA!