Fish Wednesday: I Hate Fish Edition

By Your Intrepid Substitute Blogger

The idea of eating fish weekly — outside the summer barbecue season when I’m happy to throw Alaskan king salmon on the grill and serve it naked so you can taste the smoky goodness is less than appealing to me. I don’ like fish. Well, I don’t like most fish. I like the aforementioned grilled salmon. I like lox piled high on a chewy bagel (no donut-shaped bread-food here: it’s gotta be the kind of bagel that’s only good for a day and is hard to bite into when not toasted). I like New England clam chowder, particularly when prepared by Pike Place Chowder. I like trout that was swimming in a river this morning, but you can’t get that here in Washington State. All the trout that’s sold here comes from trout farms. I like gefilte fish — I’ve written about it here before — made fresh with half salmon, half sole, but only on the first two days. After that, it tastes too much like fish. My mom tried to turn me on to Chilean sea bass — the sustainable version — and was appalled when I didn’t like it. I like a tuna sandwich, very occasionally, made with a whole lot of chopped black olives and real mayonaise. But even then, I usually only eat half. I suppose fish and chips is okay, but just about anything that’s deep fried and slathered with some fatty sauce can be palatable, right?

Still, I try to do right by my family and make them fish. Maybe not weekly, like Ms. NEV. I have found one recipe that everyone here will eat, shrimp with tomatoes, feta, and basil. I had to adapt it to my little guy’s wacky taste buds, which will eat angel hair pasta, but not the orzo of the original dish.

This will feed three or four, depending on their relative hunger level.

16 big prawns — shelled, deveined, and washed

A cup of orzo, parboiled for five minutes and drained

Three chopped plum tomatoes

Zest and juice of a lemon

Eight ounces of crumbled feta. I use the reduced fat version and it works just fine

Fresh ground pepper

A couple teaspoons of olive oil

A good handful of chopped fresh basil, reserved

Put it all in a bowl and mix it together. I often increase the veggie content by adding a can of quartered artichoke hearts and/or some broccoli. When mixed, put it in a lidded casserole dish and put it in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. It’s done when the shrimp are pink. It can be done stove top in a pinch, too.

Before serving, add the basil. I didn’t have any basil in the house tonight (and Husband had the car), so I added some flat leaf parsley. I’ve tried it with white wine vinegar when I’ve been out of lemons (not so good, that one), and white wine (a better option). I think using something like lemon thyme or lemongrass could also work in the absence of an actual lemon.

I have no idea what I’m going to make next Wednesday, but I promised Ms. NEV I’d blog for her in her absence. And if that means I have to eat fish, well, I may just have to suffer through some Pike Place Chowder.