In spite of our marine location nice pieces of fish aren't all that easy to come by here, as I've complained here loudly in the past. But there's one little shining light: a place called Skagit's Own Fish Market. Skagit is another county and this store about 50 miles aways; I live in Whatcom County. The store is tiny, and more a fish and chip restaurant and ice cream purveyor (on the edge's of Skagit's Tulip fields, so attracting that type of crowd) than a store, but there's a small fresh fish counter with a selection of, usually, four or five fresh things, and yesterday there were even more. Ling cod, fresh WA salmon, sable fish, halibut, ahi, swordfish, petrale sole just delivered by the fisherman and not even in the small case yet, and one piece of native, not farm-raised, Columbia River steelhead, belly end not tail. A dream piece of fish. Giddy, I bought the steelhead for dinner and the petrale for today's lunch.
Damn that steelhead was good. What a rare treat. I fileted it, dusted it with semolina flour, pan-seared it and served it under a layer of melted leeks seasoned with butter and white pepper. A couple slices of zucchini on the side and a piece of lemon finished the dish, which we had with a perfectly aged 06 red Burgundy from Chandon de Briailles. Absolute perfection.
Wish I could buy fish like that all the time.
Today's petrale will be dusted with cornmeal and served with steamed spinach. But boo hoo, no wine, much as a Chablis is called for. It's lunch and we've got work to do.
