mackerel, and homemade pesto
Fish...ah, fish...
One of the things I can't get hold of here at all is fish. So when I go out of town to somewhere with Big Shops I get very excited and buy lots of fish and stick it in the freezer because I never have time to cook it just then. And then I usually don't get round to cooking it for ages because I never have the foresight to take it out of the freezer in time to defrost for supper. And thus it was with the two mackerel I bought at the temple of Whole Foods in New Orleans.
Finally, however, on Friday I cooked my two mackerel. Now, I know they weren't at their best being frozen, and also I really wanted a proper grill to cook them on but I don't have one, so I roasted them instead. But still...they were good. I ate the first one as it was, simple with lots of lemon and a tomato salad, and I made the second one into fishcakes with mashed potato and some finely chopped onion. Yum. Fishcakes are good. They keep, too, and do mature a little with age (in a good way) so today when I had the leftovers, heated up in the oven, they were the perfect panacea to the rather alcoholic overindulgence that had occurred this weekend.
Then later today I made a little batch of pesto. I have a little basil plant, you see, which also journeyed back from Whole Foods with me. I can't stand shop-bought pesto (it's on the level of the shop-bought mayonnaise hate) but the real thing is obviously like manna from heaven. I remember the very first time I ever had real pesto, about four years ago, and realising that pesto is actually meant to be bright emerald green, not that puke colour that it is in those little jars. And that it's meant to be so intenesely scented that it practically knocks you out and you only need a spoonful to coat a whole pan of pasta.
(And yes, I have pine nuts here, and real pecorino to put in it...)
One of the things I can't get hold of here at all is fish. So when I go out of town to somewhere with Big Shops I get very excited and buy lots of fish and stick it in the freezer because I never have time to cook it just then. And then I usually don't get round to cooking it for ages because I never have the foresight to take it out of the freezer in time to defrost for supper. And thus it was with the two mackerel I bought at the temple of Whole Foods in New Orleans.
Finally, however, on Friday I cooked my two mackerel. Now, I know they weren't at their best being frozen, and also I really wanted a proper grill to cook them on but I don't have one, so I roasted them instead. But still...they were good. I ate the first one as it was, simple with lots of lemon and a tomato salad, and I made the second one into fishcakes with mashed potato and some finely chopped onion. Yum. Fishcakes are good. They keep, too, and do mature a little with age (in a good way) so today when I had the leftovers, heated up in the oven, they were the perfect panacea to the rather alcoholic overindulgence that had occurred this weekend.
Then later today I made a little batch of pesto. I have a little basil plant, you see, which also journeyed back from Whole Foods with me. I can't stand shop-bought pesto (it's on the level of the shop-bought mayonnaise hate) but the real thing is obviously like manna from heaven. I remember the very first time I ever had real pesto, about four years ago, and realising that pesto is actually meant to be bright emerald green, not that puke colour that it is in those little jars. And that it's meant to be so intenesely scented that it practically knocks you out and you only need a spoonful to coat a whole pan of pasta.
(And yes, I have pine nuts here, and real pecorino to put in it...)
Comments