What is/was for dinner?

[RootBeerMan]

Hmm, have to look that one up. It all sounds fantastic and what a treat.

Picking Maryland blue crabs today, they turn red after you have them cooked. I picked up this half bushel of small, medium steamed to go at the local crab shack.

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That is a favourite of mine! Add in some steamed shrimp covered in Old Bay (or one of the other good spice blends) and I'm good to go! Living away from the coasts makes it hard to get fresh seafood like that! Used to spend all night out on the pier when I was a kid, crabbing all night long. It was worth the lost sleep!

 

[anika200]

steamed shrimp covered in Old Bay

Of course, it is what I usually do too. haha But today/yesterday I was feeling less enriched so no shrimp.

Now we have 2lb left over picked lump/claw crab meat, mmmmm. So crab dip, and crab pasta maybe are in store for the next couple of days.

 

[0388631]

Never liked Old Bay. I have a friend I used to go sea fishing with often back in the day. He grew up in Maine. So his idea of fresh tuna sashimi was slathering on Old Bay. Gross stuff. The most I ever seasoned right after butchering a tuna was maybe salt if I wanted it or tear some nori sheets to act as a piece of bread, for example, and shove a 4-5 oz strip of fresh tuna in it.

 

[anika200]

Gross stuff.

Oh come on, you should have seen the first mate when my friend told him he had ketchup on the fresh caught brown/lake/salmon trout. talk about gross, old bay is good when steaming maryland blue crab though for sure.
It is also good in eggs, deviled eggs, french fries, popcorn, bloody mary, baked potato, poor man crab cake, corn on the cob, shrimp of course, almost anything really.

oh oh by the way, old bay has changed big time over the years and now is so different that I make my own old bay from nice good ingredients and less salt.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Breakfasting on smoked eel, fresh crab meat and rye bread.

Nothing else needed, really.

 

[0388631]

Breakfasting on smoked eel, fresh crab meat and rye bread.

Nothing else needed, really.

Nice. Made herring under a fur coat late last week. Ate most of it myself. Great for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

What's smoked eel like?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Nice. Made herring under a fur coat late last week. Ate most of it myself. Great for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

What's smoked eel like?

Rich, moist, and tasty; excellent with rye bread.

 

[D.T.]

This __will__ be on topic ... eventually Allow me a slightly larger font to caption the photos


So we start here, at sunrise, in the beautiful Florida Keys:

After a short boat ride to a few "secret" spots, we wind up with these beasts:

Followed by a run to the sandbar and reef (sharks, turtles, 'cuda, oh my!)

... and at last, we find ourselves with some topically appropriate photos

 

[LizKat]

That is a favourite of mine! Add in some steamed shrimp covered in Old Bay (or one of the other good spice blends) and I'm good to go! Living away from the coasts makes it hard to get fresh seafood like that! Used to spend all night out on the pier when I was a kid, crabbing all night long. It was worth the lost sleep!

We used to have a place off the Chesapeake Bay and do the same thing. Also, once in awhile regular crab fishermen would put into our dock to get away from one of those storms that pop up out of nowhere and they'd sometimes share catch with us. Nice bonus for just lending them a safer place to hang out for an hour or so.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The carer and her friend are around.

I had offered to prepare a fish meal for them, (fillets of scorpion fish on a bed of roasted tomatoes, garlic, onions and potatoes) but they told me not to bother, and have promised to come over with mussels and rice instead.

However, I have yet to see hide nor hair of them.

 

[chown33]

This __will__ be on topic ... eventually Allow me a slightly larger font to caption the photos


So we start here, at sunrise, in the beautiful Florida Keys:


View attachment 850648


View attachment 850647



After a short boat ride to a few "secret" spots, we wind up with these beasts:

View attachment 850649



Followed by a run to the sandbar and reef (sharks, turtles, 'cuda, oh my!)

View attachment 850650



View attachment 850651


... and at last, we find ourselves with some topically appropriate photos


View attachment 850653

View attachment 850654

View attachment 850655


View attachment 850656

To summarize:

Location (daylight, barely).
Ingredients (fresh, extremely).
Diversion (watery, very).
Dinner (lovely, extremely).​

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The carer and her friend turned up with their homemade dish of prawns, clams, and mussels in a creamy lemongrass and coconut milk broth, with rice.

Yum.

 

[D.T.]

To summarize:

Location (daylight, barely).
Ingredients (fresh, extremely).
Diversion (watery, very).
Dinner (lovely, extremely).​

I suppose I'd add:

Preparation (professional, delicious)

(Our travel friends own a restaurant, he's the head chef ) Though the homemade M&C, my wife's recipe is spectacular (especially with ~2 lbs of fresh lobster piled into it and topped with the remainder of the previous night's fresh mozzarella ...)

 

[0388631]

I suppose I'd add:

Preparation (professional, delicious)

(Our travel friends own a restaurant, he's the head chef ) Though the homemade M&C, my wife's recipe is spectacular (especially with ~2 lbs of fresh lobster piled into it and topped with the remainder of the previous night's fresh mozzarella ...)

I was wondering if you guys had gone down there again but I take it these are from then? Everything looks good. Did you dive for the lobsters or cage them?

 

[chown33]

I was wondering if you guys had gone down there again but I take it these are from then? Everything looks good. Did you dive for the lobsters or cage them?

Lobster whisperer?

 

[Gutwrench]

Already debating whether I shall prepare a chicken curry, or a paella for this evening.

I might be late but vote paella. (What a fun dish to make and eat with friends in the backyard.)

 

[0388631]

I might get late but vote paella. (What a fun dish to make and eat with friends in the backyard.)

Pollo de paella with sausage is delicious. Not a huge fan of seafood paella.

 

[Gutwrench]

Pollo de paella with sausage is delicious. Not a huge fan of seafood paella.

I’m a fan of both.

Spicy Mexican chorizo?

 

[0388631]

I’m a fan of both.

Spicy Mexican chorizo?

Gotta keep it original. Spanish style chorizo. Mexican chorizo doesn't taste as good, IMO. And finding a good one here is harder than finding good Spanish chorizo. You'd think given the amount of Mexicans in this state there'd be good Mexican ingredients or food but that isn't the case.

Seafood to me has nuances in each creature in terms of flavor. And I feel in a paella or even a soup, they all get muddled together. I miss eating some of the catch I managed down in Mexico with friends years ago. Shrimp the size of our hand. Eat 2-3 and you were full. Sweet lobster. Delicious pork, albeit not a sea creature, cooked split open over an open wood fire with crackling so crisp and flavorful you'd think you could live off the stuff indefinitely. Apart from fresh tuna, mahi mahi and snapper were also good. Though I'm a massive fan of snapper fish. Their firm texture and wonderful flavor that isn't fishy is out of this world.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I might be late but vote paella. (What a fun dish to make and eat with friends in the backyard.)

Agreed, but it is a dish that calls for guests; a dish to be shared.

Pollo de paella with sausage is delicious. Not a huge fan of seafood paella.

Actually, I have made this - with organic free range chicken, chorizo, peas, saffron, paella - wonderful.

Yes, I must say that I love paella.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I might be late but vote paella. (What a fun dish to make and eat with friends in the backyard.)

In fact, a few years ago, (on one of those post deployment periods when I was at home for a while yet still in funds), I invested in a Le Creuset cast iron paella dish.

 

[D.T.]

I was wondering if you guys had gone down there again but I take it these are from then? Everything looks good. Did you dive for the lobsters or cage them?

Yes, went down for a week and mini season was a couple of days in the middle (mini season is the last Wed/Thu of July, regular season is Aug -Mar)

Oh we dive, some of our "hot spots" are in shallows, talking 4-5ft at high tide, but we also hit some deeper spots around reefs, it's a pretty serious workout, they don't exactly just jump in the boat

Plus, out and around the various reefs you see some amazing stuff - like this trip, this little fellow decided to come up and play

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I’m a fan of both.

Spicy Mexican chorizo?

Spanish chorizo, bought from the stunning stall that imports olive oil (and olives), with many Spanish products, (such as Spanish smoked sweet paprika, smoked hot paprika, and simply hot paprika) in the farmers' market.

 

[0388631]

Yes, went down for a week and mini season was a couple of days in the middle (mini season is the last Wed/Thu of July, regular season is Aug -Mar)

Oh we dive, some of our "hot spots" are in shallows, talking 4-5ft at high tide, but we also hit some deeper spots around reefs, it's a pretty serious workout, they don't exactly just jump in the boat

Plus, out and around the various reefs you see some amazing stuff - like this trip, this little fellow decided to come up and play

Nice. By mini I'm guessing you mean the lobsters? Meat should be sweet in that case. I've had turtle once or twice, too. Wouldn't recommend it.

 

[D.T.]

Nice. By mini I'm guessing you mean the lobsters? Meat should be sweet in that case. I've had turtle once or twice, too. Wouldn't recommend it.

Mini Season - as in just two days (per my post) vs. 8 months.

Sizewise there's a specific minimum (3" carapace, and you have to have some kind of measuring instrument with you). Most are around 1.5 to maybe 2 lbs for a larger-ish, though there are monsters out there 2-3x that size