Piscatory Delights

Boy oh boy it's been a good fishing week.  The freezer is stocked with many meals, we are getting more than our fair share of Omega 3 oil and the dog is blissfully happy with her dinner.

First expedition was at the "Secret Spot".... don't ask where it is or I would have to kill you.  A nice haul of herring, skippy, KG whiting and a wrass for the dog.  We are not overly keen on herring but we love smoked fish so that was the intent for these five herring.  And they were magnificent smoked.  The KH whiting and skippy are magnificent just as is, a quick fry and that's it.  Next batch of herring we are going to pickle aka rollmops.

The next expedition was Steve and his mate out in a tinny.  Sort of makes expedition number 1 look a little insignificant!  These Australian Salmon are probably about 6 kg each and 1.2 metres long.  Along with those was a haul of KG whiting, pike, southern black fish, wirrah, leather jacket and skippy.  It's interesting that the Australian Salmon is considered a nothing fish, used for lobster bait or pet food, we really like it, it's a very meaty fish, I suppose a bit like tuna texture-wise.

This is Steve's share, 5 1/2 kilos of fish fillets!!  We've bagged them up into meal-size portions and frozen them.  Now this is self sufficiency!! :-)  Those enormous fillets at the front are the salmon.

Aussie salmon (sambos) are brilliant smoked too, so that was lunch yesterday.  They turn a rather odd colour but trust me, it doesn't change the fact that they taste wonderful.

In the midst of our protein surge, a side salad was in order.  See the white flowers at the front of this garden bed? They are garlic chives, and the flowers are lovely sprinkled into a salad, they impart a subtle garlic flavour as well as being just plain pretty.

 We are the end of our tomatoes, so I cut them up and then skipped around with a basket and gathered various herbs.... parsley, rosemary, lemon balm, garlic chive flowers and thyme.  I chopped the herbs and added them to the tomatoes with a touch of balsamic vinegar and olive oil and a wee sprinkle of salt, pepper and brown sugar.

Freshly made bread, smoked fish, herbed tomatoes and ( bought - OMG!) lettuce was a meal to die for.  YUM.

The other thing I have to tell you is that we bravely tried something very different.  Our friends who eat salmon regularly, often partake of salmon livers.  Okay, not something I'd have thought to eat, but the liver in these fish are a darn fair size.  We were presented with salmon liver to try and I have to say it is rather nice, like fish flavoured liver.  The other thing we were offered was this...

Any idea what it is?  We tried it.  It was okay.  Not much taste and very very soft, like marshmallow.  It's one of those things that we can say we've tried and leave it at that.  As to what it is, let me say that there was much smirking and ribald commenting and laughing made at the time.  It's called milt in Europe, shirako in Japan, or soft roe.  Basically it's the boy bits of a salmon that has yet to spawn.  How about that eh.  Are we brave or what!