Woo-hoo!! Thank you Joe! The snow is falling thick and fast but the memories of mussels, tiny Manilla clams and cobia linger on. Umbria may be land locked and meat-centric, but living in the Wasatch mountains of Utah really makes you feel far from the sea and fresh fish; so it’s pretty spectacular when a box of fresh fish delicacies show up at our door.
The best thing to do when you receive a box of goodies like this is to invite a bunch of people and chow down and that’s what we did.
The mussels were steamed with cracked whole cloves of garlic, an anchovy or two and lots of fresh lemon chunks. It’s a very simple and clean way to prepare and enhance the mussel flavor.
The cobia was more of a challenge. First we had to figure out just what a cobia is and the internet served more to confuse than enlighten. Someone found a cobia and peanut butter recipe that was truly gag inducing. It’s a funny fish: the tail makes beautiful almost swordfish like steaks, while the body cavity meat is thin along the ribs and would probably be good in a soup. I opted to try it as small steaks and entertained a small crowd as I wacked apart the fish using a knife and the bottom of our Moka coffee pot. Life in the mountains is very simple so you can appreciate the allure of watching a fish with wings get wacked apart. Our cobia was quickly fried, roasted in fish stock and finished with an olive dressing. That’s a lot going on for a fish prep, but this fish seems to need a flavor boost from some sort of sauce. All in all it was a fine evening, spent with friends and family.
Grazie mille Joe & Steve!!
