Down to the Docks

I guess it's easy to see we are major seafood lovers here. With our abundant selection of fresh fish and shellfish, some days it's just hard to decide what to choose. Saturday I headed up to the Portland docks to one of my favorite fish markets.. Harbor Fish Market. This is always a fun visit for me, but deciding on what I want to bring home, another story. I seldom settle on just the 'daily specials'.

So I thought some of you other seafood lovers might like to see some of the many selections they offer and why it's so hard for me to make up my mind. ;) This market is just wonderful... a throwback in time, with such a varied assortment of seafood specialties and freshest of fish to choose from. With a wonderfully knowledgable and friendly staff, it's easy to see why they've been around for over thirty years.

A few fish selections..







Countless clams, mussels & oysters than you know what to do with..




Some things you really may not know what to do with LOL :-)







And I haven't even headed over to the perriwinkle, crab, shrimp or lobster tanks yet! LOL Perhaps now you understand my dilemma. But even if you aren't a seafood lover.. this market is one special place to visit if you are ever in our neck of the woods.

I settled on sockeye salmon filets, swordfish, fresh lump crabmeat and couldn't pass up the 'special' on haddock. So, last night we had Grilled Salmon & Beurre Blanc.. yum!



Grilled Salmon & Beurre Blanc

4-5 salmon filets
dark brown sugar
1 tsp dillweed
lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil

Beurre blanc sauce:

A traditional Beurre blanc sauce is made with no cream, a rich white butter sauce made with a reduction of vinegar or wine and some add a bit of heavy cream to stabilize it…though Chef Anthony Burdain would argue this point..he wrote in his novel "There is no, I repeat, no, cream in a real beurre blanc ... You see any mention of cream in there? No ... you put cream in there, it ain't a beurre blanc". But I still prefer adding a bit of cream to my sauce.

1/2 cup Sauvignon Blanc
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 lb unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
drizzle of balsamic vinegar
fresh thyme
juice of ½ lemon
sea salt & white pepper

· Rinse & pat dry salmon filets. Sprinkle with lemon juice & dillweed. Rub olive oil over salmon filets. Now dredge filets in a bowl of dark brown sugar. Set aside until ready to grill.

Beurre Blanc sauce:

· In a sautee pan add the wine – reduce to ½ on medium heat
· Add cream and reduce this also to ½ on medium heat
· Add a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar, fresh thyme, lemon juice, salt &
pepper
· Now lower the heat & add your chilled cut butter a few pieces at a time,
whisking with each addition until creamy and reduced by ½ once again.



Grill dredged salmon filets for approximately 8 minutes, each side ( depending on thickness of filets) over a medium heat. The sugar glaze heats rapidly, so keep your eye on the filets… don’t scorch. Once cooked, spoon Beurre blance sauce on and serve. Enjoy!

Gardener's Mint Salsa

For any of you that have abundant vegetable gardens and all those veggies coming in all at once, this is a nice light meal. With our varied seafood selection I make this often..my favorite is over grilled swordfish, or lobster tails, but many tell me they serve this over chicken or pork as well.




1 cucumber
1 yellow summer squash or cousa squash
1 zucchini
1 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
3 garlic cloves
2 shallots
8 sprigs of fresh mint (any mints that grow in your garden)
3 TBLS olive oil
2 TBLS white wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 TBLS butter
cayenne pepper or tobasco sauce and ground cinnamon
4 swordfish steaks
fresh lemon
2 tsp spice brown mustard
3 tsp mayonaise

Peel the cucumber and dice it up.. put these pieces into a small collander & sprinkle with a bit of salt and allow to drain for 15 minutes. Wash, clean and dice up all the other vegetables and tear the mint leaves.

In a large saute pan warm the olive oil and add shallots and garlic and sautee until lightly browned. Now add the peppers and squash, zucchini and drained cucumber pieces and sautee 5 minutes more. Add in the vinegar, sugar, tobasco sauce or cayenne to taste and a few good shakes of ground cinnamon and just a sprinkling of salt if you must. Continue cooking this until the liquids in your pan have evaporated.. 3-5 minutes. Add your chopped mint leaves now & toss all well together. Put into a bowl & set aside.covered.



In the same frying pan melt the butter over medium heat. Sprinkle the swordfish with white pepper, a smidgeon of salt and squeeze of half a fresh lemon. Cook each side until browned and basted with a bit of diijon mustard and mayaonaise mixture. After it's cooked, place your fish on a plate. Take the already pre-cooked veggie salsa and put it into the pan you cooked your fish into.. warm it up quickly absorbing any leftover fish juices in the pan. Spoon the mint medley over your fish with a few fresh mint leaves and serve with a large Caesars's salad. Enjoy!