Friday, October 2, 2009

Fish Dish

Seared Sheepshead fillets in white wine sauce with avocado/tomato salad and Laguna Madre green beans.

THE SALAD - Place halved avocado (pit and skin removed) on 2 thick slices of large vine ripe tomatoes, sprinkle coarse chopped cilantro over avocados then dress by putting several dashes of hot sauce in the avocado cavities, sprinkle w/sea salt/black pepper and squeeze half a key lime over them.
LAGUNA MADRE BEANS - Place a bunch of whole green beans in a medium sauce pan with a small amount of water, 2 cloves of whole crushed garlic, one small yellow onion quartered, sea salt/black pepper, cover and steam on medium high heat while the rest of the meal is prepared. Add a quarter stick of unsalted butter and coat bean mixture evenly before serving.

THE FISH - Coat 2 sheepshead fillets with "BT's fish breading" (1 part cornmeal-1 part flour/salt/black pepper/cayenne combination). Set aside for a while. When all other parts of meal near completion heat a pan coated with light olive oil to medium high, lay fillets in skillet until browned then turn and do the same to the other side. Sheepshead is a very light mild fish but tricky to get. Red snapper or black drum would make a good substitution.

THE SAUCE - Pour a liberal amount of white wine in a sauce pan then thick slice one lemon and place in the wine, cover and simmer on high until the wine reduces by about half. Remove lemon slices, add a bit more white wine plus 2 cloves crushed and coarse chopped garlic, bring to a high simmer then add 1/4 stick of unsalted butter, a couple dashes of hot sauce, sea salt and ground black pepper. Let that simmer for a while to reduce then add a 1/4 bunch of cilantro (coarse chopped) plus one spoonful of capers. As soon as that comes back to a simmer add one large spoonful of real mayonnaise and stir gently until the sauce creams, then let it simmer until it slightly thickens.

PRESENTATION - Place seared fillet in center of plate with salad and green beans on either side. Spoon sauce over fish and serve. The Estancia Chardonnay shown is a good match with this fish dish but you can substitute any number of beverage choices.

Food photo and recipe by Captain Billy Trimble
Mike Thompson's sheepshead photo taken by Ray Box

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those sheepshead are tough to take on a fly, but sometimes they relent. I usually release, but I am going to rethink that policy. That Billy Trimble needs to collect all of those recipes and put them in a cookbook. A Way Upstream cookbook sounds like a catchy title.

El Pescador said...

We'll see where the recipe concept goes Anon. For now I'm just glad Captain BT has been willing to share some of his favorites here at Way Upstream.

Anonymous said...

what has happened at Patagonia. The sizing has been reduced so much and the varitey of sizes so small that it is hard for us "larger " guys to get any technical gear to fit. Most styles now only go to XL and then thatdoesn't appear to be as large as before. It seems thats ince production went away from the states the whole range has shrunk. is this just my imagination or has anyone else thought the same?

Anonymous said...

I have to agree about Patagonia's sizing. I have been wearing a Patagonia Large forever (15+ years). In the current sizing, I cannot wear a an XL (too tight). I am starting to ignore Patagonia clothing products because of this. This is a shame. I have always viewed Patagonia more like Filson, not subject to the whims of fashion, just good products that last. I know it is not me as my weight has been the same for a long time. I am hugely disappointed in Patagonia with the sizing change.

El Pescador said...

Fit is one of those areas that there will always be some controversy around. Note that each category (Alpine, Endurance, Fishing, etc.) might have a need for a particular fit and at the same time try to conform to some universal standards. For example, while I was involved with the fishing category, our team tended to lean toward bigger cuts rather than trimmer plus we added XXL to as many styles as made sense.

My suggestion would be to add your voices to The Cleanest Line (Patagonia Company blog) and be specific about the product or products that you feel have changed or are fitting small. Here's a link to a post from the past about fit - http://www.thecleanestline.com/2008/02/fit-of-the-fall.html. I'm confident that you'll find them willing to join the conversation.

Troutdawg said...

Yum Yum!

John said...

This recipe looks absolutely phenomenal. Thanks for adding it to your website.

I'm wondering how one goes about getting added to your blogroll? Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

John

El Pescador said...

I'm glad you like the recipe John and that you'd like to be included on the Way Upstream blogroll. Let me review Modern Ice Fishing for a bit and we'll see. Keep the line in the water and believe in every hole in the ice.

John said...

Thanks! Starting to get cold up here and ice fishing while still a ways off is coming on like a freight train!

El Pescador said...

The polar express is on its way here too John. It won't be long before liquid turns to solid.