Gardiners Bay Bluefish on the Grill

Dear Julia,

I love your book! You know a fish is deliciously fresh by the smell, says Julia. Smell it right there at the market. Breath in the salt air. When cooking, smell again, look, touch. Fish is perfectly done when you smell its juices cooking, see its flesh turn milky to clear. Does it bounce back to the touch? Do Not "cook until flaky...that's woefully overcooked."

In The Way to Cook, our teacher with gusto extraordinare Julia revisits all her beloved classic techniques, distilling her 30 years of experience and experimentation, weaving in healthier, faster, simpler. She wants us to know that there are ways to cook right-off-the-boat thick bluefish fillets, like we had in our hands (we don't buy fish, we put a contract out on them rejoices Darling Husband) and those same techniques are used for swordfish steaks, salmon fillets, mahi-mahi or shark, that is, bake, broil, grill. But not the same for lean fish like cod, which you would poach or bake in liquid. In this book, "all fish that are cooked the same way are grouped together...that is the way one learns to cook."


Dinner

Bluefish fillets on the grill (salted, as Julia always does, and we used caper salt, grilled, flipped "you must turn your fish and cook it on both sides" and 5 min. before it's done, drizzle butter, herbs (chervil) and pastis (Julia says Vermouth, but we like the licorice compliment) . By the way, the chervil, which we missed in an earlier version, brings a garden freshness to the pastis. Also, Julia notes, keep the skin and scales on, and lay that side down on the grill first. The fish stays intact, moist, easier to turn.

August ripe tomatoes in olive oil and basil -- one of the reasons I am a big fan of Julia Child is that she adores and understands the delicate and delicious quality of vegetables. Tomatoes are "permanently traumatized" if refrigerated. I agree.

Latham's bi color corn, baked to perfection at 400, 25 minutes.

What I love about August and tomato season is you can eat ripe, sweet, tangy tomatoes every night, simply drizzled with olive oil and basil, and they are all wonderfully different -- cherries, heritage, plum, old fashioned reds....

Why am I writing this blog?
1-as a diary to record our locovore, deliciously-ripe-in-season meals (and DH's genius)
2-to document and analyze the cost
3-to master the art of classic techniques, as Julia herself distilled them into healthier, lighter, faster fare.

Cost
$5 Bluefish, 1/2 $2.30, Corn $2, Tomatoes $2. $6.50 total.

...Not including the lovely Pimm's Cup (my mother's favorite) with a slice of honeydew melon Darling Husband made for us as we grilled on the deck, after he had 4 stitches in his left leg from a fall between beach rocks today.

Dinner grilled on our east deck, the coolest place on this sultry August night.

Bon Appetit.

Slow Julia