What to do with a White Sea Bass??
Cook it!!. Years ago Terri had a really good fish dish in Hawaii. Fish in a Banana Leaf, and we wanted to try to replicate the recipe. Terri’s sisters came down to celebrate her Birthday and helped cook the meal. It is more work than we would normally do for just the 2 of us. You could make the packets ahead and have them ready to pop in the oven for an easier meal with guests, or you could make a party of it and have every one help in the preparation. It was well worth the effort and a great way to spend time together.
Banana Leaf Wrapped White Sea Bass
Marinade:
2 1/2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 shallot minced
2 Tbsp vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce (could substitute soy sauce)
1 Tbsp lime juice
½ Tsp lime zest
2 Tsp grapeseed oil (could substitute canola or corn)
Fish Packets:
1.5 lbs Sea Bass, (4 – 6oz pieces) (could substitute other light/mild fish such as rockfish)
4 large banana leaves (10-12 inch length)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2-3 oz canned coconut milk (use rest of can in coconut rice recipe that follows)
1 fresh Anaheim chili cut into fine strips
1/8 cup of fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced
2 stalks of lemongrass, finely minced
1 large clove of garlic minced
1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
8 fresh basil leaves
Juice and zest of 2 limes
Optional – 4 rosemary sprigs for decoration
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 415º
- Combine Marinade ingredients in a baking dish. Place fish pieces in marinade and turn to coat. Let stand for at least 10 minutes.
- If using fresh banana leaves, dip them in boiling water for 3-5 seconds to soften. (or you can run over open flame of stove to soften) If frozen, the boiling water step is not necessary
- Place Leaves shiny side down on work surface
- Rub leaves with a little of the sesame oil
- Assemble each leaf:
Sprinkle a little coconut milk over leaf.
Divide chilies, ginger, lemongrass, cilantro and Garlic and place on the 4 banana leaves
Place marinated Fish portion on top of ingredients
Put zest & juice of ½ line over each piece of fish
Top each fish portion with 2 basil leaves
- Fold in sides of banana leaf over fish and then fold ends over to meet in middle. Use cooking string to tie up packet.
- Optional – Tie rosemary sprig on each packet
- Place the “packets” on foil lined baking tray and place into preheated oven.
- Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes (If fish is less than 1″ thick, reduce cooking time to 15 mins)
- Serve with Coconut Rice recipe that follows. We also made a Broccolli and Mushroom stir fry.
Coconut Rice
2 cups Thai jasmine-scented white rice
Remaining coconut milk (from above recipe or 1 cup)
2 cups water * (enough so that coconut milk and water = 3 cups)
1/2 tsp. salt
Add 2 pinches (about 1/16 tsp) of each ground cardamom, turmeric, allspice, cloves and cinnamon (or combo that you think you might like of “sweet” spices)
3 Tbsp. shredded coconut
Directions:
Place rice in a rice cooker (I have not made this on the stove, but think it would probably work if you kept the temp low). Stir in the water, coconut milk, salt, ground spices and shredded coconut. Cover and set to cook use the white rice setting)
Once your rice cooker switches to “warm” mode, let rice sit 10 minutes for rice to finish “steaming”
Gently stir and fluff rice before serving
Support for Wounded Soldier Christopher Montera
Come and join us at the Benefit and fundraiser for Christopher Montera at the Bali Hai Resturant on Monday, 8 October 2012.
Check out this link for his story and to purchase tickets: http://christophermonterasupport.com/
Short story, he was injured in March 2012 in Afganistan. This fund Raiser is to help the with expenses for him and his family. Currently he is at the VA Polytrauma Hospital in Palo Alto, CA.
Chris’s father is Sportfishing Boat Captain here in San Diego, he and his wife spend time with their son during his treatment.
Maiden Voyage
Day on the Bay
Took my new boat on its Maiden Voyage today. I installed new hydraulic steering controls and needed to do a test run and shake down cruise.
Since it was a holiday weekend, we launched down at J Street in South Bay and headed up to the Commercial Marina by the Midway Museum Ship to meet up with my buddy who is a commercial fisherman. Check out their website www.thefishaddiction.com and find out when and where they will be selling fresh fish in San Diego, they sell right off the boat and at the Farmers Market.
USS Midway Museum
My son and I traded boats. My new boat is larger and more stable. The boat will also continue to be used for Rogue Corps trips once it is completely set up for safety. Check out Rogue Corps at https://www.facebook.com/RogueCorps
Putting the boat on the trailer
I have actually been on the boat many times, but this time I was in control. There is a lot of new electronic equipment to learn, but am looking forward to it, and being able to get out further off shore.
Last Three Weeks
We have had some great trips to Estero Bay the last 3 weeks. 3 weeks ago we were down for 4 days fishing for Spotfin and Corbina in the surf and Halibut in the Bay. We were making smelt for Halibut bait and a Sea Turtle came tearing through the smelt. It was the first time I have seen a turtle in the Bay in 55 years. Seeing the sea turtle was the highlight of the trip.
My cousin Nancy, her husband Tristan and son Zack also came down. They caught some nice Halibut that weekend. They also saw the sea turtIe at a different time. We also caught some Corbina in the surf so we had plenty of fish for taco’s. Here is Zack with 2 of his Halibut
The next week I had the opportunity to take Dillon out for Rokfish off Point Loma. Dillon is a sampler for the CDFG and had the chance to use the Roklees on some small Rokfish. We brought home 5 Copper Rockfish and 15 Vermilion. It was a good day for Rokfishing.
We went back to Estero last weekend to relax. Tristan, Nancy, Zack and his girlfriend Nichole were already down and were catching some nice halibut. They kept 8 legal size halibut and a 5.4 lb. Broomtail Grouper, another first for the Bay. This was the first Broomtails grouper I’ve seen caught in the bay, must be Global Warming.
Yesterday, I took my Bluegrass buddy, Rick out for Rokfish in a different area. The current was moving way to fast so we struggled on numbers, but they were all nice fish. One Copper Rokfish weighed in at 5.4 lbs.
We were able to use the Roklees several times, but one very important time was to release a 12.4 lb Cowcod, which was 29 1/2 inches long. We had to use 3lbs. of lead to get it to go down. I had him take it all the way to the bottom to help with recompression. Three years ago, I would have never known you could save these fish from floating on the surface and dying. See the picture below, of Rick and his Cow.
La Jolla Yellowtail
Well it’s been awhile since we have blogged, I went fishing with my friend Joe on his boat, the “Playin Hooky” in the La Jolla Kelp beds. We were slow trolling sardines in 100ft of water. We hooked 4 Yellows but only landed two. The Kelp Cutter rig worked well cutting through the kelp with 65 lb Spectra Line with 30 lb Fluorocarbon leader. The fish were 23 and 26 lbs, I got the bigger one. Hoping to get on the water tomorrow for RockFish.
Squidco’s Annual Fathers Day Event
EcoLeeser and the RokLees will be at Squidco’s Annual Fathers Day Event. This Saturday June 16 9:00a-2:00p. Great Deals and Gifts for Dads. See the Latest and Greatest in gear! Come on by and visit us. The location is 3518 Barnett Ave, San Diego, CA 92110
Two for one release!
Good Weather
Yesterday was another great day of fishing on the water. My son Mark, fishing buddy Butch Takahashi and I went out test my sons his new Lowrance meter and the RokLees. Can’t do enough testing you know!! We fished out on the 9 mile bank. The meter worked great, we kept mainly vermillion rockfish and released small calico rockfish, small greenspotted and Barberpoles with barotrauma with the EcoLeeser RokLees Fish Descender. We kept one barberpole, a 2.5 pounder that butch caught.
- Nice sized flag!!
This is the recipe my wife tried tonight for the fillets we kept.
Asparagus and Rockfish Parchment packets
Makes 2 servings
The asparagus steams along with the fish in individual paper packets.
Ingredients
2 15×24-inch piece ofparchment paper
2 6-8 ounce fish Rock Fish Fillets (you could use any mild fish such as Halibut or bass) Fillets about 1 inch thick)
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp fresh chopped basil leaves (you could use dried
1 Tbsp fresh marjoram (you could use dried)
1 Tbsp butter, in 2 pieces, half in each packet
¾ pound asparagus spears, trimmed
(ours were short about 5 inches)
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place parchment sheet on work surface. Generously butter half of each piece of parchment. Top buttered half of each piece with half the asparagus spears, then place1 fish fillet over asparagus. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper; top each fillet with fresh chopped herbs, squeeze fresh orange juice over fish, then top with1 piece of butter. Fold parchment over fish and asparagus, folding and crimping edges tightly to seal and enclose filling completely. Twist the end under the packet. You can use a paper clip to keep it in place. Place packet on a baking sheet with space between them. You can make these 4-6 hours ahead and keep in the refrigerator. If you like these, they would be great for company as you can prepare them early in the day.
Bake fish packets 20minutes. Slide packets onto plates and serve.
We had garlic roasted new potatoes as a side, It ended up being a little too much asparagus, I think we will use a half pound next time.
Tonights supper!
The RokLees Fish Descender Device is in the Winter2012 GuyHarvey Magazine! The magazine is available in print only. Check out on at Magazine Stands and at the link for the magazine.
http://www.guyharveymagazine.com/magazine Look for the Winter 2012 Issue.
Check out pages 48-53. There is an excellent article “Catch and Release Survival Guide” by Daryl Carson. The RokLees Fish Descender Device by EcoLeeser is shown on Page 53 along with other Survival Tools.
This is the picture shown in the article
Hope you get a chance to read it. When a digital copy is available we will post it.
RokLees The Fish Descender Device
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