Ok, haven't posted anything in awhile as I have been in the midst of the great kitchen remodel, but there has been some excellent happenings in the aqaponics system(s).
I harvested the eggplant last week and Jennifer made an absolutely wonderful eggplant parmigian. I also harvested another round of the climbing spinach that we sauteed and toped with a bit of feta cheese and some balsamic vinegar. That went really well with the eggplant.
Of course the okra is still doing it's thing (apparently it is immortal). The basil is starting to go to seed so I need to make some pesto, which works out because I just harvested 4 gallons of native pecans from a tree in my dad's yard. A few of those in with the basil, parmigiano, and olive oil should be delicious.
The chard in the new larger bed is about ready to harvest. The cabbage, collards, and kohlrabi are doing well. What I really wanted to talk about though is the fish. It's getting colder and I don't want to have to heat more than one tank. So... time to eat some fish. Aaron caught five of our larger talipia from one of the tanks, we filleted them, dredged the fillets in an egg wash and then in a corn meal/flour mix and popped them in some hot oil till golden brown. YUM!
When you fillet fish *DON'T THROW AWAY THE HEADS AND BONES!!!!* If you toss out the heads and bones you are depriving yourself of some awesome possibilities. Remove the gills (just the read part on the inside) as well as the guts. Throw the rest of the head and carcass into a pot, cover with water, add some diced onion, salt, pepper, and garlic and simmer for about 20 minutes. Strain the fish stock into a fresh pot. Now you can discard the bones.
Great, now you have a pot of fish stock. big deal. What the heck do you do with fish stock? Funny, I asked myself the same question this morning. Mostly it is used for things like fish soups and chowders, but I found a fantastic and very simple recipe for a dish called "Fish Veloute" I just had to share.
In a large pot melt one stick of butter. slowly mix in one cup of flour a bit at a time to make a light roux. A roux is basically a starchy paste that is the basis of a whole host of sauces and pan gravies. Now slowly add in the fish stock a bit at a time and whisk until smooth. Slowly bring to a boil stirring occasionally to keep the starch from sticking to the bottom. *Slow* is the key here as you raise the temperature. You don't want to burn the starch at the bottom and you don't want the creamy soup to "break". "Breaking" is when a sauce separates and once that happens it is darned hard to rescue. Salt and pepper to taste (didn't need to salt mine at all as the fish stock was already pretty salty). That's it, you have a bowl of satisfying creamy goodness that you aren't likely to find outside of a high end
French restaurant, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to make, and best of all, the main ingredient is the stuff that most people would just toss down the disposal without knowing any better.
Enjoy!
