So...what part of the fish do fingers come from?

I guess that question ranks with anatomical placement of the ever popular chicken nuggets (umm...gosh...that came out differently in my head..really.)

But still...

I've never really been a fan of processed fish fingers or patties. The texture's never right, the coating is disgusting and usually left on the plate, along with dandruff-like flakes of reformulated fish. I much prefer whole fillets, with their big, juicy hunks of flesh. And yes, the coating is still left behind.

I fully admit to not buying a lot of boxed fish products. Most of it just doesn't appeal...and the one kind I actually did like (a particular type of beer-battered fillet) can no longer be found. So whether or not I can find fish fingers made of whole fish pieces, I really don't know. But it no longer matters as I now make my own.

Buttermilk-marinated fried catfish is one of my favourite dishes, so it only makes sense to turn the whole fillet into fingers...but without the hot dog-like grinding and sticking together of the fishie bits. Besides...the informal nature of foods you can dip is just gosh-darned fun. It shouldn't all be knives and forks. I suppose you could dip it in some home-made ketchup, to truly bring back childhood memories, but I decided to try and be grown-up about it all and made some aioli.

The fingers are really easy to make, but may set off some innate fears about shallow or deep fat frying. If you have one of those deep fat frying gadgets, by all means, use it. I don't so I shallow fried, moderating the oil's temperature as I went. It's not that hard. Really. What follows is more of an idea of a recipe than a real recipe--use more seasoning if you want, do a double dredge if you really want. For me, one fillet can do about three servings, but a more hearty eater might be able to polish off a whole fillet herself.


Catfish fingers

250ml buttermilk
1 dspn Old Bay Seasoning
400g catfish fillet
60g ap flour
1.5 Tbsp cornmeal
peanut oil
salt

Mix together the buttermilk and Old Bay.

Cut the fillet into finger-like pieces and marinate in the spiced buttermilk mixture for 1-2 hours.

Mix the flour and cornmeal together. Dredge the fingers in the dry mixture prior to shallow frying in hot oil (4-6 minutes per side, until the meat is cooked and the coating is golden).

Removed fingers to drain on paper towels and lightly salt while still hot.

Serve hot with aoili for dipping.

cheers!
jasmine

Elvis, you'll always be the King

I grew up watching Elvis Presley movies on TV. Everytime one of his films aired, my parents made a mini event of it and we'd sit on the couch and watch...sometimes sing.

I loved (and still do) films of that era and genre. It was a sort of candy-coated, sparkly world where everyone broke into song at a moment's notice. I never quite figured out why life wasn't quite like that. Oh sure, I treat pretty much everything as a song cue and will warble a few lines of this or that to prove a point...but for some reason people rarely join in...even rarer still, do they do that lovely spontaneous, en masse choreography.

I found out sometime mid-day that today marks his 74th birthday. Which surprised me. Not the number itself, but the fact that I found out mid-day...and quite by accident. It used to be on his birthday the radio station (regardless of the one I listened to) would mention something...even play a song or two...but not today.

Harrumph...

Is that any way to treat The King?

Harrumph...

His culinary predilictions are known...along with his appetite...Hamburgers, mashed potatoes, pound cake...What I always found a little sad was how so many people seemed to turn their nose up at a particularly yummy one: fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Really all it is is a pb and banana sammy on toasted bread, browned in butter on the grill. Gosh, make an eggy coating and it would be a divine cross between French toast and pb&b...

What I like about this sandwich, is how both the banana and peanut butter just sort of melt into one other...all warm and gooey between pieces of fried bread...There are no quantities needed--you may want more pb than b or you may want more b than pb...it's all up to you.

You know what I'll be munching on, as I watch Bruce Campbell as that hunkahunka burning love in Bubba Hotep (if you've seen the movie, you know why I'm laughing as I type) tonight, wishing The King, a happy, happy...

Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches

Lightly toasted bread
Mashed banana
Peanut butter
Butter

Spread peanut butter on one slice of toast, then slather it with banana and top with a second slice.

Melt butter in a pan. When it starts to sing place the sanwich in and let it fry for a couple of minutes. Add more butter (if necessary) and flip the sandwich and fry for another minute or two.
Serve immediately.

cheers!
jasmine

Hurrah for cookie-eating small children with snow shovels

It's no great secret that my lower back might as well have been bestowed upon me by Loki himself.

Anything can send me in wincing in agony. Moving the wrong way as I walk, heavy lifting (no, cuddling Beanie does not count as heavy lifting), even sitting on the wrong type of fabric can cause great shooting pains down my spine and render me almost immobile.

How did I originally hurt myself? Gr. IX Phys Ed and the absolutely *lovely* teacher we had...heck, any 40-something woman with sun-damaged skin a bad orange dye job (I think she was going for blonde) who gloats about wearing her nine year-old daughter's skirts (which didn't fit the mother in the least) really does have the necessary psychological fortitude to be put in an authoritarian position over students.

So when it comes to snow shovelling, I rely upon the kindess others. Some I know (like the exbf and my father) and others I don't...like the mystery snowshoveller who cleans my driveway so incredibly pristinely before I get in from work. In my old neighbourhood, teenaged boys with shovels would show up expecting $10-20 to move your snow. They'd do a wretched job of it, and I'd wind up getting the exbf in to do it properly.

But in my new neighbourhood...

Christmas week-ish we had a gloriously amazing series of snowfalls. Environment Canada christened it "snowmaggedon" -- highly melodramatic, I know. But it was a highly melodramatic amount within a short period of time (most of which has since melted). Out I popped to survey what Ullr himself deemed necessary to drop on my doorstep, path and driveway. Back in I popped, hoping the snow really wasn't there. A short while later, the doorbell rang.

Two boys, vaguely recognisable as being from the neighbourhood, bundled in their winter warmies, toting shovels larger than they themselves asked if I wanted to be dug out.

"But I don't have any cash."

"That's okay, we want to do it."

Apparently these boys were very, very bored.

"Okay...do you want cookies instead?"

"Oh wow! Yes, please!"

Good gawd...and they say "please" without their mothers being present.

Needless to say, as they shovelled I packed a dozen cookies for each of them. Afterwards, I surveyed my small patch of asphalt. My word...it looked as if a snowblower had done it.

A few days later, after the next dump, I poked my nose out in much the same fashion. This time the boys saw me and came running over to see if I needed to be dug out again.

And again, they did it for a dozen cookies each...with delivered commentary from their families as to how much they liked the first load.

So now, I try and keep three dozen cookies on hand, in case the snows return, and with them cookie-eating small children with snow shovels.

Oatmeal Cookies
Yield 3 dozen, depending upon the generosity of your cookie spoon

112g butter
110g brown sugar
100g granulated sugar
0.5 tsp salt
0.75 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
0.5 tsp vanilla
175g ap flour
0.5t cinnamon
115 g rolled oats

Preheat oven to 170C/350F.

Cream together sugars, salt and butter; add eggs and vanilla and stir well.

Sift together flour, bicarb and cinnamon, then fold with the oats into the wet mixture. Drop by onto prepared cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

cheers!
jasmine