Seafood 101

I doubled up on my Chopping Block classes in January, to make up for missing one in December. Seafood 101 much finished out my proteins. This was an interesting experience. On one hand, it was full of learning and was taught by Lynzie, my favorite instructor there. On the other, apparently, I don't like seafood that much. Of the three recipes, none really did much for me.

We prepared:

• Halibut Puttanesca
• Macadamia Nut Crusted Trout
• Scallop, Shrimp and Mussel Curry

In the cases of the first two, the fish just didn't taste that good. They have good suppliers and everyone else just loved them, so I think that I just may not be the target audience. I also just don't like mussels or any kind of similar shellfish that much (i.e. mollusks - clam, oysters - but not scallops. Those are great.).

That being said, learning how to skin a halibut was pretty neat. No one else was willing to volunteer for it, so I got to wield the knife there. You're supposed to puncture the skin at the tail end of the fillet to get something to hang onto while you pull the knife through. It's surprisingly tough. Like really, really tough.

The techniques will be useful, but I'll have to modify them. The macadamia nut crust was really nice and would go well with salmon. The curry was actually amazing. I'll probably make it with just the scallops and shrimp sometime.

Here's something else I learned - printed recipes are apparently a relatively new thing at the Chopping Block. Used to be that you'd have to write them down long-hand. Are you kidding me? That would have sucked. The classes busy enough as it is. When would you have time?