fish frenzy

Note - this should have gone up this morning, but I was still way too wiped out after the fishing trip ! Will try and stay more timely :)

Yesterday was deep sea fishing with both resident foodies...belated birthday present for the younger one. We did a "Super Thursday" marathon trip with Yankee Fleet, out of Gloucester. 12 hour trip...2 hours out to the fishing grounds, 8 hours fishing, 2 hours back. This was my second time going out with them...can't say enough nice stuff about these folks, they really do a fantastic job - http://www.yankeefleet.com . Excellent haul - 12 keepers between the three of us, a mix of cod, haddock, cusk...and my monster pollock, shown below :

36 inches...he's a big 'un :)

One of the nice things about Yankee Fleet is that they clean and fillet your catch for you right on board...not that I can't, of course, but hey, if they want to do the work, I'm all for that !!. Me being me, I kept one cod whole (with a particular recipe in mind), and I kept the other 11 heads for making stock. Came off the boat with that, and three huge bags of fillets - I'm lowball guessing about 40 pounds (that's just the fillets), though I've given some away already so I can't weigh the whole lot.....suffice it to say, a f'ing ton ! The heads are in the freezer, and the plan for the weekend is to cook up as much as I can - including smoking some - then freeze the rest for soups. Will definitely be blogging about my various fish exploits over the weekend, so watch this space !

I knew after a 12 hour fishing marathon plus a few hours drive time that I'd probably be too exhausted to do anything too involved when I got home (and cleaned up), but of course I couldn't resist super fresh fish. And though I do usually tend to do things the long and from scratch way, I'm definitely not above using a few things that make life easier - as long as they pass my deliciousness test :). One such item that comes in very handy after a hard day of fishing is this :

available at my local Stop + Shop !

It's a little kit that comes with nori sheets (already cut small)  and a bowl of sushi rice...heat up the rice to make it workable, then roll in the nori with fish and avocado (at least that's how we roll here :) ). Chill a bit...very, very tasty, perfect for a quick sushi snack.

However, last night I went a little further...I wanted to make more than what the kit had, so I had stocked myself up with full size nori sheets and some cooked Nishiki rice. Seasoned the rice up with rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar, and we were off.....finished product below :

sushi goodness...

I really need to get a bamboo mat - next H-Mart trip, someone remind me !  - but freehand, after being awake 18  hours ? I'm thinking not too bad  !!

off to sleep, to dream about all the cool stuff I'm making this weekend....