Wednesday, October 22, 2014

A Little Trip To WV and Swordfish

Now that Madison is back in school, we are pretty tied to her schedule and for her fall break we made a short trip to WV where we visited with my relatives in Fairmont and she stayed with her mom’s family in Wheeling.  In addition to visiting, we did the normal Fairmont things that included some hot dogs from Woody’s and pepperoni rolls from Colasessano’s and we checked out the Stonewall Jackson State Park campground for its ability to accommodate our RV.

A couple of unusual’s for our trip:

It’s not often my cousin gets to mow his grass shirtless in mid-October.


This guy was helping out next door.


And we were not aware that they use helicopters to trim the power line right-aways with ten 24” diameter circular saws – you can just see it in my shot or go here for more views.


I didn’t have my long lens with me.

From Fairmont, we went up to Wheeling to pick up Madison and while there, we went to Market Centre for a famous fish sandwich from Coleman’s Fish Market and while there we checked out the fresh fish counter and were shocked at how low the prices were compared to our place.  So we had to buy some to bring home and Madison picked out Marlin, Shark, and Swordfish ($10/lb) while I went for Flounder and King Salmon tail pieces ($7/lb).

After we got home all but the Swordfish went into the freezer and I went in search of a unique Swordfish recipe, eventually discovering Sicilian Style Swordfish, which was the runner-up in a contest.  We only had two pieces of fish, but I made the full sauce recipe and I grilled the Swordfish rather than pan cook it so I changed the instructions.

Sicilian-Style Swordfish – Adapted from cucinettaNYC - Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
¼ cup pitted oil-cured black olives coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons salted capers, well rinsed and coarsely chopped
¼ cup dry white wine, preferably Sicilian
Crushed red pepper to taste
4 x 6 ounces swordfish steaks
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat, add onion and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, until onion is lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes.

2. After a couple of minutes, season swordfish with salt and pepper, oil, and begin grilling it over high heat – I flipped it after 5 minutes. We did some chicken and asparagus as well.


3. When the onion is lightly browned, add sun-dried tomatoes, olives, capers, wine and generous pinch red pepper flakes; stir together and cook until warmed through.


4. When swordfish is done (note), plate, top with sauce, sprinkle with roughly torn basil (which I forgot) and serve.

Note:  From what I read, the fish should be cooked to 145* for safety’s sake, so I cooked it to 140* knowing with the carryover heat and sauce topping it would get above that level.

Everything done and headed for the kitchen.


We served the fish with a Knorr's Pasta side and grilled asparagus.


I thought the Swordfish was delicious and would serve it in my restaurant, if I had one.  The topping was flavorful and complimented the flavor of the fish without hiding it.  All-in-all a very good meal from the grill.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/11- 10/17/14 events dates

9 comments:

  1. Sounds like a very tasty recipe. Will pickup some swordfish when I get a chance and give it a try.

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  2. Larry, I haven't had swordfish in a long, long time. Checked out that video of the helicopter tree trimming...pretty amazing. Probably will be the stuff of an action movie...or a horror movie before long! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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  3. Mmmm. It looks amazing! Loving that sauce - so many great textures & flavors.

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  4. Swordfish with a tasty sauce is always a winner. Glad you had a nice trip.
    Sam

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  5. Sounds like you all had a nice visit. So, is Madison finished with homeschooling now, caught up enough? That will be harder for you to just take off for a few days, but I'm sure she enjoys the socialization. It's very complicated to deal with teenagers, especially when they're grandchildren and not children, so you have to at least indirectly deal with their parents as well. You scored big with that fish; I'm sure it will be the basis of many more wonderful meals. (And I'm glad you've expanded Madison's culinary world such that she is actually selecting fish instead of tolerating it!).

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  6. Hey Larry - looks like you are having some fun! We continue to have "places" in common. My mom was from the Wheeling area and actually worked for Wheeling Steel when she met my father, who was from Chattanooga. Anyway - my grandmother lived in Beech Bottom, WVA on 49 hill. We spent many years roaming around visiting relatives in Weirton, Wellsburg, Follensby and Wheeling and spent many a summer day at Oglebay Park. Love it!

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  7. Great looking swordfish Larry. You guys it much more fish than we do. Glad you had a fun trip.

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  8. I tried cooking swordfish once and thought it was awful. Not the fish's fault but the recipe. Plus I probably over cooked it. With that said. I'm gonna try this one. Thanks for the recipe Larry. It's 83 here today, but we've got cold/rainy weather on it's way. It'll be soup tomorrow night.

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  9. I have seen videos of those helicopter trimmers, those saw blades swinging look amazingly dangerous and powerful. I could see having nightmares of being chased down the road by one of those things.

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