Bad News For the RockFish Population...

Although I love yanking on big fish, and
who doesn't, I never thought about going
for rockfish. Until Gabe convinced me otherwise.

This past week I came to La Jolla for yellows armed
with a jig stick, squid rigs--and a rockfish setup--
just in case.


Gabe showed me some random spots that he believed
were set in stone on his hand-helded gps. Funny, cause
his waypoints, mobs, and tracking data seemed to move
everytime we did.

I resorted to my halibut fishing methods from dana: hit
potential spot-after-spot until I get bit. And, it worked.

I promised Chef T, I'd share a Greek Rockfish soup recipe, called
Kakavia, that is, The Fisherman's Catch Stew. This stew
originated from the ancient Greek fisherman as they colonizied
the Mediterranean (the French stole the recipe and called
it Bouillabasisse).


Kakavia is actually a three legged clay pot that sits in the
middle of fisherman's boat. Whatever got caught was thrown
in, accompanied with vegies, and eaten with bread. Often
times cooked with seawater.

Unlike traditional French cooking, Greek cooks don't create a
fish stock first and then create a soup next. We just get it
done all at once.

Recipe for the Soup (enough soup for a few Greeks)
--2 bottles of dry white wine
--14 cups of water
--1 cup vinegar
--2 large lemons
--large bundle of celery
--2 large onions
--8 large carrots
--8 potatoes
--salt/pepper
--big pinch of saffron
--6 rockfish
--2lbs baby octopus (store bought)

Chop up the vegies, throw into pot of cold water. Gut, scale,
and gill the fish, then throw them in too. Add seasonings.
Bring to a boil, then remove fish and allow to cool for handling.
Allow soup to simmer for another hour.

By now, the fish meat has cooled. Remove as much of the meat
and skin as possible. Throw it in along with the baby octopus,
cook only for 5 minutes more and serve.

Since the French stole from us, I too steel from the French. I
serve this soup with crunchy toasted bread and a French roasted
red pepper, garlic spread called Rouie (sp?).

Rouie
--Roast 2 large red peppers until the skin is blackened, remove skin
--6 cloves of strong garlic
--the juice of a 1/2 lemon
--1/2 cup of bread crumbs
--salt/pepper

Whip this stuff up in the food processor and place in a bowl. Then
spread all over your bread. Beware, very garlicy. Be sure and have
your mate eat this stuff with you. Because after you eat a bowl of
this potent Greek Kavavia, you'll attack anything.

[William Novotny]

For the delicious sounding recipe! Me and my wide love authentic greek cuisine. Can't wait to get some rockfish on the stringer and try this one out.

Two mistakes!!

The word is "steal" not steel, I guess I've got
the Steelers on my mind.

But more importantly, for the Rouie you
need a cup of good extra virgin olive oil.
(how in the hell did I forget that??)

Drizzle in the olive oil while you're blending
the Rouie ingredients. Don't forget to taste for
saltiness.

William, scale down the recipe, unless you're
having my relatives over!

[coxtanker421]

[T Bone]

Wow,That looks great! I love the taste of octopus but not the texture.I have never had baby octopus.Do they have the flavor without the "rubbery" texture?
Good work on the rockfish.

[blitzburgh]

Nice looking dish!

And oh yeah.....

Originally Posted by yani

I guess I've got
the Steelers on my mind.

You and me both.....

[Ojos_raros]

ever try whole grilled squid, greek style with olive oil, lemon, capers, garlic with grilled bread? We're going to try this this week. definitely marinate in milk first but could be tricky cleaning squid if keeping whole.

[Hypoxic1]

Dam Yani,
looks like a fantastic meal. I think Sandras gonna try it soon!!

[jorluivil]

OPA!!

That looks like the perfext soup for a rainy day.

[Tman]

As usual Yani is wrong...very wrong

Why must you persist in doing this?

More importantly, when are you going to come over to show me how it's done?

[driftwood]

Hey! your greek family is not so fat. LOL! Good looking family Yani. Which one is your wife on that picture?

WOW! that fish stew would be perfect for a cold day like today. I'm going to make that fish stew but without the heads on the fish. My wife won't eat it with the fish heads on.

[lterrero]

Yani, I don't know how good of a Angler you are? but for sure you are the #1
in cooking

For cooking squid and BABY octopus you either cook
it for a minute or two OR you cook then for at least
one hour. Otherwise you get tough, chewy meat.

Adult octopus is cooked altogether different.
It must be pounded, and cooked over
a low heat. Since there's little fat in the meat, high
heat will only boil off the fat leaving tough meat behind.
Every octopus eating culture has their own methods.
Some cook octopus in its own juices, Italians cook it
with wine corks to add tenderizing enzymes, and Greeks
cook it in water or white wine.

T-Bone, it's not the texture--or the "mouth feel"--of the
octopus you don't like, rather the tough, chewy meat.
Octopus has a very pleasing, playful "mouth feel" as
its tentacles tickle your tongue. (how's that for a bunch of Ts??)
If you're eating tough squid or octopus, fire the cook.

Ojos, I'm not sure about the milk, but cleaning and perserving
a whole squid is easy. Once you remove its "plastic like" backbone,
outer skin and pinch out its beak, all that's left are its entrails.
Now here's the surprise, or should I say Prize.

All the entrails are edilbe and delicious, especially the eggsac.
However, the ink sac has such a strong flavor, its recommended
you remove it. Here's how. Simply make a small cut at the base
of the squid's body, vertically, towards its apex. Then reach in
with your finger and pull the ink sack out. Now you're ready to
cook and feast. By the way, the ink sack has many culinary uses
as well: tamales, pasta, and soups.

Stinky Matt, keep cooking. I'm sure your kitchen skills will keep
improving, just like your fishing.

Driftwood, a wife who doesn't like fish heads makes me wonder...

Tman, if you include me in on a hot bite, we'll cook our fish together.
How's that for a deal?

[William Novotny]

Ive got my fingers crossed. Hope it comes out as good as yours looks. Should be done by the time the sunday night game starts. I dont know alot of greeks but my family is a bunch of big hungry Czechs:-)

[Ojos_raros]

best pasta Ive ever had was in Spain - they used octopus ink in the pasta. super yummy. next time you make calamari, marinate the squid in milk - it comes out SUPER tender!

[wiredantz]

love the read thanks!

[mtnbykr2]

One really cool thing about BWE, is not only the great culmination of a bunch of good people bound together by Spectra, and a love for the sport,
but the amount of high caliber Chefs here, who are willing to share their receipes...I love it...

[lamb]

nothin' like poping up BWE homepage and getting a dirty look from Yani's fish cookin' in the pot...

Bow down to the master kayak chef

[DanaPT]

Nice post, great soup. Thank you for sharing.

[The Kid]

Wow, Yani that looks so bomb. Where's the squid in that medley?