Two years ago, graduate students at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment partnered with fishermen on the North Carolina coast to develop a way to bring fresh seafood to Durham residents. The result: Walking Fish, a community-supported fishery and quite possibly the coolest thing to hit Durham since Crash Davis.
Every other Thursday, leaders of the cooperative drive to the coast and pick up shares of the fresh catch from local fishermen and fisheries, then drive back to Durham to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens parking lot and deliver the seafood to shareholders from all over town.
Shefali heard about the program last fall. She also learned that it has become so popular that the shares sell out within a few hours. Tired of listening to me complain about living two hours from the beach but having to buy seafood flown in from Ecuador and Indonesia in our local grocery stores, she signed us up to receive two pounds per delivery the moment winter shares became available.
I picked up our first share last Thursday. A graduate student sitting behind a collapsible table in the parking lot looked up my name, then turned to another student wearing rubber gloves and standing in the bed of a pickup truck. He opened a huge cooler and pulled out one Southern Flounder in a clear plastic bag.
While I was waiting in line to pick up my catch, I listened to other members complain about flounder's bland taste and lack of versatility. I'd cooked flounder fillets in a simple tomato broth once before, but this fish was only headed and gutted. I did a lot of fishing growing up, but never learned how to fillet. This summer in Minnesota my dad gave me a crash course on a walleye, but I wasn't about to try it on such a thin, bony fish.
I decided to cook it whole, the same way I prepare Red Snapper on the beach. I scaled the fish with a butter knife, then scored both sides by making quarter-inch incisions about six inches apart on each side, dusted both sides with salt and pepper and let it rest for a few hours. That night, I lit my grill, wiped the grates with a paper towel soaked in vegetable oil (to prevent sticking), and rubbed olive oil all over the fish. I grilled each side on medium heat for about eight minutes each, carefully using two spatulas to flip it.
After I took it off the grill I let it rest for a few minutes, then cut an incision across the top and bottom of each side. These incisions, coupled with the scores I cut before grilling, made it possible to scoop out fillets with a spatula. It's a very delicate procedure - one I messed up a couple times and ended up picking pieces of flesh with my hands and transferring to a plate - but it removed the bones far better than I could have with a fillet knife. (For more info about grilling whole fish, check out Cooks Illustrated.)
We topped the fish with a simple salmoriglio sauce (lemon, garlic, parsley or basil, salt, pepper and olive oil) or a tomato and parsley relish, and ate it with sauteed zucchini and roasted potatoes.
Every other Thursday, leaders of the cooperative drive to the coast and pick up shares of the fresh catch from local fishermen and fisheries, then drive back to Durham to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens parking lot and deliver the seafood to shareholders from all over town.
Shefali heard about the program last fall. She also learned that it has become so popular that the shares sell out within a few hours. Tired of listening to me complain about living two hours from the beach but having to buy seafood flown in from Ecuador and Indonesia in our local grocery stores, she signed us up to receive two pounds per delivery the moment winter shares became available.
I picked up our first share last Thursday. A graduate student sitting behind a collapsible table in the parking lot looked up my name, then turned to another student wearing rubber gloves and standing in the bed of a pickup truck. He opened a huge cooler and pulled out one Southern Flounder in a clear plastic bag.
While I was waiting in line to pick up my catch, I listened to other members complain about flounder's bland taste and lack of versatility. I'd cooked flounder fillets in a simple tomato broth once before, but this fish was only headed and gutted. I did a lot of fishing growing up, but never learned how to fillet. This summer in Minnesota my dad gave me a crash course on a walleye, but I wasn't about to try it on such a thin, bony fish.
I decided to cook it whole, the same way I prepare Red Snapper on the beach. I scaled the fish with a butter knife, then scored both sides by making quarter-inch incisions about six inches apart on each side, dusted both sides with salt and pepper and let it rest for a few hours. That night, I lit my grill, wiped the grates with a paper towel soaked in vegetable oil (to prevent sticking), and rubbed olive oil all over the fish. I grilled each side on medium heat for about eight minutes each, carefully using two spatulas to flip it.
After I took it off the grill I let it rest for a few minutes, then cut an incision across the top and bottom of each side. These incisions, coupled with the scores I cut before grilling, made it possible to scoop out fillets with a spatula. It's a very delicate procedure - one I messed up a couple times and ended up picking pieces of flesh with my hands and transferring to a plate - but it removed the bones far better than I could have with a fillet knife. (For more info about grilling whole fish, check out Cooks Illustrated.)
We topped the fish with a simple salmoriglio sauce (lemon, garlic, parsley or basil, salt, pepper and olive oil) or a tomato and parsley relish, and ate it with sauteed zucchini and roasted potatoes.
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