The Four Fish

Reading a fascinating book by Paul Greenberg called "The Four Fish." Its an eye-opening look at how the human race came to favor basically four species of fish for eating and how we have affected their ecology. Though I love eating food from the sea and believe most is quite healthy to eat, I think its good to be aware of the health of our oceans and the fish that live in it.

grilled whole fish with herbs

I saw this recipe recently in Mark Bittman's column in the Times. Actually, after searching for a while online, I found that its a very popular recipe and really a quite easy way to have a good meal and impress your friends as well! This is another situation where cooking with fresh herbs really makes food shine.

1 or 2 whole fishes cleaned, with or without the head on. Ideal fish are Branzina, sea bass or rainbow trout

a few lemon slices seeded
large garlic clove sliced
about 5 sprigs of fresh thyme per fish
olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat grill or broiler
Open the fish and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place about 4 slices garlic spread out in each fish. Place 2-3 lemon slices in fish along with 4-5 sprigs of thyme, drizzle generously with olive oil inside and outside the fish. Grill fish until done. Branzina takes about 7-8 minutes per side, smaller fish like rainbow trout really only need 4 minutes per side.

Fish Farming Issues

Here's an interesting interview regarding farmed fish. For the most part I recommend everyone try to eat wild caught and not farmed fish, but the oceans are becoming overfished and an many studies point to a severe depletion in the ocean's fish populations in the nex fifty years. Perhaps some safer fisher farming is on the horizon.

http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00004&segmentID=5