Whale Bone Fish and Malvani Fish Curry

I was at the market last week and a woman brought me this whale bone fish pendant and asked if I would consider turning it into a necklace for her.

She got it in Alaska and always wanted to wear it like a pendant, but didn't like wearing it with just a string through that hole. She would prefer the fish to be horizontally oriented. So here's what I made for her.

I soldered a copper bezel onto a copper back so that I could "set" the fish into the pendant. I fired it to give it a nice patina and then added some Swarovski crystals to hide the old hole and give it some sparkle. Pretty cool!

We had our first ripe tomato! No others are any where near in sight.

I checked out a new cookbook from the library, How to Cook Indian, by Sanjeev Kapoor.

Steve had been out fishing and brought home some fish, so we tried a new recipe from the book - Malvani Fish Curry (A rich and spicy fish curry). I had to modify it a little due to the level of heat it was going to have. I'll show you the real recipe, and also my modifications.

Sharee's version of Malvani Fish Curry


1 lb fish - the book wants kingfish, pomfret or mackerel; we used bass and northern
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
4 or 5 dried red chilies, stemmed (I used ONE!)
3/4 cup grated fresh coconut (I used grated coconut from a package - unsweetened!)
2 medium onions, chopped
6 to 8 whole black peppercorns (I ground the pepper - Steve doesn't like debris in his food)
1 T tamarind pulp (I used 1 T tamarind concentrate from a jar)
2 T vegetable oil (I used 2 T ghee)
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 green chilies, stemmed and slit (I didn't have any, so I didn't put these in)

Cut the fish into 1 inch thick cubes and put in a bowl. Add the lemon juice and half the turmeric and the salt and stir well. Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes to marinate while you make the other part.

Put a large sauce pan on the stove and dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds for a couple of minutes until they are fragrant. Let cool, then transfer to a food processor or blender with the dried chilies, the remaining 1/2 tsp turmeric, the coconut, half of the onions, the pepper, tamarind pulp, and 1 cup water and process to a smooth paste.

Heat the oil in a pan (same one you roasted your spices in) and add the onions. Saute for a few minutes until lightly browned. Add the tomato and green chilies (if using) and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the coconut paste that you made and cook over high heat for 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup water (the recipe said to add 1 1/2 cups water but I could tell that would be like a soup) and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium, add the marinated fish, and cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until the fish is cooked through. Serve hot.

We sopped it up with sourdough bread - not very Indian, but then we live in Minnesota!

Soldering and Fish with Salsa Verde

I've been working on a few pendants after our road trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I fiddled with my butane torch the other night and now have a fire extinguisher right next to my work bench. (No big problems, just the realization that a fire extinguisher nearby would be a good idea.)

These copper pieces are looking good. I'm still waiting for a few supplies from an on-line silversmith shop. Besides, Steve has suggested strongly that I stop soldering and ironing during this heat wave.

Even so, I worked on some necktie purses and had a couple of new ones at the market this evening. It turned out to be a beautiful evening for a market and the music of downtown Ely. What fun!

Here is a fantastic dinner to make when you are too hot to cook. You can make this with nearly any fish that you catch in your back yard (okay, my back yard). Salmon is outstanding, too. We rub the fish with olive oil, salt and pepper, and then put it in a cage to place on the gas grill. It takes only a few minutes to cook fish - as soon as it flakes with a fork, it's done.

While you cook the fish on the grill, throw the salsa verde ingredients in a blender.

Sharee's Salsa Verde for Fish

2 anchovy fillets (optional)
1/3 cup capers drained
1 1/2 T. chopped garlic
2 cups flat leaf parsley
1/2 lemon squeezed of juice
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh basil
2 T fresh mint
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 cup olive oil

Put everything in a blender and blend into a sauce. If this mixture is too thick, add a little water to make it a sauce consistency. (Don't make this a long time ahead of cooking the fish or the bright greens will start to look a bit grey. They'll still taste good, but won't look as good.)

When the fish is done, put the fish and a little sauce on the plate and you look(and taste) like you're a gourmet! Fantastic.

MN Govt. Shutdown Road Trip

Thanks to the Minnesota government shutdown, Steve is laid off for a little while. We had a bit of time on our hands and decided to pack up the Scamp and head to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We wanted to stay close enough to home to get back if they called him back to work. Our first night was in the Presque Isle Unit of the Porcupine Mountains. Here's our little rig!

Here I am cooking with garlic scapes again. We made steaks on the grill with caramelized onions, mushrooms and garlic scapes.

Steve said, "Do we have a timer to time the steaks?" I said, "I'll bet that smart phone does!" Look at that!

We moseyed on to 12-mile beach at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We discovered prior to heading up that 12-mile beach was full, so we stopped at Kingston Lake just outside of 12-mile. What a pretty little site! All of the sites were on the water.

We took off at 9:30 the next morning to snag a site at 12-mile beach. Look at our new site!

This was our morning coffee vista:

A ship passed by. Way cool!

I spent lots of time combing the beach for rocks. The first two days were pretty cool (mid 60's?) with no biting flies.

We took a day trip to Grand Marais to see if we could catch a cell signal so that we could see if Steve had to get back to work. Nope, government was still shut down. We ate at this really fun diner.

Here's me cooking inside the Scamp - I was making Tom Kha again.

On the way to 12-mile beach we stopped at a gas station that also said "Art Gallery". They had a shelf inside the station devoted to the local art. I bought a pair of recycled wool mittens that will be perfect for skiing this winter. A fog bank rolled in off Lake Superior and guess what? I had to wear the mittens!! I wrapped up in this blanket next to the fire. The book I was reading was "Cutting for Stone." It was good.

The next day was 90 degrees! We decided to drive and check out Copper Harbor. We'd never been up in that peninsula before. On the way we found Prospector's Paradise where I bought a few cabochon stones to set in copper (I made one this morning, I'll take a photo of it for my next post).

We stayed in a private campground right outside of Copper Harbor. We had our own private creek with no other campers around!

And Steve found the most perfect marshmallow roasting stick of all time.

We heard the governor signed the budget bill. That means it will only be a few days before life returns to normal.

An Eagle and Garlic Scapes

We've had crazy good weather this weekend and have been out bike riding and fishing a lot. We were back on Snowbank Lake yesterday. Look at this! The eagle was actually looking at me when I took this photo!

We were really close and my little Sony cyber-shot camera was able to zoom in for this extra cool image. It was a little hard to keep it in focus given the rocking of the boat and being zoomed in so far.

Shore lunch again on a cute little campsite. I found the best boxed wine is Big House Cardinal Zin. Really, I've tried many boxed wines and this is the best. When you travel into the boundary waters you can't have glass or cans, so having a box of wine to throw in the boat for shore lunch is the way to go. (Just be careful because you have no gauge on how much you have consumed without the bottle to indicate how much is gone. Very dangerous.)

We came across this big rock that looked just like a turtle!

Garlic scapes are ready in our garden. When you grow hard-necked garlic, they will shoot up a stalk that will become a flower if you let it grow. You need to snap those off to keep the energy growing into the garlic bulb beneath the ground. The best part, though, is that you eat the scapes; they taste like a mild garlic!

I've been putting them in everything. Here I decided to make a quick peanut sauce over pasta.

I was in Madison recently and stopped at my favorite Asian grocery. I got Tom Yum paste:

Check the ingredients if you buy this. This one has Soy Bean Oil, Lemon Grass, Shallot, Galanga, Chili, Dried Shrimp, Lime, Kaffir Lime Leaves, and Garlic. Galanga and dried shrimp are key. Those are some of the flavors you just don't find in our supermarkets, but really make Thai dishes have their unique flavor.

I made the peanut sauce out of this Tom Yum Paste, soy sauce, fish sauce, peanut butter, lime juice, and cilantro. I tossed that over some sauted onions, tomatoes, mushrooms and garlic scapes. Yum!

I'll be working in the studio today to get some things ready for the market tomorrow night. Here are some more earrings - these are from an aluminum tray:

And I have a new purse design. This one has two built-in front pockets!