HUNGRY GERALD

By the Bay Fish Mart in St.Peters (five minute drive from HG/BSK’s Prince Edward Island oceanfront home), brings much joy to HG/BSK (both passionate lovers of seafood). Everything at By the Bay is wonderfully fresh and very modestly priced (in contrast to Whole Foods, HG/BSK’s source for seafood when resident in New Mexico). The daily array at By the Bay includes: hake, haddock, sole, cod and salmon. Also: little neck clams, smoked salmon, Newfoundland baby shrimp, local oysters, cooked and fresh lobsters, smoked mackerel. Dinners this week included fried hake with tiny boiled potatoes; Japanese style steamed sole on a bed of baby spinach; stir fry of little neck clams in a Chinese inspired sauce. Everything was augmented by in-season asparagus, a glory in spring and early summer. Desserts revolve around seasonal strawberries (they taste like strawberries, not like cotton balls dyed red). The berries top scoops of vanilla ice cream splashed by a bit of Canadian maple syrup. Joy.

Le Dome, the vintage restaurant in the Montparnasse neighborhood of Paris, serves the best sole dish in the world. It is a Dover Sole, gently sautéed in butter. Deftly filleted by a professional waitperson, doused with a butter/lemon sauce. Accompanied by a mashed potato pancake. The cost? Astronomical. Here on Prince Edward Island, the lovely ladies of By the Bay Fish Mart, supply HG/BSK with fresh Atlantic sole. No, the fish is not Dover Sole. But, thick and firm fillets with a nice taste of the sea. (The Pacific sole fillets HG/BSK buy at Whole Foods when residing in New Mexico, are too thin and have a tendency to disintegrate when steamed or sautéed). Last night, BSK pan steamed a pound of BTB sole, using a technique learned from chef/daughter-in-law Exquisite Maiko (Visit her at the Oni Sauce stand at Brooklyn’s Smorgasburg for superb Japanese fried chicken, beef tataki and other good things). BSK steamed the sole on a bed of bok choy, spinach, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Served it with bowls of rice. Wonderful. Next week, HG will give the sole the meuniere treatment. HG will dust the sole with flour. Quick saute the fish in canola oil and butter. Serve it with a sauce of melted butter, capers, lemon juice. Plate it with a boiled PEI potato. A faint echo of Le Dome at a modest price.