Smoked Barramundi With White Sturgeon Caviar!!!!!!!!!!!

[leah elisheva]

Happy New Years's Eve To All!

My five pound "Cobia Fish" order did NOT come in, and so at the last minute I needed to make some serious decisions.

ERGO: Barramundi it was!

(And a side smattering of white sturgeon caviar - the only caviar available locally in fact - and so I feel lucky)!

Yes sometimes, the best things in life are by accident, or indeed the things which do so undeniably go against the grain!

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• leah elisheva
• Dec 31, 2013

I started with the Barramundi fish and mopped it in grapeseed oil...

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• leah elisheva
• Dec 31, 2013

Then I smoked it, with sliced red garnet yam, (the potato I had "started" in the microwave for 6 minutes first as to soften and slice), but the ensemble was smoked for just 15 minutes, on high heat, (about 410), with hickory chips, on my MINI gas smoker...

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• leah elisheva
• Dec 31, 2013

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• Dec 31, 2013

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• leah elisheva
• Dec 31, 2013

I added that to salad - cuke, avocado, chopped garlic, lots of olive oil, some sprinkled cayenne and of course the CAVIAR!!!

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• leah elisheva
• Dec 31, 2013

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• leah elisheva
• Dec 31, 2013

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• leah elisheva
• Dec 31, 2013

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• leah elisheva
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• leah elisheva
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• leah elisheva
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• leah elisheva
• Dec 31, 2013

Paired with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, this meal was tremendous!!!!!!!!

Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Leah

 

[jvick]

Wow that looks good. Great job.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Very Nice Job...JMJ

 

[leah elisheva]

Thanks very much JVick!

This Barramundi fish was really lovely!

Happy New Year to You!!!!!

Cheers! - Leah

 

[leah elisheva]

Thank you Dear Chef! (JJ). Just reading your comment now. Happy 2014 to you!!!!! Cheers!!! - Leah

 

[geerock]

Leah,
Another great looking smoked fish dish. And baramundi....now there's a farmed fish that may truly change the fish market. Josh Goldman from here in New England, who has been a leader in the aguaculture industry for many years is doing great things with farmed baramundi. Unlike tilapia, this is a great tasting fish that is really starting to catch on. And you showing that great dish presentation and review..... and pairing it with a nice Sauvignon Blanc certainly is going to help. As always, great work Leah. Happy New Year.

 

[disco]

Another terrific post Leah. I love seafood, the missus loves it even more and it is good to see on the forums. When I retired I was going to go fishing but never got around to it. You have inspired me to get out as I need some fresh smoked fish. Even She Who Must Be Obeyed will be happy as it will get me out of the house!

Disco

 

[snorkelinggirl]

A gorgeous-looking plated dish, Leah. You've got a real eye for making a beautiful presentation! Looks like a delicious, healthy, and beautiful way to usher in the New Year!

Thanks for sharing, and Happy New Year!
Clarissa

 

[moikel]

Everyday is Sunday when your catching barramundi,so the song goes. Very Aussie fish,yes it's farmed here now but wild caught a better fish. Huge sports fishing industry based around them as well as pro netters.
They go from fresh to salt & male to female. Stocked into man made lakes they won't breed but do they ever grow! Great fish to catch.
Great job on showing it off.

 

[mbogo]

Oh my, Leah....    You have knocked another one out of the park......  I don't know who your Fishmonger is, but if they have fresh Barramundi, then they have my vote!!!     Never had Cobia, but after hearing your tales of delight, the first time I see it in my neck 'O the woods, it will be going home with me. Back to the Barra: Spent a week or so outside (very outside ) of Darwin a year or so ago, trying to thin the buffalo population, (because God knows there ain't room for both Man & beast in Arnhemland!!!), and was able to partake in some freshly caught barrys....   Unbelievable.Best fish I've ever had.

Here I go again, living through your every bite!!!

Wishing you the most happiest of new years, Cook on!!

Best regards,

Mark

 

[moikel]

They are great fish,I can't post photos of some of my efforts from current location. Not considered big until they are a metre, best eating is about 70 to 80 cm.
most big fish go back into the water ,breeding females.
Lot of tackle stores get rich of barra fisherman's obsession with lures,lot of specialised tackle & guided fishing.
I did a buffalo dish way ,turns up here from NT.

 

[bdskelly]

The usual gorgeous plating Leah. I'm not familiar with the Barramundi. What is it similar to? 

Brian

 

[moikel]

Sorry " way back". I can get the meat from our Nepalese community,they get it shipped from Darwin.
One hell of a town when the dry season starts!

 

[leah elisheva]

Thank you all so very much!

I do VOW, as a "resolution" for 2014, that I shall learn how to use these nice and neat organized "quote" gray shaded boxes, with each person's comment, and that I'll stop sharing WAY WAY WAY too many personal things in my threads, and that, what else, OH - that I will try not to add a new message to my threads each nanosecond of every day, so that people don't get 10 zillion alerts just from making a comment on my post. Smiles. I get it. I really do!

Meanwhile, we do have one more day with things as they are, right?? Now, now, just promising to do better!

OK, so first off, Geerock, thank you tons! Yes, this Josh Goldman is doing so much in the name of science and more! I only now connected his New England ties - thanks to you - how fun! I'm delighted you appreciated my food!!!!! Cheers to you!!!

Disco, you crack me up each day! Thank you for that, as it is a gift and this world needs more humor. And how does the saying go? "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day, but TEACH a man to fish, and you get rid of him for the entire weekend!!??" Smiles. Sounds like you may have yourself a great hobby! (And one yielding some delicious dinner delights too)! Here is to that!

Clarissa, great Goddess of extraordinary grand cooking and cuisine, I take your words with so much gratitude and always look at your posts as downright calendar shots or professional cookbook concoctions!!! Thank you therefore! In some ways, I am delighted that my cobia order did NOT come in! And happy new year to YOU!!!!

Mick, if I did justice to this fish from YOUR part of the world, and from your eyes, then how grateful am I! Maybe one year we'll all be eating this stuff in Tasmania and toasting with several smokers over copious bottles of great wine! Smiles.

And Mark, thank you, as always! Your treks and tastes of fish must have been tremendous!!!!! Funny, when the cobia delivery didn't come in, I was at first frustrated, and then, for two seconds even, a little angry, but then I started cracking jokes (yes, I deal with life via humor and seem to find EVERYTHING funny, and yes, EVERYTHING, in some sordid way) and then I went to that store's COMPETITION, and saw barramundi, and the last caviar that they had as well, and all of it staring up at me and like Pavlovian Puppies; and suddenly the meal was solved!

This was an anniversary dinner, and I am genuinely thrilled with how it turned out!

In this house, each day and meal is certainly a holiday, and while I very RARELY 'alter" my photos, or almost never, (and certainly not with these), I therefore may not have captured the right light or bite, but it surpassed my expectations, and tasted so much better than it looks even! Terrific indeed! I hadn't had cobia in five years, and so this was a treat!!!

Well happy New Year to all! Zealous Morning Chicks Like Me, Who Wake At 3, need to sleep right now, and so staying up until balls drop or whatever it be just doesn't make sense and yet I DO indeed send huge hugs and fabulous sentiments to all you great smokers!!!!!!! So there!

Let's make 2014 better than any year so far!!!!!! (Or such is my mad-cow or "mad-conch" tainted opinion and commitment)!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy all!!! Cheers!!!!!! - Leah

 

[leah elisheva]

And Brian!!!! I just saw you here now, and thank you as well!

This is a thinner, fast cooking fish and yet tasty as if a far more flavorful grouper!

Thank you for always being so kind!!!

Happy New Year!

And I really WILL learn how to use the quote boxes! I will!!!!

Cheers!!!!!!! - Leah

 

[foamheart]

Beautiful Plate Leah, I, like Brian I had to Google the fish, mild white fish so smoked is really good.

You keep showing me Yams with seafood and I love sweet potatoes, so I am going to have to try it.

Awesome plate, thanks for sharing.

 

[bdskelly]

 
Beautiful Plate Leah, I, like Brian I had to Google the fish, mild white fish so smoked is really good.

You keep showing me Yams with seafood and I love sweet potatoes, so I am going to have to try it.

Awesome plate, thanks for sharing.

Foam and I… Couple of Southern men. We know about snapper, oysters, shrimp, catfish with squirrel gravy... …  LOL

Anywho Leah. Grouper we know as well. Thanks for the clarification. 

 

[ajbert]

My first taste of barramundi came on a shore lunch on a billabong not to far outside the wonderful town of Darwin a few years back.  Very simple lunch of pan fried fillets with sliced potatoes grilling in the same skillet.  My biggest worry was the many crocs in that billabong!

Not quite the presentation you presented but I do agree one of the best eating fish I had the opportunity to catch and eat.  We brought the rest of the fish back to the ship (US Navy at the time) to cook up for the wardroom, but had to wait until we put the Marines ashore as there wasn't enough to feed everyone. 

I threatened each and every mess cooks within an inch of their lives that if just a bite of any one of the fish was gone they'd walk the gang plank!  Would love to get back down there and catch some of the bigger ones that are in the salt water.  We were fishing in the dry season.

 

[moikel]

My first taste of barramundi came on a shore lunch on a billabong not to far outside the wonderful town of Darwin a few years back.  Very simple lunch of pan fried fillets with sliced potatoes grilling in the same skillet.  My biggest worry was the many crocs in that billabong!

Not quite the presentation you presented but I do agree one of the best eating fish I had the opportunity to catch and eat.  We brought the rest of the fish back to the ship (US Navy at the time) to cook up for the wardroom, but had to wait until we put the Marines ashore as there wasn't enough to feed everyone. 

I threatened each and every mess cooks within an inch of their lives that if just a bite of any one of the fish was gone they'd walk the gang plank!  Would love to get back down there and catch some of the bigger ones that are in the salt water.  We were fishing in the dry season.

If you PM me your private email I will forward the newsletter from the fishing tour operator that I go fishing with. Lots of locations Endyallgout my pick but fishing the wet season runoff in more accessible places a great option.If you are coming from USA.
They are a great eating fish,white flesh,Grill,fried ,Asian people steam it a lot then pour hot flavoured oil over it.
They need warm water so fish farming has to factor that in.
At fishing camp I made curry but beer battered & fried very Darwin style.
One hell of a town that Darwin!

 

[moikel]

Or fishabout.com.au . If you are trying to combine it with a holiday involving things other than fishing ,apparently some people do that, there are 2 day trips that target that specialised "run off" fishing .
It's pretty exciting fishing ,big fish that take lures,jump,tail walk,head shake & have to be extracted from snags.