Homebrew-hope you don't mind that I snagged this photo from an 07 Isla Story

Kath’s quote: “A cook she certainly was, in the very bone and centre of her soul. Not a chicken or turkey or duck in the barn-yard but looked grave when they saw her approaching, and seemed evidently to be reflecting on their latter end; and certain it was that she was always meditating on trussing, stuffing and roasting, to a degree that was calculated to inspire terror in any reflecting fowl living.”-Harriet Beecher in ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin

One weekend while I was out of town, my son called to see if he and his wife could drop in for a Saturday night dinner.  My husband was so thrilled that he started recipe searching and shopping right away.  He headed to Neptune Seafood  on Dufferin in the North End of Winnipeg where he met a Food Musings blog follower who works there.  She suggested that he try shark and personally sliced  it for him. 

This is the recipe that he decided upon: Macadamia Encrusted Shark

Directions

Lay the 4 pieces of shark on a clean work surface. Season each piece with the salt, pepper, and cayenne. Using a brush, quickly spread a thin layer of the egg whites on top of the fish and then sprinkle over the chopped macadamia nuts. Press the nuts into the fish to secure. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Heat a large saute pan coated with the oil to medium heat. Place 2 pieces (or 4 if the pan is big enough) of the fish, macadamia side-down, in the pan and sear for 3 to 4 minutes, until the macadamias are golden brown. Flip the fish and cook for another 3 minutes. Repeat the process with the 2 remaining pieces of fish. Place all 4 pieces of fish in a baking dish and cook in the oven for another 8 to 10 minutes.

Kath’s quote: “Fish, to taste right, must swim three times – in water, in butter, and in wine.”  ~Polish Proverb 
Post Script: My  little Grandma and my sweet Dad were both born in Poland and my heart is grieving with the people of Poland at this time.

Thank you to my patient readers, this is the last entry about our traditional Easter celebrations.  We have a group of friends that have been getting together for an Easter Feast for over a decade.  It started when Connie (our  transplanted Sicilian friend) remarked that she was missing her families’ celebration that year and so we decided to create an traditional Italian Easter celebration of our own. Connie and Roger are visiting from Castellammare del Golfo right now and so the timing was perfect.

Connie and I in her home town

Connie assembled the antipasto.  Three Italian meats, provolone cheese, olives, marinated veggies and spicy eggplant.  She picked everything up at Sobey’s and was very pleased with their selection and quality.

Next course was Judy’s Caprese salad, topped with a light shake of olive oil from C&R’s own olive trees back home.  This was accompanied by Connie’s stuffed sun dried tomatoes-a recipe that she taught me when we visited them in Sicily. In addition, delicious and authentic breads purchased at De Luca’s (that were contributed by another attendee) were served. 

The meat course was Italian sausages that I brown and then roasted with tri-coloured peppers and a roasted herb chicken that we have called “Ruth’s” Chicken since she shared the recipe with me 20 years ago.  Roasted potatoes and yams with a drizzle of truffle oil and yellow and green beans sauteed with toasted pine nuts, accompanied the meats.

The person who was to have brought the salad course, which was to have been served next, couldn’t make it and so “uncleansed”, we ate on.  Gina contributed a decadent tiramisu that she purchased at La Grotta and Connie had brought a special cake from Sicily –Il Panettone Grandorato.  Jamie brought a platter of fruit to accompany the sweets and Doug put on the tea and espresso.

Kath’s quote: “Food is not about impressing people. It’s about making them feel comfortable.”-Ina Garten

He is famous for his chuleta Puerco which are two rib thick porkchops grilled to perfection on his B.B.-Q  but my favourite dish is the plato Mexicano.

Sister #1 Interjections: One night when I arrived solo on Isla, Sis #3 had assembled this gang to meet me at the ferry.  I had a migraine but was so excited to see everybody that I wasn’t thinking straight (or walking straight for that matter).  I was passing off my knapsack and accepting a marguerita from an outstretched arm when OOPS my  foot slipped between the wooden dock and a concrete wall and got wedged in there.  But Fredy’s pork chops were calling me so I still made it out to dinner.  Fredy knows how to prepare them perfectly, which is to say, still pink in the middle.  I always have enough left over for a beach sandwich the next day.

Fredy's

We often have our first Isla dinner at Fredy’s and then our last, so I have also had the chance to taste many of his shrimp dishes, my favourite being shrimp baked in garlic and butter and accompanied with cilantro and cheese.  Other fans claim his Garlic Grouper and Lobster are best on the island.

Fredy’s is a bit further north on Hidalgo than most other choices.  Fredy’s hospitality and expert cooking makes the extra steps worth taking.  In fact in 2009 when there was construction on Hidalgo, we had to climb over bricks and a barricade and it was still worth it.

Kath’s quote: “There is poetry in a pork chop to a hungry (wo)man.”-Philip Gibbs

Can you remember ever having a menu ordering accident?  That is to say,  you ordered a dish but realised when it arrived that you had misinterpreted what was stated on the menu and had to eat it anyway?  Exactly this happened to me when my husband and I were dining in Positano Italy this past fall. 

Near the Norman Cathedral of Monreale (Palermo)

We started our Italian adventure in Sicily and one evening our host ordered a sumptuous dish in Palermo.  We had just toured Monreale and were in the vicinity of  the Palermo train station when we happened upon Antico Bar and Ristorante in the Piazza Giulio Cesare.  Concetta had ordered anchovy and fennel pasta and the forkful that I tasted was divine-an unusual blending of salty and savoury. 

The Antipasto that night-missed taking a pic of the entrees

Days later and on our own on the Amalfi Coast we asked Luigi, the wonderful owner of Hotel Le Fioriere in Praiano where his favourite restaurant in Positano was.  With his advice we headed out for Da Vincenzo’s.  

Under the Canopy

We did not have reservations but considered ourselves lucky to get a table outside but under a canopy as it had just started to rain.  We began with a calzone and this basil, mozzarella  and tomato salad.   

The Salad Plate

Remebering that single taste in Palermo, I ordered the Anchovies and I got just what I ordered but not what I was dreaming of.  

Just Anchovies?

Kath’s quote: “The peasants of Sicily, who have kept their own wheat and make their own natural brown bread, ah, it is amazing how fresh and sweet and clean their loaf seems, so perfumed, as home-made bread used all to be before the war.”-D.H. Lawrence