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| - Here are things I enjoy in life: Seafood. Doing everything with more effort, expense, and panache than most people would. Cooking and entertaining.
As such, when the weather warmed up and it came time to bust open the barrel smoker on my deck and put together the first little cookout of summer, I had no other place in mind to find my delectable grillables than at clean catch.
With a shop that is always meticulously polished and lit with a comforting cleanliness and sterility, the moment you walk in the door of Clean Catch you realize you're a few steps above your average fishmonger.
As I stood, silently salivating, in front of the long crystal-clear glass of the central counter, I swooned. You can always count on Clean Catch to have certain fish staples, but the real charm of the shop is the exciting revolving nature of the more extraordinary sea-creatures that they get in fresh daily. On this particular occasion, I was faced with deciding between huge filets of dripping sunset-orange salmon, a giant blood-red block of sashimi grade Tuna that looked like the severed tongue of a golden oxen idol, a bowl full of huge rock shrimp, or a selection of the some of the largest scallops I've ever seen - seriously, these things were 3" diameter.
Ultimately, I went for one of the fatter Salmon filets. The friendly fishmonger deftly and precisely sliced it into four even quarters for me, then abided my wishes for a pound each of the shrimp and scallops.
As he was parting, portioning and weighing my selection, my eye was drawn toward a little silver platter of purplish herbed patties at the far corner of the counter. "What's going on here?" I asked.
"Oh, those are some Tuna burgers we put together," the handsome, slender sandy-blonde fellow cutting up my salmon replied.
I squinted, deliberated, and my cocked my head in such a way as to indicate I wanted to know more.
"We just ground those up this morning. They're full of something something and taragon."
I was genuinely listening, it's just that the 'something something' was so exotic I didn't know what he was talking about. Didn't need to. I was sold.
With two of those burgers added to my order, I was ready to roll.
We skewered and grilled the shrimp and scallops, basted liberally with olive oil and lightly seasoned with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. The shrimp were easily amongst the best I've had and I can't conceive of a scallop I've ever come across that was as rich, flaky, juicy, fully flavorful and meaty as the ones I got from Clean Catch on this day.
Half-full and wild from that simple first course, we then set upon the grill with cedar planks holding our salmon - encrusted lightly with ground pistachios, oil, and a little honey. Whilst those slowly smoked on the top rack, we tossed on those Tuna burgers.
Served up on a rye roll with just a little arugula, red onion, and a healthy smattering of Old Bay seasoned Mayo, those Tuna burgers crushed my tastebuds. From tongue to throat all the way down to belly then back up to my face and then out and all over all the way to my fingers and my toes I just tingled at the fishy flavor of that hot-seared, slightly raw tuna falling apart in my mouth.
Then, after a few drinks and the sun set behind the horizon, we turned on the party lights up in the pergola, tuned down the outdoor speakers, and fetched the cedar planks from the grill.
I didn't think my mouth had any moisture left to water, but that salmon drew from me every last drop. Fat pink flakes sliding off with each delicate wick of my fork, hot pistachio and honey dribbling down each bite, matching the smoked richness of the delicious fish. It all just worked.
I can't not go to Clean Catch for all my fishy needs now. I've been ruined for the Harris Teeter fish counter forever.
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