Sherri Darocha from Rhode Island

“For lucky Week 13 I spent a little time looking back on at all of the fish recipes that I've prepared so far, the new-to-me species that I've been lucky enough to find and all of the great little seafood shops I've been introduced to as my search region has expanded. And an account of all the fun people I've met standing in line at seafood shops could fill a blog of its own. At the inception of Eating with the Ecosystem, I had no doubt that I would find, prepare and marvel at my brilliance with new, exotic, local species of seafood each week! It would be a great excuse to seek out specific ingredients and expand my culinary horizons. I never dreamed that most weeks it would be so challenging to find even one fish on my list. After thirteen weeks, I've got lots of pent up fish envy that will only be soothed by finding species that have eluded me like cunner and red hake (and dozens of others). I have no doubt that I will continue the quest even after the study has concluded. On the other hand, I've greatly expanded my fish recipe repertoire for species that are more commonly found in my neck of New England. This week I was thrilled that haddock was on my list because I knew that if I struck out on the others, at least I would be able to find it! But how to prepare it? In the past few months, I've baked, stuffed, grilled, steamed, shredded, chowdered, you name it. I wanted to do something new, something geographically adventurous. As a fan of super spicy food, I looked to Southeast Asia and decided on an Indonesian fish curry. With many, many ingredients, the chopping and dicing and measuring and planning and cooking took more than two hours. It was so worth it! The curry turned out spicy and smooth and creamy (did I mention spicy?) and was the perfect poaching broth for the haddock filets, which were cut into 3 oz. pieces and laid into the curry broth for the last few minutes of cooking. We enjoyed the poached filets atop the dal-like curry finished off with a little basmati rice, crispy stir-fried okra and cilantro. Hopefully, the preparation and timing of the spice paste cooking process will seem a little less daunting next time. In the meantime, there are delicious leftovers for lunch tomorrow!”

Deborah Mager from Connecticut

“This week I was searching for Black Sea Bass, Winter Flounder, Conch, or Scup (aka Porgy). I was feeling adventurous so I wanted to find either Conch or Porgies. I have seen Porgies at a supermarket every week that I have shopped there and was excited that they were whole with head and guts still intact. Something different. Porgies have the reputation of being called a trash fish and being bony. A woman standing next to me when I asked for the fish gave me a look that made me feel like I was buying "trash fish", and I have to admit I felt a tinge of embarrassment for purchasing it. The last time I had Porgies was when I was a child and my parents had caught them while fishing. I remember liking the taste of the fish and that they had a lot of bones. I have to tell you, this is a "trash fish" that you should be eating right now! Porgy meat is white, meaty, mild and very similar to flounder meat and tastes great. My "knight in shining armor" husband cleaned and scaled the Porgies for us. His comment was "Feels like fishing without the fun of it. Never again." I definitely will eat Porgies again but we are more apt to go fishing ourselves for them than buying them, unless I can purchase them at the store already cleaned and scaled. Grilled Porgy 1 whole porgy, 1 1/2 to 2 pounds, scaled and gutted 2 Lemons, washed, halved and cut into half moons Lemon juice from half a lemon 8 to 10 sprigs of oregano, about 3 to 4 inches long 1/3 cup olive oil 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper With a sharp knife, score the porgy on either side, down to the bone, from the head to the tail. Mix together olive oil, oregano and lemon juice. Stuff the cuts with the sprigs of oregano and a few pieces of lemon. Stuff the stomach cavity with mor eoregano and lemon slices. Put the fish in a shallow bowl and pour the marinade over it. Turn the fish over and make sure it is completely covered by the marinade. Marinade for 45 minutes under refrigeration. Grill, cooking about 10 minutes a side. Use a knife to check whether the flesh is cooked through down to the bone.”

Michelle Nelson from Connecticut

“I marinated it in Italian dressing and grilled it. I made yellow zucchini salsa to top it. Really colorful summer dinner.”

Pamela Corcoran from Maine

“Summer time and the living is easy. Sear cod with corn, tomato, lambs quarters and red onion salad. Sea and garden bounty. Lemonade, too. Perfection.”

Kate Aubin from Rhode Island

Black Sea Bass baked with garlic and white wine vinegar

Barbara Rotger from Massachusetts

Seared “scallop pieces” with lemon butter wine sauce, served with pasta and steamed broccoli

“I was very happy to purchase again from a vendor at our local farmers market. These scallops were sold as "scallop pieces" and the vendor explained that they were the ones that had been broken while shucking. This made the price, $13/pound, more reasonable. I did not mind having scallop pieces as they were fine for the recipe I used. We pan seared them and served them over pasta with lemon/butter/wine sauce.”

Rebecca Stevens from Massachusetts

“I really like this species and never would have tried it on my own. I like that participating in this study has made me more aware how much better fresh, local fish tastes, so much so that taking a chance on an unfamiliar species is worth it. Also, it's summer, and anything I can make in under a half hour with easy clean up is a bonus!”

Jayne Martin from Massachusetts

Friday Fish Taco with Acadian Redfish (Ocean Perch)

“The Acadian Redfish(Ocean Perch) is great priced, really reliable tasting, and versatile fish. This time we had it in a fish taco form. Easy to prepare as I chose to broil instead of fry. Perfect fun Friday night dinner. You just can't beat the price.”

Anne Ewert from New Hampshire

“This week I had a mixed bag of items on my fish list. I was pretty sure I wouldn't find smooth dogfish or scup anywhere, but I was hopeful to find the rock crab and/or the pollock. Pollock and rock crab have been on my list before, but I was unsuccessful in finding them, so I was generally on a look out for these items in case they come up again. I had seen pollock at the grocery stores before, but they never had the info on where it was caught or landed, so it didn't count for the project, and I had not seen any rock crabs at any of the stores so far this summer. Lucky for me I found both items at Sanders Fish Market in Portsmouth. These guys are turning into my go-to fish shop because they have such good quality fish, they know where it comes from, and the local stuff is all at good prices. Lucky for me I found beautiful fillets of pollock that were fresh and local from NH, and I also found containers of pre-picked rock crab out of Maine. It was nice to actually find a fish on my list for once, and finding two was a super awesome bonus! I bought the pollock and the crab, but am featuring the pollock as my fish this week for my diary. The pollock was super easy to prepare since it was already nicely filleted. I simply dipped it in an egg wash, sprinkled it liberally with Old Bay seasoning, then covered it with panko bread crumbs and fried it up in a pan with some oil. It held up to the heat of frying really well. It was easy to cook in the pan, it didn't fall apart or get mushy on me. Once on the plate it was nice and flaky, and had a nice soft-moderate texture to it. It wasn't mushy, but it also wasn't chewy. I would absolutely make this again, especially if I have the time for taco fixin's. I bet this would make great fish tacos. It was nice with my side of roasted fingerling potatoes too.”

Charleen Thorburn from New Hampshire

“This is my second time with Hake and I have Hake on my next week's list -- so I will eat hake 3 times in a row. That's OK, because it's easy to cook and tasty. :) I just put "nuts over fish" coating on the cut up fillets and TA-DAAA. easy-peasy.”

Paul Anderson from Maine

“My garden is putting out a lot right now, so kept the fish part of my meal simple. I have just harvested my garlic, so I minced several cloves (they "pop" when you cut them because they're so fresh!). Saute the garlic with some Old Bay Seasoning in butter then lay in the fish, cooking on both sides for about 4 minutes each. Served with grilled zuchinni, snow peas and corn on the cob with a fresh green salad. Lots of micro-nutrients!”

Chris Dodge from Connecticut

“Cooking the mussels was fun and delicious. The biggest thing about cooking the mussels is, unlike other shellfish (oysters, clams, etc) to not be off-put if some of them are open. The will cook up fine, not tasted bad, and not make you sick. I prepared a broth by sauteeing chorizo in pan with garlic, deglaze with white wine and hard cider, add butter and olive oil, lemon juice, and finish with some chopped scallions. Delicious!”

David Ford from Rhode Island

“Tony's Seafood in Seekonk, MA initially told me they did not have surf calms. One of the more experienced staff said they did have some in the back in frozen blocks. The product looked like any other chopped clams. I made one of my all time favorites - linguine with white clam sauce. I used Explore Cuisine's Edamame and Mung Bean Fettuccini.”