Fresh fish and its manioc mush
From their graves of eternal shining ice, cold eyes stare at me inexpressively from beings of different sizes and shapes, with well-pointed teeth glimpsed through ajar jaws, tentacles and razor-blade fins. Beings designed for sudden ruthless attacks, unexpectedly killed and ready for revenge.
When it comes to cooking fish I prefer fresh to frozen. To buy fresh fish you must ask your friend fish seller to take it from the ice, clean it, and cut it into chunks. You can also ask him to remove the fish’s head if you will not cook it or if you fear the dead fish head suddenly jumping out the supermarket bag and chopping off your hand.
But the price of a fresh fish is based on its raw weight before is it cleaned, so removing the head the price per weight of your fish will boost. To get more value for your money, remember that having a fish returning from the dead is not that unusual, so you may overcome your fears and ask the seller to include the fish head in your bag to make a fish manioc mush - by the way, a very nutritious food.
Finally at home, I wash carefully the head in running water, taking advantage of the fact that the fish is definitely dead to introduce my fingers into its head and remove all remaining blood and other things I am not still able to identify. In a large pan I fry the fish head and tail in a some olive oil for about twenty minutes in low heat. Add three peeled tomatoes in small cubes, a red pepper cut into small pieces, half a cup of water and let it cooking for about one hour still in low heat, stirring it sometimes with a wooden spoon until all its flesh leaves the carcass and everything is homogeneous. Then I take off all the bones of the fish and, for obvious reasons, its eyes. Turn off the heat and add a little of manioc flour – the trick here is to add just a little of flour, letting it with a very soft consistency, otherwise your mush will harden rapidly and turn into a flour stone. Then try and spice it at your taste.
A good suggestion for this mush is to serve it together with the rest of the fish chunks, cooked in an oven. When the head will finally return to the body it belongs to (now, that frightening laugh by Vincent Price in the end of Thriller).
When it comes to cooking fish I prefer fresh to frozen. To buy fresh fish you must ask your friend fish seller to take it from the ice, clean it, and cut it into chunks. You can also ask him to remove the fish’s head if you will not cook it or if you fear the dead fish head suddenly jumping out the supermarket bag and chopping off your hand.
But the price of a fresh fish is based on its raw weight before is it cleaned, so removing the head the price per weight of your fish will boost. To get more value for your money, remember that having a fish returning from the dead is not that unusual, so you may overcome your fears and ask the seller to include the fish head in your bag to make a fish manioc mush - by the way, a very nutritious food.
Finally at home, I wash carefully the head in running water, taking advantage of the fact that the fish is definitely dead to introduce my fingers into its head and remove all remaining blood and other things I am not still able to identify. In a large pan I fry the fish head and tail in a some olive oil for about twenty minutes in low heat. Add three peeled tomatoes in small cubes, a red pepper cut into small pieces, half a cup of water and let it cooking for about one hour still in low heat, stirring it sometimes with a wooden spoon until all its flesh leaves the carcass and everything is homogeneous. Then I take off all the bones of the fish and, for obvious reasons, its eyes. Turn off the heat and add a little of manioc flour – the trick here is to add just a little of flour, letting it with a very soft consistency, otherwise your mush will harden rapidly and turn into a flour stone. Then try and spice it at your taste.
A good suggestion for this mush is to serve it together with the rest of the fish chunks, cooked in an oven. When the head will finally return to the body it belongs to (now, that frightening laugh by Vincent Price in the end of Thriller).
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