What I'm dying for

[Jenise]

Grilled fresh swordfish steak served on lentils gently stewed with tomatoes, garlic and onions, accompanied by a good Rhone.

Problem: there probably isn't a swordfish steak with 300 miles of here.

What to do, what to do.

[Karen/NoCA]

Problem: there probably isn't a swordfish steak with 300 miles of here.

What to do, what to do.

I usually have to order it from a fish monger....Sea Bass too.

[Jenise]

Basically the only fish local stores carry is salmon and halibut. There is a fishmonger in town but rarely does he have something other than what the stores carry and when he does, it's not the high-end stuff. People in this town just don't understand, let alone buy, anything else. I'm ready to go with halibut but you've got a point, I should call Vis and just try to get lucky.

[Jeff Grossman/NYC]

Swordfish By Mail (.com) ?

[Jacques Levy]

Jenise, you live in the Pacific Northwest. Salmon would work so well with these ingredients; (ok maybe a Pinot Noir instead of Rhone).

Come to think of it, I may have found my menu for this evening

[Carl Eppig]

What we are dying or is Baked Stuffed Lobster, and we're having it tomorrow night for our 49th anniversary dinner.

[Jenise]

Jenise, you live in the Pacific Northwest. Salmon would work so well with these ingredients; (ok maybe a Pinot Noir instead of Rhone).

Come to think of it, I may have found my menu for this evening

Jacques, you're absolutely right. It's just that since salmon and halibut are all that is available here EVER, I was hungry for variety. As it was, guess what we had? Halibut. (I did also buy ten pounds of super-fresh local salmon to smoke on Saturday (one white king, one regular king, both at $9.99/lb). Served it grilled with a beurre noisette on the du puy lentils cooked with tomatoes, onion, garlic, fresh bay leaf and herbs d'Provence, accompanied by a 2001 J. L. Chave 'Offerus', St. Joseph, from the Northern Rhone. We weren't unhappy--but swordfish would have been better.

[Bill Spohn]

Either empty your mercury thermometer over a slab of halibut to get the same result, or venture across the border into civilization to obtain the real thing!

I agree - tasty fish.

[Jenise]

Either empty your mercury thermometer over a slab of halibut to get the same result, or venture across the border into civilization to obtain the real thing!

I agree - tasty fish.

Is swordfish readily available up there? I could not recall seeing it at any of the fishmongers in Granville Market, though you certainly have more variety up there than we ever see here.

[Bill Spohn]

Blue Seas a couple of miles east of me at Lonsdale usually have it (I called - they just got in some marlin but are waiting for swordfish - is that close enough?) Going the other direction, a West Van store 3 blocks away currently has it in stock as well.

That's 2 out of 2 I checked.

[Jenise]

Blue Seas a couple of miles east of me at Lonsdale usually have it (I called - they just got in some marlin but are waiting for swordfish - is that close enough?) Going the other direction, a West Van store 3 blocks away currently has it in stock as well.

That's 2 out of 2 I checked.

Marlin! Swordfish! You're killing me.

Btw, these would be available in Seattle. Amazing selection there. But here in Bellingham? Nah. Halibut or salmon. Sometimes rockfish or cod, and that's about it. Barleans had fresh ling cod yesterday: probably should have bought some, just because it's different. Don't think I've ever cooked it before, though I did choose it a few years ago when I did that bouilliabaise terrine for terrine dinner, using it as a sub for monkfish, where it worked well.

[Jenise]

F Word! Vis Seafoods of Bellingham ('vis' is Dutch for 'fish', btw), who didn't answer their phone yesterday, just called me back. (So much for "we check for messages throughout the day, so feel free to leave one!") They got fresh swordfish in yesterday. Also, Opa. Another absolutely favorite fish I've never ever seen around here. Damn.

[Bill Spohn]

Take a look - they have specials but this list is what they usually carry in season:

http://www.blueseasfishmarket.com/products.html

[Jenise]

Bill, that's fantastic. I see I've been missing an opportunity to pick up dinner on my way home from Van when we stay over. Lonsdale Avenue--IIRC that's right around the corner, basically about two blocks west, of Tina's hospice? I've always wanted to go back and shop that street, it's like an international marketplace with all manner of unusual things. I remember a Persian bakery, for instance.