Porgy and Bass

Wednesday 8 October

Barbara spent the day at Jungle Jim's, whose fish department is the best in the city.  She yearned over the bluefish, but they were far too big for just the two of us; and there were skate wings, but the Jungle always has them, so they weren't special enough. 

But among the fresh fish, they actually had porgy; and a choice of either white bass (freshwater, more piquant) or black bass (saltwater, blander).  So though black bass would have been more suitable to the joke, she chose a white bass and a porgy, for the comedy dish that she had only tasted once, when the Ivanoffs back in Elmhurst cooked it for guests.

Jungle Jim's guys always gut and scale the fish carefully, so all we needed to do was slit each fish a few times, salt them, and stuff them with fresh parsley.  We roasted them on a tray at 400º, and when they were done, finished the porgy with our own basil oil, and the bass with rosemary oil.

We served it with some simple sautéed yellow squash with garlic, meltingly sweet, and a lemon to squeeze.  And if you wonder how we got our share of the two fish, it was easy.  Each of us ate the top half of the fish we got first, then removed the skeleton, switched plates, and ate the bottom half of the other fish.

"I loves you, Porgy"... but Bass was even better.