BLOGHUNGRY

Ginger Salmon over Wilted Greens

Recently, I was invited to a friend's house for a seafood intervention feast to help me conquer my fear of eating sea life. There were crab cakes, bacon wrapped shrimp, swordfish, and this salmon recipe. I was able to eat some of everything, but the salmon was the big winner of the evening. This recipe is a modified version of a Giada De Laurentiis recipe for sea bass and is full of flavor that had the power to make me forget how truly gross fishy foods can be.

Ginger Salmon over Wilted Greens

6 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
4 (5-ounce) salmon fillets
4 teaspoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup dry Marsala wine
8 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 lime, quartered
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
Cut 4 (12-inch-square pieces) of aluminum foil.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Working with 1 foil sheet at a time, place the foil sheets on the work surface. Place 1 1/2 cups of spinach in the center of each foil sheet. Top with a sea bass fillet. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of ginger and 1/2 teaspoon of garlic, then drizzle 2 tablespoons of Marsala, 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil over the fish and spinach. Gather the foil sheets over the fish. Fold in the foil edges and pinch tightly to seal. Place the foil packages on a heavy large baking sheet.

Bake until the spinach wilts and the fish is just cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer the packages to wide shallow bowls. Cool 5 minutes. Open package and fold down to reveal fish, being careful of hot steam. Squeeze the lime juice over the fish. Sprinkle with the basil and serve.

Fish Day Goes Bad

First I would like to thank you all for the comments and suggestions you sent in to help Bloghungry conquer his fear of seafood. Then I would like to respectfully ask you.. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?! I was a timid seafood virgin and you recommended a rough-n-tumble raw seafood gang bang for my first time. It turned into a total Fear Factor moment. Popmuse, my producer boyfriend along with my local fish eating support group, produced the entire event making phone calls, reservations, and nailing down the menu selections. We ended up at Yabu, where we were told that halibut was not on the menu as promised. Unphased we decided to press on and filled the table with an assortment of fishy things.

Bloghungry Food Notes:

Tempura- After a bad experience with funnel cakes in my youth I can not stomach large amounts of empty fried greasiness. Add the cockroach-like shrimp tails poking out from their eerily straight/elongated bodies and you can count me out. I didn't sign on for shrimp funnel cakes.

Vegetable Sushi- I decided to start with vegetable sushi and ease slowly into the harder stuff. I didn't love it, but it was okay and helped to build my momentum.

California Roll- Said to be a good beginner sushi I dipped it in soy sauce, tossed it in my mouth and with some gagging managed to swallow. The whole concept of chewing a mix of sticky rice, squishy avocado, crab meat is still a little foreign and gross. They should really be smaller and less squishy.

Spicy Tuna Roll-

After some time and a lot of water I tried again. This time my gag reflex won and I could not swallow the bite. My body physically rejected it and I nearly threw up on the table. Sushi was dead to me for the night.

Salmon- Salmon tasted like chicken that was marinated in raw fish, which was only slightly off-putting. It was the most accessible fish I had all night and was a huge step forward into overcoming seafood.

Cod- If Country Crock margarine spread were aged and made into a meat it would taste identical to cod. It wasn't good by any means but I could live off it if I were ever shipwrecked on a Gilligan's Island.

Overview: Sushi was too big of a step for my first time. I need to focus more on liking/swallowing fish than eating trendy raw food right now. I will try fish again, but will focus on a drier grilled piece of fish that is not part of a raw squishy rice ball. I think my problem is mainly psychological and texture based, but the smell doesn't make it any easier. I'm not closing the book on seafood just yet, but it may be left unread on my bedside table for a while.

**For a closer look at my gag reflex in action click on the photo.

Fish Day

Bloghungry readers have spoken, nominees have been thrown around, the votes are in, and in the poll ended in a tie. The winners are halibut and sushi. This means that my fish eating cherry will be broken by not one but two varieties of seafood.. I'm not completely sure I will be able to stomach it, but I am a gay food blogger of my word. Tonight is the night.. Full report tomorrow.. Bloghungry Fish Phobia Poll 1. sushi/halibut
2. shrimp/salmon/talapia
3. tuna

Countdown to Fish: Reader Poll

There are 4 days left until I confront my life-long seafood phobia and I'm starting to make plans for the big day. The trouble is that I've never eaten seafood and don't know where to start. I've decided to put the choice in the hands of Bloghungry readers. What would you recommend as a first time fish? Post a recommendation in the comments section below and I'll eat the winning fish this Friday night. Bloghungry Fish Trial Rules:

1. Must eat the reader chosen fish.

2. Must eat at least 3 bites.
3. The chosen fish must not be obstructed by prefered foods like pasta.

Fish Phobia Challenge

I have always been grossed out by seafood. It started with my early memories of smelly cafeteria fish patties with their vomitous paper cup of tartar sauce. I am still haunted by the smell.. There is also the weird/eerily clean and flaky texture of the meat. Flaky meat is alien and gross. However, my biggest issue lies in the strange fact that no one likes fish that tastes "too fishy". What is that? No one says that they don't like "chickeny" tasting chicken or "beefy" tasting beef. Clearly "fishy" taste is undesirable.. even to fish eaters.

Despite all of my fears, I've decided to that I am too old to fight the seafood phenomenon any longer. Send your thoughts and prayers, the countdown has begun..

BLOGHUNGRY WILL EAT FISH ON SEPTEMBER 9, 2005

My Past Phobias conquered: eggs, lettuce, beer, broccoli, squash, eggplant

My Future Phobias to examine: mushrooms, olives, mayonnaise, beets