Last week we had an opportunity to drive down to Florida to visit our son. His work schedule rotation gave him three days off at the same time my husband was off school. It was a no brainer. Get in the car and head south. My son’s kitchen is small but outfitted with full-size appliances. With an abundance of restaurants to try and a knowledgeable local guide, I only ended up cooking breakfast twice in the four days we were there. I love seafood and always make it a point to take advantage of proximity to the source when we travel to destinations near the ocean. I’d like to thank Cat and Chris, my son’s friends, who recommended a local seafood shop to us. Since we drove down I wanted to ice up the cooler and bring some home. We took their advice and headed to Willingham’s
Willingham Seafood Market
This little shop is located right on the Boggy Bayou in Niceville, FL. Yelp gives them a 5 star rating and I concur. We chose several pounds of large shrimp brought in that day on a boat tied to the dock a few yards away. It doesn’t get any fresher than that. We also stopped at another shop down the road and picked up grouper and red snapper. The fishmonger pointed out several times that the skin was still on the snapper. I have never prepared it at home, so I was a little concerned about his multiple references to the skin. I asked if it was okay to eat it and he vigorously affirmed that it was. When I got home, I did some reading in the Legal Seafoods cookbook and learned why he pointed this out. In Florida it is a state law that red snapper must be sold with the skin on to prevent other inferior less expensive fish similar to snapper from being passed off as the real McCoy.
We started home on Sunday, stopping over in Memphis on Sunday night with a visit to Beale Street for barbeque at Rum Boogies cafe. It was good, but my husband proclaimed my ribs to be better. The seafood survived the trip and I cleaned and packaged it up. Some was frozen and some will be eaten in the next couple of days. The shrimp had the heads still on, so it took me a while to pop them off, devein and shell them, but they will be delicious and it was well worth the effort. I did find a tiny hitchhiker. Too bad he wasn’t bigger.
Last night I used my Legal Seafood recipe and prepared the red snapper.
Steamed Snapper with Ginger and Scallions
1 1/2 lbs. red snapper filets
2 julienned scallions, both white and green parts
2 tablespoons julienned fresh ginger
1 teaspoon grapeseed oil
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place the snapper on a large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil. Cover the filet with the ginger and scallions. Fold the foil to enclose the fish and seal tightly. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the fish is opaque and cooked through. Open the foil carefully to avoid getting burned by the escaping steam. Mix together the grape seed oil, sesame oil and soy sauce and pour over the fish. Serve immediately. I made some Coconut Mango Rice and Asian vegetables as the side dishes and we had an excellent meal.
Some Enchanted Eating 