Opah

68 # "Opah or Moonfish"

Opah or Moonfish have been an underutilized species in the past. With the demand for fresh fish on the rise, Opah has found a home in restaurants. They are the most colorful of all the commercial fish landed in Hawaii and are are sold fresh at the Honolulu fish auction.

Opah are a by-catch of the long line boats that fish for tuna and bill fish and has never been a fish that has landed on the menu's of restaurants. They are never caught in any quantity because they do not swim in schools. When you see Opah served at a restaurant it is normally as the "catch of the day".

Until they became commercially popular in the restaurants, Opah was viewed as a good luck fish by old-time long line fishermen, who would give it away as a gesture of goodwill rather than sell it.

BLT Sandwich

A Real BLT

A friend was in town and wanted to grab a quick lunch. He asked "where can we get a good BLT"?
I haven't eaten many in town that I thought was worth going back for, except Kenny & Ziggy's Deli in Houston. After he was served his BLT, he was shocked at the amount of bacon on the sandwich. I haven't tasted a BLT as good as this one and would recommend it to anyone. Most bacon sandwiches, the makers are trying to use as little bacon as they can get by on, and this one uses as much as they can pile on.

Pork Jambalaya

Pork Boston Butt

Browning Seasoned 1 1/2 inch Pork Cubes

Finished Pot of Pork Jambalaya

Saturday, Diane was baking cookies for a fundraiser that we were attending on Sunday afternoon. I decided while she was baking, I would take out our Jambalaya pot and make my great Grandfather's favorite Jambalaya, Pork, using Boston Butts.

I purchased two whole Boston Butts and diced them into 1- 1/2 inch cubes, seasoning with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. I used Louisiana hot sauce to liberally coat the meat before I seasoned it. I browned the cubes slowly stirring for about an hour and a half, until well browned on the outside then removed and added my onions and two jalapeno peppers diced. As the onions began to sweat, I added one large red bell pepper and cooked until soft then adding twelve diced garlic cloves. As soon as the garlic was added I put my browned meat back into the pot, added stock to make a gravy and cooked for about 20 minutes.

While gravy and meat were cooking I washed 6 cups of Toro Brand rice three times and then added it to my black iron pot with pork and gravy boiling. I then tasted the broth and seasoned to taste so that the added rice would have a well seasoned flavor when cooked. I then let boil for about 10 minutes then covered and turned the burner as low as I could for 25 minutes.

While Jambalaya was cooking I cut up two bunches of green onions and a large bunch of parsley. As soon as the the rice was cooked in the Jambalaya, I added the greens and stirred it all together.

Everyone that stopped by Saturday, took home a large container of Pork Jambalaya. Saturday night though I wished I had kept an extra container for supper. While cooking I am never hungry, but later on I always wish I had kept leftovers.