©2008 Harry Kenney

One thing you know about the way I do things, for those who follow me, is that besides pointing out tips I point out the rough spots, the mistakes that I’ve made on a previous version or how to correct mistakes if they’re made. What you don’t see (though I sometimes talk about) are the once in a while big flops.

Yes, I have them too. We all do. (You might find some comfort in that.) Maybe I made a silly mistake that flopped the whole thing. Once in a while the technique I used was the downfall — as when I tried too tough a cut of beef for shish kabobs. Sometimes I misjudge as with a recent braised Swiss chard recipe where by (having not used it before) I totally miscalculated the amount of shrinkage and so the other ingredients in the dish came out in too much proportions.

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©2008 Harry Kenney

Several different types of fish have gotten somewhat popular in the last few years and can now easily be found at your local fish monger or at the fresh seafood section of your local supermarket. Among these is one with the very cool sounding name of mahi-mahi. So what is mahi mahi? (The name by the way can be two words or a single hyphenated one from what I’ve found.)

Obviously the name conjures up the tropical Pacific, specifically Hawaii. And indeed the name is Hawaiian, meaning “strong-strong” as this fish can really put up a fight when on the end of a fishing line. Despite the name however, this fish can be found and caught in many places besides the deep South Pacific, also in the Caribbean, the west coast of South America and Southeast Asia; and it is in these areas the commercial fisherman go for. That said, in less abundance more recreational fisherman have caught them in the Arabian Sea and even in the Atlantic from New Jersey down to Florida.

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©2008 Harry Kenney

Cooks are generally pretty imaginative. That said, when something gets popular, everyone jumps on the bandwagon. In the last few years we’ve seen the big bulsamic vinegar craze, and then there was the Parmesano Reggiano fad, and of course romaine has long replaced the boring iceberg lettuce as the salad staple. The first one is still going, though I see some chefs lately such as Bobby Flay starting to use sherry vinegar instead; and as for grated cheese, it seems of late Pecorino Romano is the food world’s “new black”.

What brings this up? Especially in terms of this particular dish? Well while there’s not too much wrong with everyone jumping on a bandwagon (well, there is to some degree), the thing is few people seem to know when to jump off that wagon, not even when it’s been run into the ground. And that brings me to the mango. Like most people I enjoy it, and yes, I’m sure I will use mango in future recipes just as I have in the past. But, please folks, there is a world beyond. In short, the wide-spread massive over-use of the mango to the exclusion of everything else stops here.

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I really do get annoyed when my market doesn’t have exactly what I want. Which happens too often actually, but what can you do? You play with the cards your dealt with or you fold or you find another game. I did what I’m often (grrr) having to do, the first. This time it was uncooked shrimp and I wanted them larrrrrrge. Big-butt. Jumbo. Prawn-like. I had to suffer with 31-40s, the only size they had at the moment, and the only ones in the store, and they didn’t even have enough to make a full pound. Sheesh.

What kind of rookie-league outfit were they running here? Why don’t I have a fish monger near me? So you take what you can get. What’s the saying? When life gives you a lemon make lemonade.. Or, with me, it turned out make margaritas!

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I needed a side for my oven BBQ brisket. Yeah I had little baked potatoes and some fresh coleslaw, but I still wanted something warm and flavorful and that was (for lack of better words) very “veggie”. I also wanted something more “regional” … in this case, southern or western or southwestern. It just seemed like that would go right with my indoor BBQ meal.

Now last week there were quite a few things I had bought for my BBQ party that I never made it out to the table. Why is that, you may ask? A combination of my being too ambitious, wanting to make too much food than was necessary, as well as for various reasons six people, three couples basically, had to bale out because of sickness or previous commitments. So there just wasn’t the impetuous to cook twice the amount of food for half the amount of people.

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