Big Sur Vermilion

I took advantage of having the house to myself this weekend and finished mounting and framing a commissioned print I did of a nice 6lb vermilion that was speared down in Big Sur.  The body of this fish was slender so the finished print came out really nice and true to shape (printing typically makes the fish taller because of the natural curvature of the body).

I painted this one with a lot of the white markings you see on reds when they’re swimming around on the bottom.  This coloration quickly disappears after you spear or catch them with a rod/reel.

Pretty happy with how this one turned out.  Hope they like it!

 

July 31st, 2012 | Category: gyotaku, Uncategorized | Comments are closed

Pajaro/Soquel Hole Fishing

Went out on a fun, but extremely long fishing trip over the weekend.  Launched at 5am out of Moss Landing and fished till past sunset.  We tried for sea bass early and watched others land some heavy fish while we sat in silence waiting.  The boredom made us pull the plug and head for the Soquel Hole to get the skunk off the boat with some salmon.

We managed to box 5 nice fish and decided to head in to drop off the salmon before going another round of sea bass fishing (you cannot have salmon on board when fishing with barbed hooks).

Our trip ended without even a hit on sea bass but we were given a nice 40lb pity fish by Capt Khanh’s friend that managed to pull 3 sea bass right under our noses.  Sometimes fishing sucks that way.

July 17th, 2012 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments are closed

Roasted vermilion with fennel and tomatoes

Dive conditions in the Monterey Bay were epic this weekend with almost no swell, warm water, and great visibility.  I’ve been shut out this season on halibut so I went to Carmel for vermilion rockfish instead.  It paid off and I speared a nice 3+lb red on one of my first dives.

This recipe was taken from Eric Ripert’s, “Avec Eric” cookbook and it’s a keeper.  He uses fennel pollen to season the fish which gives the dish a great aroma that reminds me of hiking down to a dive spot in Big Sur.  He roasts it in the oven but I opted to cook it outdoors in my Weber kettle grill which gave it a nice smoky flavor.  The broth is pretty basic: fennel, cherry tomatoes, shallots, garlic, parsley, chili flakes, and some white wine.

July 2nd, 2012 | Category: cooking | Comments are closed

West coast striper

I’ve been taking much longer to finish prints lately due to my work and dive schedule.  I also prefer to paint during the day to take advantage of the natural light coming through the window.  This one took several days to finish but it’s finally done and I’m happy with how it turned out.

This was a 20-something pound striped bass a friend caught off Ocean Beach several years ago.  Next up is a nice vermilion rockfish that was speared down in Big Sur.

July 2nd, 2012 | Category: gyotaku | Comments are closed

Smoked abalone v1.0 complete

Saltiness was about right but the outer skin was on the tough side.  Might have to trim the outer layer of the abalone down before brining/smoking next time.  Smoke flavor was pretty mild so might skip the drying step and go straight to smoke or increase the smoke time for v1.1

Brined overnight for 12 hrs
Dried at 125F for 2 hrs inside the smoker with no smoke
Smoked at 175F for 1hr using applewood
Dried at 175F for another 2 hrs with no smoke

 

The inside of the abalone seemed to contain a little too much moisture still so I threw it in the dehydrator and forgot about it. Doh! It ran overnight but miraculously, it was not ruined.  The flavor was intensified and texture was good (still tough on the outside).  This will be good with beer.

June 17th, 2012 | Tags: , , | Category: cooking | Comments are closed