The Best We Can Be

The best we can at this difficult time is to be supportive of one another. To lift each other up and bring a sense of belonging to each other in a time of separation and isolation .

Our Capt. Will is a guy who grew up in Chatham. A son of a fishermen, now a captain of his own boat. He is responsible for his scalloper, his scallop quota and his crew. And now to some degree, you.

At the last scallop pick-up when he and his crew arrived at the dock,  in the pouring rain, after a hard 30 hours of  fishing; you cheered and clapped for him. He felt your gratitude.

You stood in line for his scallops, went home and cooked some of the most freshest seafood available.

Did it somehow change your consciousness and connection to the food you eat,  when it's harvested and by whom?

Did it somehow make it more delicious, more satisfying, more deliberate?

Chatham Harvesters saw your posts and read your emails and thank you for sharing.

 Stephen and Eileen's delicious scallop dinner post they shared Sunday evening on our Facebook page @ChathamHarvesters 

I promised a recipe and I thought it should be simply and easy in times of complications and difficulty, so here goes; 

PAN-SEARED SEA SCALLOPS 

Pat your scallops dry. Heat some oil in a large pan. Place scallops in the pan. They should sizzle and will turn golden in color . Sear them  ( do not move) for 1-2 minutes, flip and sear the other side1-2 minutes. Remove from pan, drizzle with lemon,  Done! 

Here is to many more meals together!

Take care of yourselves and see you at the dock. 

Shareen 

The Beautiful Scallop

The Beautiful Scallop, to paraphrase Provincetown’s iconic Chef Howard Mitchum, is one of the tastier morsels to come from the sea.

It is readily available, in abundance to those who hold a fishing quota to catch them. A scallop that has been sitting at sea for long lengths of time loses its flavor and texture.

That is why day boat scallops, scallops that are caught, shucked and landed within a 24-36 hour-time span, are the tastiest. Boats that fish out of Chatham do just that every day. 

 

F/V Getaway

Many fishing boat have 2 or 3 crewmen including the captain so the catch is deck-loaded and shucking goes throughout the trip.

The tasty scallops are then bagged to sell at the  auction house or to you at the dock.

Here is a recipe from Howard Mitchum’s Provincetown Seafood Cookbook originally written in 1975.It’s an amazing book so if you can find a copy, grab it. The recipes are great, the stories and information on Cape Cod seafood are priceless. 

SCALLOPS AU GRATIN

1 lb. or pint of Sea Scallop meats

2 Scallions and 2 inches of their green leaves

½ cup of Sauterne

¼ cup of Sherry

1 cup of cheese sauce (see below)

Toasted bread

2 T Parmesan cheese

Butter as needed

         Combine the first five ingredients, put on slices of toast in a casserole. Sprinkle with parmesan cheeses, dot with butter, bake in a moderate 350-degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until brown. (To make the heavy cheese sauce, melt butter in a skillet, remove from the heat, add a little flour, then some milk little by little, stirring constantly. Return to fire and add some American cheese cubes (yes you read it right) , cook it and stir until thick.

Enjoy a classic 1970s dish when local caught seafood was an everyday thing.

Thanks for supporting fishing families by buying from your local seafood harvesters.Beautiful Scallop