Garlic-Roasted Whole Striped Bass (Page 313)

RECIPE #747

• Date: Friday, May 30, 2008 -- 8pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B-
  

This recipe was part of the ongoing all-seafood-all-the-time plan for the summer. I like cooking with whole fish. There is something satisfying about seeing where your meat comes from. I also like serving whole fish, so I was surprised when this recipe called for the fish to be filleted before it was served. Filleting cooked fish often results in some not-so-pretty falling apart fish fillets (see, for example, the photo above). It's a shame too because this fish was really beautiful when it came out of the oven. My recommendation: just serve it whole! Flavor-wise this fish was fine. It was very simple -- a whole fish roasted with garlic and lemon. The recipe calls for striped bass or red snapper. We used snapper, as there was no striped bass to be found. Slits were made in the fish, and thin slices of garlic inserted into them before roasting. The garlic slices came out a bit raw, which wasn't a great thing, but they contributed a nice flavor to the dish. Overall this dish was fine, but a little bland. I prefer fish preparations that have some sauce to them and this one did not.

The recipe is here.

Since arriving in Boston a few weeks back, I have had several conversations of the form:

Friend: "You've lost weight. You look good."
Teena: "Thanks, but I haven't lost any weight."
Friend: "Yes you have."
Teena: "No, really, I haven't."
(repeat)

I am 5 feet and 11 inches tall (hence people often refer to me as that tall girl) and I typically weigh 151 pounds, which makes me neither stick thin, nor chubby. And my weight never really fluctuates. In the last 10 years I have never left a 3 pound radius around my current weight. And 3 pounds on someone who is nearly 6 feet tall is pretty hard to see. I view the fact that my weight is stable as my body giving its approval of this weight for me. This is the weight at which I can eat whatever I want, and exercise as much or as little as I want. It's my happy weight. I'm pretty sure there would be no practical way for me to drop below that range even if I wanted to -- but frankly I have never had any interest in trying! But lately, so many people have commented on my "weight loss" that I began to think maybe they were right and I just hadn't noticed. So, I set out to weigh myself. I don't own a scale, since I tend not to worry about these things. But I was staying with friends a few weeks back who had one, so I used theirs. BUT, silly foreigners that they are, their scale was in kilograms :). Before I had a chance to convert, I forgot all about it. Later, at the gym I found another scale, this one conveniently in pounds. The verdict: 152. So, no, I haven't lost any weight!

So why does everyone think that I have? Maybe as Americans get heavier I look skinnier in a relative sense? :) That's my only theory...