Mahimahi Express

My Hawaii brother is a fisherman. That's not how he earns his living but it's how he fills his soul. He loves nothing more than getting a bunch of friends together to go out looking for really big fish in those deep blue Hawaiian waters. Time on the water is time apart for him, time when job cares and family concerns evaporate and he's free to just appreciate his island home and its surrounding waters. He reads the water and the clouds and the movement of birds the way I read a fascinating book. 

When he is successful, he shares his catch with the guys on the boat and with his friends. In fact, he met his wonderful wife by offering her some fresh fish as they ascended the elevator at their apartment building. He has a pillow on the couch in their current house which reads, "Here lives a great fisherman with the catch of his life." Amen to that!

The day we left Hawaii, he sheepishly asked permission to go out fishing with his friends rather than spend those last few hours with us. Knowing how much he loves it, we readily assented and, boy, are we glad now!

Yesterday, we received an express shipment of fresh mahimahi from Hawaii.  

He and his pals caught two mahis so he carved off one of the fillets with his enormous, wickedly sharp knife and sent it to us packed with ice in a cooler. If there is any better fish on earth, I'll be surprised. It's mild and white, but firm and athletic in texture. You can pan fry it, broil it, poach it, grill it - a very versatile fish and delicious no matter how you fix it.

We simply rubbed ours with olive oil and grilled it on the JennAir grill since it was cool outside, and topped it with a salsa recipe I found on epicurious.com. As usual, I didn't have all the ingredients (the story of my life) but I did have the world's sweetest cantaloupe and an avocado, so I played around with the rest of the ingredients and came up with a pretty good mix. I'll post what I did in case you happen to receive a beautiful gift of fresh mahimahi in the mail some day.

Mahalo, bruddah!  Hana hou!  (Thank you, brother! Do it again!)

Grilled Mahimahi with Melon/Avocado Salsa (adapted from epicurious.com)

1/2 ripe avocado, diced
1/4 ripe cantaloupe, diced
2 limes, zested and then squeezed for juice
3 slices of onion, minced
2 or 3 celery leaves, minced
fresh black pepper
2 or 3 dashes hot sauce (I used Cholula)

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and taste. Adjust for your preference. We found it needed lots of lime juice to counteract the sweetness of the melon, and we liked it peppery with both black pepper and hot sauce.

Grill your mahimahi until barely opaque and when the "blood meat" (the dark meat down the middle), is easy to lift off. (Cora got ours and loved it). It's easy to overcook mahimahi until it's dry, so watch closely and remove it just minutes before you think it's done. Let it rest on the cutting board for a few minutes, and it will finish cooking through but will still be moist.

Plate and top with the salsa. Easy peasy. The salsa would be good with halibut, too.