- Food Gal - https://www.foodgal.com -

A Whole Lotta Seafood and a Food Gal Giveaway

When I think of fresh seafood, I can’t help but think of my late-Mom’s simple but sublime steamed fish.

My Uncle Homer loves to fish. He’s good at it, too, as evidenced by the huge bass he used to gift to my parents from his day-long boating excursions.

I remember the white fillets, so impossibly plump looking, covered in silvery-gray skin, which my Mom always left on to keep the fish moist while it cooked.

She would place the fillets in a Pyrex pie plate atop a steamer. She’d sprinkle on liberal shards of fresh ginger before placing the cover over the pan. Curls of steam would shoot out, as the fish turned from translucent to opaque inside.

When it was done, she’d top the fish with inch-long segments of spring onion. Next, she’d heat up a small saucepan of peanut oil with a splash of soy sauce until it was smoking. Then, ever so slowly, she’d dribble the hot oil all over the fish, giving it a lovely gloss and crisping up the skin ever so slightly.

We’d dig in with our chopsticks, tearing off chunks of the silky fish and spooning the sauce over steamed rice.

That would be dinner. With the fish rightly the star of the meal. And my family thoroughly enjoying each morsel of my uncle’s gift from the sea.

Contest: Southern California-based Anderson Seafoods, which sells premium seafood with a nod toward sustainability, wants you to remember your mom this Mother’s Day with impeccable fresh seafood. Thanks to them, one lucky Food Gal reader will win a “Regatta Gift Package,” a value of $300. Yes, you read that right. The package includes four pounds of wild Mexican shrimp, two cold-water South African rock lobster tails, four pounds of dry-packed scallops, 32 ounces of Norwegian salmon and 32 ounces of Alaskan halibut.

Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST April 28. Winner will be announced April 30.

How to win?

You’ve already read one of my fondest memories involving my Mom and seafood. Just tell me your own favorite story about your Mom and seafood. Best answer wins.

Bonus: Since there can only be one winner, Anderson Seafoods is offering a special 10 percent discount in honor of Earth Day for those who want to get the jump on enjoying some fine seafood. Just use promo code, “EARTH22,” which is good through April 29.

Winner of Last Week’s Contest

In the previous Food Gal contest, I asked you whom you most would want to share a cup of tea with — and why. The winner will receive six varieties of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s new, limited edition Tea Master’s tea blends.

Congrats to:

Derrick, who wrote, “Grandma. She’s frail at 91, stares at me with joy as she sees my youth. Yet she can never tell me how she feels, and I can never respond. Though we are sometimes face to face, we are a world apart in language and cultural. If only one day over tea, in the same tongue we can share with one another.”