Seafood Day

Last Sunday Janet and I prepared an eight course (mostly) seafood meal for a bunch of friends, it is something that we used to do regularly, every summer, and then for some reason we skipped the last two years, so we decided it was time to reinstate it.

I emailed a bunch of friends and offered the following menu;

-Fresh mussels steamed in wine and lemon,

-mussels and bacon sosaties,

-fresh braaiied harders (mullet)

-seafood potjie,

-roasted chicken wings (as a break from the fish)

-braaiied white stumpnose

-fresh smoked Angel fish - both served with butter/herb potatoes and salad,

-dessert

Eventually it was thirteen hungry friends and the two of us, a lovely hot summer's day and a lot of fresh seafood.

People love my mussel pots! Actually I was pouring white wine from a box into the pot but some people do get a bit of a fright.

Janet and Annie look a bit dubious but the mussels went down very well,

Our friends "the Pats" got stuck in, I think only twelve people ate the mussels but they made short work of five kilos, there wasn't much left.

The next course was the mussel and bacon sosaties, these took me quite a while to make up that morning, quite a fiddly and time consuming job but well worth it.

I thread a piece of green pepper onto the stick followed by two (pre-cooked) mussels which I wrap in bacon strips, then a mushroom followed by another mussel wrapped in bacon and then end off with another piece of green pepper. These I then braai over good hot coals, turning regularly until the bacon is cooked.

When you're the chef the ladies all want to come and get a cuddle and friends like to gather around the fire,

Whilst my friends were demolishing the sosaties I started the seafood pot and also got the "Harders" (Mullet) on the coals.

Four ex BSAP members; 7473 Dave Hillman, 7471 Joe Surkont, 7955 Andrew Wood and 4696 Tony Down a fine bunch of men!

Smoke gets in your eyes, basting the harders with a lemon/butter sauce. A small rather bony fish with a delicate flavour, well worth taking the trouble eat - I love these!

"Okay everybody, try a little harder!" These went down very well, especially after we showed our friends how to remove the skeleton and most of the bones, just a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt, delicious! By now our friends were all feeling pretty full so we gave them a break before the pot was ready.

Relax time, Patrick seems to be doing alright.

Linda and Brian.

I did have time to chat with my friends now and then, here's my biker scum buddy Frank.

I had some lovely fresh White Stumpnose for the final course, along with some Angel Fish fillets which I smoked but my friends were pretty much beat, they didn't eat much of this or Janet's delicious dessert but at least no one went hungry.

As I said, it was a long time since the last Seafood day and we definitely over-catered but nothing goes to waste with us. Feed back that I have had so far has all been positive so we will do it again, hopefully more often although Janet and I were both really tired by the time everyone had left, not getting any younger!

If you fancy bringing a bunch of friends up the west coast for a seafood meal give us a shout, the menu is flexible and the price is very reasonable!