Upcoming Events in May

April 29th

Darvill's Bookstore

Eastsound, Orcas Island

7-8 pm

Reading & book signing

May 1st

Griffin Bay Bookstore

Friday Harbor

1-3 pm

Reading & book signing

May 8th

Mother's Day Bazaar & Fundraiser

for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

Clearwater Casino Resort Chico Room

Suquamish

9-5 pm

booksales & signing

May 15th

Village Bookstore

Community Food Co-op's Connection Building

1200 N Forest Street, Bellingham

11-12:30 pm

cooking demo, reading and signing

May 30th

Eagle Harbor Bookstore

Winslow, Bainbridge Island

3-4 pm

reading, booksigning

Alaskan Salmon Nicoise Salad

the sun is shining today, time for something light and refreshing!

Alaskan Salmon Nicoise Salad (page 63)

9 ounces fresh green beans, trimmed of strings

1 pound small red potatoes

1 small head Bibb or butter lettuce

4 tablespoons capers

1 cup Niçoise olives

2 large tomatoes, cut into 8 pieces each

10 to 12 ounces good quality smoked salmon

(Klawock Oceanside red king salmon used here www.klawockoceanside.com)

4 hard-boiled eggs, halved

Lemon Vinaigrette:

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 teaspoon prepared Dijon mustard

Pinch of sugar

Pinch sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Steam the green beans until tender, then rinse well under cold water and drain. Boil the potatoes until done, and cool down in cold water. Drain and quarter the potatoes.

Place several lettuce leaves on each plate. Place a mound of potatoes in the center and surround with separate piles of beans, capers, olives, tomatoes, and smoked salmon. Nestle two egg halves on opposite sides of the plate.

To make the vinaigrette, whisk together the lemon juice, shallot, Dijon mustard, and sugar in a medium, high-sided bowl. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking vigorously to emulsify. Whisk in the salt and pepper to taste.

Drizzle each salad with the Lemon Vinaigrette.

Makes 4-6 serving

Shelf Awareness Review

This is a nice review from Shelf Awareness, a newsletter for the book trade.

http://news.shelf-awareness.com/mv/a1/873771.html

The Fishes and Dishes Cookbook by Kiyo Marsh, Tomi Marsh and Laura Cooper (Epicenter Press, $19.95 trade paper, 9781935347071/1935347071 April 28, 2010)

The subtitle sums up this cookbook--Seafood Recipes and Salty Stories from Alaska's Commercial Fisherwomen--but it's hard to say which is more enticing, the recipes or the tales. The authors have worked for more than 35 years between them as cooks and deckhands in one of America's deadliest industries. (Currently Tomi Marsh is owner and skipper of the F/V Savage.) And boy, do they have stories--being chased by storms, setting up a pizza-delivery boat service in the Pribilofs, Bering Sea rescues, boats stolen by the Russian mafia, cooking while riding the troughs and crests of heavy seas. Then there are the recipes: Alaskan Salmon Niçoise Salad, Cioppino, Sake Steamed Clams, Seafood Enchiladas, Salmokopita, Thai Clam Chowder, Salmon Noodle Casserole. It all combines with photographs, art, a few haiku and sidebars about such things as sailors' superstitions into a wonderful book about Alaska fishing, strong women and delicious food.

KDN article picked up by AP

Scott Bowlen's article on F&D for the Ketchikan Daily News was picked up by the AP and has been appearing in newspapers all over the country. Pittsburgh, Indiana, Connecticut, and Kodiak to name a few!

Ketchikan Daily News write up

“The Fishes & Dishes Cookbook: Seafood Recipes and Salty Stories from Alaska’s Commercial Fisherwomen.”
By Kiyo Marsh, Tomi Marsh, and Laura Cooper

By SCOTT BOWLEN
Daily News Staff Writer
They’ve braved the ocean from Ketchikan to the Bering Sea, these “goddesses in Grundéns,” harvesting salmon and crab and halibut and herring.
Such hard work produces a healthy appetite, and fisherwomen know seafood at its best.
And thus have these fisherwomen — Kiyo Marsh, Tomi Marsh and Laura Cooper — combined their knowledge of seafaring, fishing and the culinary arts into a remarkable new volume entitled “The Fishes & Dishes Cookbook.”
Two neat things stand out in this book.
A variety of vignettes, glossaries and photos provide an illuminating glimpse of the authors’ fishing lifestyles and the seafood they harvest.
Secondly, the 80 recipes are as adventurous as the authors themselves. Betty Crocker, the poor dear, got left on the dock for this one.
Many Ketchikan residents and commercial fishermen in Alaska are likely to know of at least one of the “Fishes & Dishes” authors and contributors.
The most visible here around the First City is Tomi Marsh, the Ketchikan-based skipper of the 78-foot fishing and tendering vessel Savage, and a 28-year veteran of the commercial fishing industry.
Tomi’s sister, Kiyo Marsh, worked five years as a deckhand and boat cook aboard the Savage from Southeast Alaska to the Bering Sea.
Laura Cooper worked as a boat cook and deckhand aboard longlining and tendering boats in western Alaska.
Kiyo and Laura now reside in Seattle.
So, where did the cookbook idea come from?
Aboard the Savage, about a decade ago, Kiyo Marsh told the Daily News in March.
“When Tomi and I were fishing crab, rolling around the Bering Sea, cooking was always such a challenge,” Kiyo said. “We started off joking about making a cookbook called ‘Cooking in the Ditch.’ Each recipe would be good whether you were in 30-foot seas or tied to the dock.”
Kiyo laughs when she says this, recalling how she’d use bungie cords and straps criss-crossed over the top of the Savage galley’s stove in an attempt to keep pots and pans in place.
“You’d take a hard roll and it doesn’t matter how hard it’s strapped down. it’s going to want to jump,” she said. “There were times where I’m literally just laid out across the stove trying to keep things from going on the floor.”
Over time, Kiyo and Tomi collected recipes, testing and innovating at sea and on land. The process toward a cookbook gathered speed about three years ago when Laura Cooper began helping out.
The world-traveling Kiyo said she loves to be creative with cooking, which is reflected in the selections featured in “Fishes & Dishes.”
“I wanted to try to put some recipes in that were going to be a little different than what you usually see in a cookbook,” she said. “Not just your clam chowder, and your fish and chips, and your salmon dip — not that those aren’t good.”
Her personal favorite recipes in the book include the miso-glazed black cod, a cast-iron broiled salmon and the jade dumplings made with salmon.
Many of the recipes include ethnic flavors from Japanese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Chinese and Thai cuisines.
Kiyo also said she wanted to give cooks opportunities to make things like sweet chile sauce or green enchilada sauce from scratch.
“But you know, definitely if we’re rolling around on the boat, we’d probably grab a jar of chile sauce or a can of green enchilada sauce for the seafood enchiladas,” Kiyo said.
In addition to basic preparation tips for a variety of seafood species (ever de-beard a mussel or clean a geoduck clam?), “Fishes & Dishes” includes some beverage mixology and a section on how to pair wines with seafood.
“Fishes & Dishes’ has several contributions from other fisherwomen, such as Carol Brown, Stefani Smith, Mary Lang, Shannon Zellerhoff, Roxanne Kennedy and Kacy Hubbard-Patton. One short story is about Dawn and Dave Rauwolf of Ketchikan.
There’s also a page on fishing fashion —the book’s working title was “Goddesses in Grundéns” — that covers the fab basics such as Xtratuf boots, Polartec fleece, hoodies, rubber gloves and Carhartt coveralls.
It all rings true, written by women who’ve lived at sea and know their subjects well.
“Fishes & Dishes” is available now at some booksellers, including Parnassus Books in Ketchikan.
“People have been really positive and haav really liked it a lot,” Kiyo Marsh said.
She and Tomi Marsh plan to be at Parnassus Books beginning at about 2 p.m. Sunday during Parnassus’ 25th anniversary open house (which runs from noon to 5 p.m.).
“I’m not exactly sure what we’re going to make yet, but there will definitely be food from the book there,” Kiyo said.

Radio interview with Kiyo and Laura

Kiyo and Laura did a radio interviw with Marliese Franklin, of Love, Food, Happiness on Women's Radio out of Portland, OR. Listen to the interview here