Cool name. Awesome look. Spiny fins. I love a good a rockfish. They’re the basis of bouillbaise. Full flavored. Lobstery in texture and color. I thought the cool name, awesome look, spiny fins, and all would woo the kids. Especially monster loving and slaying Desmond. Especially Cousteau in the making Violet. It was gorgeous.
I stuffed it with sliced lemons, tarragon, thyme, a sliced shallot, a chopped clove of garlic. I salted and peppered it and doused it with olive oil. I roasted it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Even more gorgeous.
I’m glad I’d made boiled up a pound of farfalle to go on the side (with a chopped heirloom beefsteak tomato, a handful of basil, and lashings of parm). The kids ate that. They wouldn’t touch the fish.
My wife and I ate the scorpion fish, loving every lobstery bit of it. Mixing it with our farfalle. Singing the praises of rockfish. Still, it stung. Just a bit.
—Hugh
