Kona Kampachi two ways

One good thing about blogging, besides the endless supply of like-minded friends on line, is the occasional contact from some company interested in talking to you about blogging, interviewing you for a magazine, or getting their product into your hands. In the past six months I have been featured in two local magazines that did articles about food blogging, and just recently was contacted by Kona Blue and offered a shipment of Kona Kampachi. Free food? I’m there!

My mistake was thinking I was going to get ’samples’ of this fish. What arrived was a huge box that held two very large fish fillets, smelling of the ocean and salt water breezes. I was glad to be wrong for once. I cut the fillets into four pieces and froze three of them. I split the one that I left out and still got a very generous portion of fish for dinner.

I sprinkled them with olive oil, lime juice and salt and pepper. For the first tasting of this highly touted fish, I wanted something simple so the flavors could come through. This is a remarkable fish; full and rich in flavor and loaded with Omega-3’s, a high-grade sushi quality Hawaiian yellowtail that is ecologically farmed and sustained. The texture is smooth, almost like good quality butter, the appearance looks similar to haddock but the taste is unlike anything I have tried. It’s similar to salmon in its richness, with a top-notch mouth feel. I was suitably impressed.

It can be eaten raw and cooked in any manner; the high fat content makes it near impossible to overcook, and even my piece, having seared in a hot pan for about 10 minutes or more, was still somewhat undercooked in the thickest part. We loved it though- well, two of us did; Griffin took his obligatory bite and scowled all through it, finding his taste more towards leftovers of his requested tuna and pasta from a previous meal- but Mike and I found a great deal to enjoy about the fish.

The fish was seared in a very hot pan, using only the oil I drizzled over the top as a cooking medium. I let it sit on one side until it was nearly cooked through before flipping it over.

I made a cilantro-lime compound butter to eat with it, and some almond parmesan cous-cous as a quick side dish. This meal came together in less than 15 minutes and was delicious. I simply took sliced almonds that I had on hand and chopped then fine, browning them in a skillet before adding the cous-cous and water, then stirred in parmesan cheese when it was finished. Fresh thyme, or maybe a little sage would have added a nice herb touch to it. The butter was a simple mix of lime juice, minced cilantro, salt, pepper and a little garlic powder. Quite honestly, this fish needed very little to make it delicious.

A second go-round of the fish occurred on a quiet kid-free night. This time around I created a pistachio crust for it, and baked it in a hot oven.

Crushed pistachios, ground flaxseed and browned panko crumbs made for a nutty, fragrant topping, and the fish fared just as well being baked as it did in a hot skillet. I lightly sprayed the fillets with cooking oil then pressed the crumbs well onto the fish; another light spray of oil over the top of the crumbs helped the browning in the oven. I had cut the thick fillets down so they were thinner, and the hot oven had them ready in about 10 minutes. We had a poblano-corn relish on the side and more cous-cous; once again it was a really delicious and quick dinner.

For now I believe that Kona Kampachi is only available by mail from the online source. I don’t know the shipping cost, but the fillet portion I received had a reasonable price tag. It would be nice to be able to find this product locally, but until the love spreads and the fish becomes more available in the mainstream, I may have to either covet the remaining two portions or pony up the cash to get more; I really loved this fish and really appreciated the opportunity to try it at home. Thanks so much, Kona Blue!