H Mart in Little Ferry had more than 20 different kinds of whole fish on ice when I visited last night, casting my net for a wholesome dinner.
I picked a two and a half pound fluke ($4.99 a pound) covered in ice and asked the fish monger to clean it and cut it into steaks. Fluke is delicious raw as well as cooked. I've enjoyed fluke shashimi many times as an alternative to tuna, which can have a lot of mercury in it.
I poached my fluke steaks, head and tail in sake, fish sauce, sesame oil, mirin, soy sauce and garlic for 15 to 20 minutes, and served it with steamed rice and okra with diced tomatoes, onion and garlic.
H Mart in Little Ferry also offers fillets from six or seven kinds of fish and although I have usually found them to be fresh, ocean perch fillets I bought last week had seen better days. They cooked up OK, but I will be sticking with whole fish from now on, and if I want fillets, ask the fish monger to cut them from a whole fish.
