Thursday is “Fish Day”, the one day out of the week I look forward to with great anticipation when we head out to our favorite fishmonger. The colorful triglia di scoglio above is family to a species of goatfish/red mullet. They go by other names depending on which country you’re in, but this one in particular was hauled from Tyrrhenian waters of the Mediterranean sea. Looking at it brought back memories of the islands since they closely resemble the hawaiian goatfish or weke ula. Great-tasting fish, and it reminded me of this group.

That would be me with the blue mask. Such fun times, and I hope my gal pals never see this! We used to swim out in deep openings among the reef to lay gill nets with my dad.

Now, as far as I can remember, the most common method of cooking goatfish in Hawaii was either in soups or steamed (wrapped in ti leaves with green onions and ginger root). I came across this recipe for Red Mullet Baked in Grape Leaves and it was a snap to put together. Simple, easy, and perfect with a tabbouleh salad.