Fresh Fish in Ballard

I can't believe I lived up the street from this place for several years and didn't know about it. Next to Larsen's Bakery on 24th/80th NW in Ballard is a terrific small fish shop.

So, I wanted to sample their wares, and called Pete to see if he was up for a seafood lunch. (He was, yay!)

The crab cakes, in particular, were amazing.

I also made baked scallops with a garlic, butter, panko topping. I think they were a little overdone, but they were still good.

And it seemed important to add a vegetable outside of salad, so I made sauteed zucchini.

I didn't get a close up, because we really wanted to eat, but I made a Fra Diavlo sauce and tossed it with some spaghetti. It was spicy and really good. Recipe below.

Fra Diavlo

6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp crushed red pepper
4 T olive oil
28oz can whole, peeled tomatoes (chopped, with juice)
1 1/2 tsp salt
chopped Italian parsley, to taste (a few tablespoons)

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan until shimmering. Add garlic and cook until fragrant and softened. Add all of tomatoes and stir. Add salt and crushed red pepper. Cook at a simmer until tomatoes are a bit darker and sauce is thickened a bit. Add Italian parsley at end before serving.

I think I used about half a pound of spaghetti, cooked almost all the way and then tossed into the sauce to finish cooking. 

You can top this with some fresh Parmesan, or not. It was really easy, really quick, and really delicious.

Pete brought an amazing array of bread, which is sadly hidden in that top photo. But I have a close up here.

It's a bread with red and yellow peppers, a straight baguette, and a bleu cheese bread. All very, very delicious.

I plan to be a frequent customer at Fresh Fish. It was really fresh and delicious food, and the service was terrific!

Comments

[Margo]

Hmm, I wonder if I could just do the zucchini with the fra diavlo sauce... sort of like eggplant parmesan, except without the eggplant. Or would that be weird?

[Jeena Khan]

I think the fra diavlo sauce was good enough to stand on its own--especially with a nice veggie side dish!