Easy and Elegant Life

The Search for Everyday Elegance and the Art of Living Well.

Swimming In It

Had Ida known…

Ida_SuperiorRaincoat

Cold, steady, torrential downpours call for good pieces of kit. Hard working, hard wearing layers to protect the investment clothes which lie beneath keeping you warm, cozy and faultlessly stylish. Think of Sean Connery unzipping the wetsuit to reveal his white dinner jacket.

I love my Barbour jacket. It’s the Bedale, the riding length, and not the more practical Beaufort. In other words, too short for this kind of nonense. I’d end up smelling of wet tweed…. not a good thing.

Thanks to Meg at Pigtown-Design who mentioned her foul weather coat and reminded me that I had one stashed in the back of the closet. It’s a Superior from Australia, a gift from my mother who is always concerned that I am keeping warm and dry. This coat fits the bill. Full length, it features a strap that secures around the trouser leg (or Wellie in this case) to keep the coat covering your thighs and shins during your cattle drive. Or when you are forced to finally take out the garbage. Even the dog wouldn’t accompany me. I was swimming to get to the Supercan.

Not an appetizing image, granted. But it did call to mind the following recipe for our local Cobia fish. Delicious, relatively inexpensive and very, very easy to prepare, wild Cobia has a naturally sweet taste thanks to a diet of crab and shellfish. And since I grew up eating shellfish covered in Old Bay, what better spice to sprinkle over their natural predator? Revenge, is sweet.

The Easy and Elegant Life Cobia à la Eastern Shore.

Cobia_Lit

Ingredients:
Cobia Fillets or Steaks
Butter
2 or three squirts of Balsamic Vinegar Salad Spray
Liberal Dose of Old Bay Seasoning.
Fresh Lemon Juice (to garnish with after cooking)
Salt & freshly cracked black pepper

Rinse fillets, pat dry, spray with the Vinegar spray, sprinkle with Old Bay and dot with butter. (A good trick is to spray the fillet with butter flavoured cooking spray and then season — the spices stick beautifully and cuts down on calories and fat.) Broil or bake at 400ºF until bronzed and flaky. I believe our fillets (about an inch thick) took five minutes a side under the broiler.

Accompanied by roasted brussel sprouts, turnips and sweet potatoes tossed with a mixture of truffle and olive oil, liberally sprinkled with sea salt and pepper.

9 thoughts on “Swimming In It

  1. Looks yummy! But what is Old Bay? Bear in mind I am in Canada and not living under a rock!

    I always spray anything I was seasoning to stick to – it has been my ancient Chinese secret for years! Now everyone will be doing it *sigh*

    Try to stay dry!

  2. Wellies! Of course. At first glance, I thought you were wearing knickers. Is the jacket a little big? Perhaps the stance. Looks good in the shoulders, but then bellows out. Oh, how I long for actual seasons when seeing pictures like these.

  3. Great recipe [as usual!], great coat. But what on Earth is on your feet? You look like you have Hobbit feet working there my friend…

    Sorry, couldn’t resist.

    ML
    mlanesepic.blogspot.com

  4. Thanks for the shout! I love my coat and all of its little bits and pieces, like the capelet, the collar strap, the adjustable sleeves, the flap to keep your bum dry when you’re riding and the waterproofness of it! Yours looks more flowing than mine, which is straight and long… and green.

  5. E,

    I love the Barbour jacket. But then I would as an ardent devotee of the duster, most particularly the J. Peterman duster, also known as the J. Peterman coat described thus in one of his catalogs (Owner’s Manual):

    “Classic horseman’s duster protects you, your rump, your saddle and your legs down to your ankles.

    Because it’s cut very long to do the job, it’s unintentionally very flattering. With or without a horse.

    Although I live in horse country, I wear this coat for other reasons. Because they don’t make Duesenbergs anymore.”

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