Thankswormy Dinner

Gerald and I are both pescatarians. Actually, I'm pretty much vegetarian, save for when I cave at the sight of a Dumont crab cake, or you put some Sweetwater calamari in front of me. I lost my ability to eat shrimp during my preggers. Sucks, I know. I'm forever scampiless, which is a shame because I make it effing amazing.

Anyhow, Thanksgiving for us has always been a seafood feast: king crab legs and the aforementioned scampi. This year, I wanted to switch it up a bit. Make it less Florida-y and a more seasonal. I decided on cod, since that doesn't gross me out, and parsnip mash and roasted seasonal vegetables and a pumpkin pie. It was perfect. It was going to be so easy.

We made our annual trek to Whole Foods in Union Square (which was surprisingly empty...). There was no line in the seafood department, and the very friendly fishmonger got me 2 8-oz fillets. Picked up 2 lbs of parsnips, some garlic and a clamshell of local seasonal veggies that included some purple and orange cauliflour, peculiar broccoli and other yummies. Perfect!

I made my cheater's pumpkin pie using organic pumpkin pie mix from a can and a premade graham cracker crust. Shh, don't judge. Then, it was time to peel and chop my parsnips. Mixed that with all the cloves of garlic from one bulb and some Portuguese olive oil and salt and pepper, and threw it all in the oven for 20 minutes.

While that was roasting, I decided to prep my seasonal vegetables. Opened the clamshell...and ew. And by ew, I mean, the orange cauliflour had peculiar smelly brown spots all over it. There went that idea. I had an acorn squash that I kept forgetting to use, so I found a great recipe for a savory version that had a chile lime vinaigrette. I prepped the squash and improvised a smidge on the vinaigrette, since I didn't have fresh chiles and used the piri piri oil I made last month instead. By the time that was over, it was time to mash the parsnips and let the acorn squash roast.

So far, my timing was really on point, and I was feeling really organized. When the squash had 10 minutes left, it was time to cook the cod. I seasoned each side with just salt and pepper, put some more Portuguese olive oil (it tastes way better than normal Italian olive oil, I swear) in the pan to heat and then gently eased the cod onto the heated pan.

What a feeling! My parnsips were plated, my vinaigrette was ready, the squash was almost done and cod was 5 minutes away from perfection. I revisited the fish to make sure it was cooking nice and evenly and noticed something....disturbing. There was something moving. On my fish. There was something small and thin and whitish squeezing it's way out of my fish. What. The. Fuck. Is that a fucking worm? Am I crazy? Is there a worm in my fish? No, for real, what the fuck is that?

I couldn't call Gerald over, because he was trying to get Auden to nap. I was starting to panic. Whole Foods sold me rotten seasonal vegetables and wormy fish. Thanksgiving dinner was ruined! I did a quick google search. I typed: worm in fish. Lo and behold, my cod had...codworms. Apparently, this is normal. Apparently, almost all white fish have worms. We just don't know about them because fishmongers use a technique called 'candeling' before they sell us fish to get all the worms out before we freak the fuck out and throw the shit away.

So, I removed the now dead worm out of the fish and threw it away. And we had our Thankswormy cod that was delicious. Although, I must admit, I was overanalyzing every piece that went into my mouth. And, full confession, I lasted 5 bites and gave the rest to Gerald. I swear I just felt little things squirming in my belly.

Let this be a lesson to you: worms in yr fish are okay, as long as they're dead. And all your fish have them.

Bon Apetit, and Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!