Lake Hermitage Marsh Creation and Grilled Herb Butter Redfish

There's nothing like catching and/or growing your supper.

It's not necessarily less expensive than going to the store, but it's guaranteed to be fresh.

Like the redfish a few weeks ago, this  Grilled Herb Butter Redfish was prepared "on the half shell" (with scales and skin left intact), making the fish more suitable for grilling.

(Speaking of grilling, excuse the condition of the grill.  

We recently got a new one since the one above was falling apart.)

The fish fillets were basted while grilling with a butter and herb mixture.  I used basil, garlic chives, thyme, and oregano, but any mixture of herbs you have will work.

The redfish I've been cooking with lately were caught in the Lake Hermitage area.

In October, my dad took me to see the Lake Hermitage Marsh Creation project.  I took many pictures of this dredge project.

This past spring, my uncle and I talked about coastal erosion and wetland loss at a family gathering (yeah, we're real party animals).  We got to talking about diversions vs. dredging,* so he took me out to see the site of the dredge project again.

*  Dredging: sediment is dredged up from the Mississippi River, pumped through pipes, and deposited in areas to create marsh.
Diversions: (also called sediment diversions)  divert fresh water from the Mississippi River into marshland.  The water carries sediment, which is deposited in the marsh.  A picture of a diversion can be found here.

I was amazed to see definite progress.

Land being built..and staying put.

There was no mistake that more land exists now than before, created by river sediment being pumped in and delivered by these pipes.

This project seeks to create marsh that was lost due to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2010.

It's very strange to see so much heavy equipment out in the marsh--where I've sunk up to my thighs many times.  But it's working.

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 Grilled Herb Butter Redfish
1 1/2 lbs redfish fillets (prepared on the half shell)
6 TBSP butter
1 TBSP chopped fresh basil
1 TBSP chopped fresh garlic chives
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2-3 pinches black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika

Heat a grill to medium.  Pat the fish fillets dry with paper towels.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan.  Add the herbs, lemon juice, pepper, and paprika and simmer for about 2 minutes.  Reserve about 2 TBSP of the butter for serving.

Place the fish skin side down on the grill and baste with the butter mixture.  Continue basting periodically while grilling until the fish flakes and is cooked through.  My fillets took about 12 minutes and were about 1" thick.

Drizzle the fillets with the reserved butter and serve immediately.

More herbs...

In the past...

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