Sustainable Seafood in my life and yours
Sustainable seafood is more and more a part of our public dialog. From books urging us to eat only bottom-feeders to studies finding poor inspections and labeling, toxic chemicals in shrimp, mercury in tuna; we have ample evidence of our poor stewardship of the oceans. We also have a growing cadre of resources and tools such as sustainable sushi guides, and cookbooks with conscience. Truly, there is no excuse not to make better choices.
As a child I was captivated by Jacques Cousteau specials. The nights that they, or National Geographic Society programs were to run, were special TV nights in the Church household. I vowed one day to learn to scuba dive so I could see first-hand the beautiful world hidden to most of us in our daily lives. My dive trips, with my certification class and my adventure girl Catherine, served to strengthen my lifelong connection to the ocean.
Of course, I also grew up watching the French Chef. I taught myself to cook through Julia's show and through my father's battered copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. So now that I'm a grown up conservation-minded food journalist, it's my great joy to host this annual event. Bringing you a collection of recipes and stories from around the world and up and down the foodie food chain, wrapping up a list of resources and sharing it all back with you is one of the highlights of my year.
Teach a Man to Fish - 2008 Highlights
In this our second year, TAMTF has gathered:
- 37 Recipes (including an oyster stuffing just in time for Thanksgiving, and a half-dozen more recipes in the resource list); plus: a five step plan for local action;
- From 10 countries (US, Singapore, France, Philippines, Germany, China, India, Australia, UK, Thailand) and 10 States (Alaska, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Alabama, New York, California, Minnesota, Missouri, Colorado, Washington D.C).
- 9 professional Chefs coast-to-coast joined award-winning food writers like the Food Gal, blog and book publishers like Chocolate and Zucchini, a sushi concierge, producers like Lauren Farms Prawns and Wild Pacific Albacore.
- Home cooks, like you and me, participated too. Many of you shared new resources or asked for specific help. I've added a separate resource list including global guides, two really good short videos and more recipes in an expanded resource list, here.
- This year, I award the first annual Flying Fish Award to one participant who went above and beyond (get it?) Scroll down to find out who won, is it you?
Expanded Resource List
As I was collating and editing these entries, I decided to post a separate page of resources that you can print or bookmark. This resource page incudes:
- Recipes (like miso-marinated sablefish),
- video clips,
- articles,
- links to guides,
- organizations' websites.
See my Links tab for a special TAMTF blogroll, too.
Now, pour yourself a glass of wine or a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy. This is a fantastic body of work YOU helped create. Please remember to share this with your readers, link us to your website, post to your Facebook page and so forth. The more we share the more impact our efforts will have!
We begin with "The Big Three" Tuna, Salmon and Shrimp. Some would tell us to forego eating these altogether. At least for now, I believe we can eat them, if we choose sustainable options.
 "images/stories/tunalogo.jpg" border="0" />
Reviewing Wild Planet tuna I received standard cans of smoked and non-smoked tuna as well as a 32 oz. food-service pack. A can of tuna is a great thing to have on hand, for late-night munchies or a quick lunch. But there's so much more you can do with fine quality albacore.
What to do with 32 ounces of really good tuna? Where could I even find a recipe that much? I managed to obtain one recipe, modified it with components of others. Not having food service size kitchen equipment, I was ladeling with mixing bowls and such.
Tuna - Sustainable Tuna? Aren’t we meant to avoid tuna now? Mercury is one problem, overfishing is another.
- Good news. There is a choice that's safe for your family and safe for the environment: Wild Pacific Albacore tuna. This tuna is line-caught by trolling, (not trawling) a method of tuna fishing that is sustainable. According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program, it's a best choice. The Western Fishboat Owners Association ensures that this tuna is troll-caught by a hook and line. This means each white tuna is essentially caught individually, as if you went out and caught it yourself. This personalized service comes at a cost. However, the alternatives caught by large commercial harvesting methods carry a much bigger price tag. Try extinction, for one. Ocean habitat destruction, two. Destruction of by-catch.
- Because this tuna is also smaller than traditional tuna caught commercially, it has far less mercury than the larger tuna we are warned against consuming. Significantly, it also carries the healthy doses of our important omega 3’s - the highest levels of any tuna. It’s an excellent source of vitamin A, B12, and niacin. Low in fat, high in protein.
Read about my Tuna Noodle Casserole for an Army, here.
Raghavan Iyer, the IACP award winning Cooking Teacher of the Year (2004), and author of 660 Curries, contributed this fantastic recipe to a packet we received at the Cooking for Solutions event at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This is a revelation, as is Iyer. His demo at the event revealed his charm, his deep knowledge and inspired me to try this at home. It has quickly become a favorite and was the centerpiece (with wild Copper River salmon) of my Indian potluck. (slideshow of my friends' gorgeous dishes, too!)
Fennel and Cardamom-Rubbed Salmon with Coconut Milk Sauce
For the salmon:
- 1 tsp fennel seed
- 1 tsp cardamom seed (rem. from pods)
- 1-2 dried red Thai or cayenne chiles
- 1-1/2 tsp salt
- 2 TSPB fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- 4 med. garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 6-oz. salmon fillets, boneless and skinless (wild Alaskan, please)
For the coconut milk sauce:
- 1 TBSP canola oil
- 1 tsp mustard seed (black or yellow)
- 1 TBSP skinned, split black lentils (cream color in this form, urad dal; picked for stones)
- 1 C finely chopped red onion
- 1 C coconut milk
- 2 TBSP fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems, finely chopped
- 1 tsp sambhar masala
- 1 tsp coarse kosher or sea salt
- 10-12 medium to large fresh curry (karhi) leaves
- 1 large tomato, cored, finely chopped
Heat 1 TBSP oil in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Add mustard seed. Cover pan and wait until all seed has stopped popping (not unlike popcorn), about 30 seconds. Add lentils and stir-fry until they turn golden brown, 15-20 seconds. Immediately add onion and stir-fry until reddish-brown, 5-7 minutes.
Add coconut milk, cilantro, sambhar masala, salt, and curry leaves. The milk will immediately start to boil. Lower the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until it thickens slightly, 5-10 minutes. Some of the oil may start to separate. Stir in tomato and allow to warm and remain firm, about 2 minutes.
To serve:
If grilling, brush grill rack with vegetable oil. Heat coals or gas grill to medium-high heat. Place fillets directly on grill rack. Place fillets directly on grill rack. Cover and grill fish about 3-4 minutes on each side, until fish flakes easily with fork. If broiling, set oven control to broil. Lightly spray or brush rack of broiler pan with vegetable oil. Place fish on rack in broiler pan. Broil with tops 2-3 inches from heat for 3-4 minutes on each side, until fish flakes easily with fork.
Place the salmon on a serving platter and serve topped with coconut milk sauce.
Note: this sauce works beautifully over chicken, too!
I was introduced to Lauren Farms freshwater prawns at Cooking for Solutions.
When choosing shrimp or prawns: be sure to pick sustainably produced and harvested prawns or shrimp. Increasingly, it is clear that imported prawns from many Asian and South American countries are devastating the local coastlines and causing economic and environmental damage to the communities where it's farmed.
Read My Halloween post about Scary Shrimp for more information and choose wisely (link includes Seafood Watch info and Mangrove Action Project info.)
These prawns are grown in Leland, MS and can be shipped to your door. I understand they've just enjoyed a record harvest. Congratulations Steve and Dolores!
FRESHWATER PRAWN STIR-FRY
- In a wok or large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil until hot.
- Add 1 lb. shelled prawns and salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir-fry over moderately high heat for 3-4 minutes or until prawns are cooked. Transfer prawns to a plate.
- Add 2 tablespoons oil to wok. When hot, add the vegetables of your choice and stir-fry until heated through and crisp/tender.
- Add a small amount of Lauren Farms Stir-Fry Sauce. Return prawns to wok and stir-fry until heated through.
- Transfer to serving dish and add additional sauce to taste.
Serve with noodles tossed with sauce or rice.
CATFISH and...
 ...One Cool Cat!
I met Chef Rick Moonen (RMSeafood at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas) and got a look at Fish Without a Doubt, his new book, in Monterey at Cooking for Solutions. I couldn't wait to get my hands on on Fish Without a Doubt. It's straightforward and fun, just like Chef Moonen. (You can read my review by clicking on the title or buy it from my Powell's Bookshelf.) It's clear why Gourmet magazine chose Fish Without a Doubt as its inaugural pick for the new Cookbook Club.
Chef Moonen is a much-decorated soldier in the campaign for sustainable seafood, and was the first to enthusiastically sign on for this year's event. At the time, I had no idea how deep and broad his commitment goes. Being just one person putting this event together, his type of energy and support have value beyond measure, even beyond caffeine. Thanks, Chef!
You will see in the recipe below what I like about his book. First, of course, it's well-written and informative and makes you want to cook. Second, you get acceptable substitutes that will work in the recipe you choose. For example, if you chose this recipe and got to the fishmonger only to find they were out of catfish, what would you do? Get ground beef and make burgers, right?
No need. He tells you what fish is an acceptable substitute. Here, tilapia or flounder will do.
Recipe from FISH WITHOUT A DOUBT by Rick Moonen & Roy Finamore, copyright @ 2008. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
THAI-STYLE CATFISH BURGERS
Here’s an improv on the Shrimp and Tilapia Burgers (page 360), with an accent on Thai flavors. You can use your microplane when you’re prepping the garlic and ginger for more intense flavor.
Serves 4
ACCEPT SUBSTITUTES: Flounder, Tilapia
- 1/3 pound medium (31-35) shrimp, shelled and coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot
- 1 to 2 red chiles, minced (with seeds)
- 1 teaspoon grated lime zest
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon minced or grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon minced or grated garlic
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- About 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 large egg white, beaten until frothy
- Coarse salt
- 1 pound catfish fillets, chilled in the freezer for about 20 minutes
- 2 scallions, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
FOR SERVING
- Tender lettuce leaves (red or green leaf, Boston, Bibb)
- Fresh basil, mint, and cilantro leaves, cut into thin strips
OR
- Toasted pita breads
- Cilantro Aïoli (page 419)
- Tender lettuce leaves
Have ready a bowl filled with ice and some water. Set another bowl on the ice.
Combine the shrimp, shallot, chiles, zest, sugar, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, and 1 tablespoon of the egg white in a food processor. Season lightly with salt—be careful here, the fish sauce is salty. Pulse and process until you have a thick, smooth paste. Scrape the paste out into the bowl set over ice and spread it thin, so it will chill quickly.
Trim out the center (bloodline) of the catfish (see page 37), then cut the fillets into 1/3-inch dice. This process should go pretty quickly as long as your knife is very sharp. You do keep your knives sharp, right?
Add the catfish, scallions, and cilantro to the shrimp paste and fold together thoroughly.
Heat 1 teaspoon or so of vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. You can, if you want, use a Foreman grill (see page 136) for these burgers. They will cook in about 3 minutes, but they won’t be as nicely browned as when they’re cooked in the skillet.
Meanwhile, shape the fish into 4 patties. This will be a lot easier to do if you wet or oil your hands first. Cook the burgers until golden brown, about 5 minutes a side. Give the burgers a poke: they should be firm and springy.
To serve, you can put the burgers out on a platter with the lettuce leaves and a bowl of herbs. You put a burger in a cup of lettuce leaves, add a big pinch of herbs, and wrap it up. Or you can make sandwiches with the pita, aïoli, and lettuce.
COD
Cod can be a tricky choice. Avoid Atlantic cod from North America; it has been fished heavily for the past 50 years, resulting in massive population declines. Scientists agree that we are now fishing the last 10% of this population.
Baked Cod Filets
Contributor: Claire Walter, Boulder, CO. When I was getting to know Claire on-line through another food-writing acquaintance, I thought "oh she's a food writer, cool." Then I learned everything else she writes about and does and it puts to rest anyone's claim they're too busy to cook! And she's just been rated E for Excellent by fellow bloggers.
Check out her blog: Culinary Colorado and do not forget to peruse her many publications. Maybe it's something she puts in her Cod dish, I'll have to try it!
- about 1 1/2 pounds Pacific cod filets (Alaska Cod, True Cod, Grey Cod - click link for more info)
- 3-4 Tbsp. butter, melted
- 2-3 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
- 2 tsp. lime (or lemon) juice
- 1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Panko crumbs to cover
- Pam or other non-stick spray, or oil
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine melted butter, mustard, lime (or lemon) juice and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside while oven is preheating so that firms up a bit and easier to spread on the filets.
Rinse the filets in cold water and pat dry. Apply cooking spray or oil to ovenproof pan. Place filets in the pan, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste if desired. (I use just a little of both, because the fresh lime and Worcestershire sauce by themselves have a lot of flavor.) Spread butter mixture on the filets. Cover with panko crumbs. Bake uncovered for about 10 minutes (12 if the filets are thick).
Serves 3-4.
Why?
Frozen fish sticks, fish patties and the like give me the willies -- not because I am afraid of what might be in them, but because they don't taste very good. I knew why they taste so dreadful after I read how fish sticks are processed. Blocks of frozen fish are cut, microwaved to thaw them a little, coated with crumbs using a "dense-phase pneumatic air system" adapted from the tire industry, refrozen, packed and shipped.
And that, in a nutshell, is why I'd rather buy a real piece of fish, fresh when possible. I'm happy to belly up to the seafood counter and point to the very piece I want, but my introverted husband prefers picking up a package rather than talking to the guy behind the counter. He had recently bought a package of Whole Catch brand frozen, wild Alaskan cod filets at Whole Foods and moved them to the refrigerator to thaw when I was returning from a trip and planned to be home in time for dinner. I used the simple recipe on the package, modified just a bit by substituting fresh-squeezed lime juice for lemon (I had some lime to use up). The baking time is the same as for frozen fish sticks, and the prep is easily done while the oven is preheating.
Note: About fresh versus frozen; see this excellent article Can Chefs Cozy up to Frozen Fish?, by Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post. A couple of considerations include greenhouse gases of air-freighted fresh fish (10X that of frozen fish transported by truck or train.) Further, frozen fish is often frozen right on the boat as it's caught. Fish that is fresh in your fishmonger's counter could have been packed on ice in the boat and sitting in the counter a while, too. Some say "fresh" fish may be as old as nine days older than when it was caught. That may be food for thought, but not for dinner!
CLAMS
JJ Gonson - 2008 Best of Boston Personal Chef and author of Cuisine en Locale, is a true fish friend. J.J. has been an advocate for eating locally and sustainably since before it was chic. And she does it so cheerfully. She writes a clever blog and you'll see flashes of art and music laced through the gorgeous food.
I reached out to her and we began to find so much in common. Not the least of which is our love for sustainable seafood.
JJ offers us her clam chowder and these thoughts on...
Why clams are good:
- Clams are pretty sustainable things, especially in this area
- They are farmed, in a very old fashy way. Think men in hip waders, in some icy water.
- The only question to ask is, "where are your clams from?"
- If you are in New England there is no reason to buy clams from China, at any time of year!
- Whole Foods get their clams from the Cape, and can get Quahogs from them on one day's notice.
- In Cambridge there are three excellent fish markets I can think of off the top of my head:
- The Courthouse and New Deal in East Cambridge, and the Fishmonger in Huron Village.
- I am sure there are just as many, or more, in Boston- not least of which is Legal Seafood.
- I haven't seen anyone who carries razor clams anymore, but you can get a variety of clams and oysters from very close by, just be sure to ask, "where did these come from", and I don't recommend buying if the answer is "I don't know".
- Bivalves are the oceans filtration system, so when you eat them not only are you taking a break on over-fished finned animals, allowing them to recover and grow, but you are also helping to encourage the industry that creates more animals to clean the dirty seas!
- Bottom feed- it's good for everyone :-)
My Mom's Clam Chowder - JJ Gonson
Depending on how many people you plan to feed you can decide how much of each ingredient to use, of course, but for 4 servings use approx:
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 1 clove of garlic
- 3 lbs of clams steamed in 1-2 cups of water
- 2 slices of bacon or 1T butter
- 4T butter
- 4T flour
- 3 cups milk + 1 cup of cream or 4 cups of milk
- 2 large, floury potatoes
- Steam open clams and other shellfish and reserve liquid.
- Remove clams from shells and set aside. If you use quahogs or razor or other large clams cut into bite size bits
- Reduce the clam broth over a hot flame until it is reduced by half and quite concentrated, or use bottled clam broth.
- Heat milk or a combination of milk and cream
- Either render small pieces of bacon and use the fat, or use butter, to saute diced celery, onion and garlic until fragrant.
- Boil and dice potatoes.
- Make a roux with a ratio of 1T of butter to 1T of flour for each cup of milk you will use, by sautéing flour in butter for a minute, stirring constantly.
- Over low heat, add hot milk to the roux, a small amount at a time, stirring well to remove lumps. When the milk mixture begins to thicken, but is still quite runny, add all of the other ingredients, along with a bit of fresh thyme and salt and pepper to taste
- Bring the whole thing to just below a boil and cook for 1/2 hour to allow flavors to marry
Note: You can use this same recipe to make fish or corn chowder, or any combination, but if you use a very moist fish, like cod, do not use the clam broth as the chowder will be too watery!
OYSTERS
JJ also shares my love for oysters. Here is her Oyster Stuffing - just in time for Thanksgiving! Click here on How2Heroes to see her demo and recipe.
SARDINES
Marvin publishes the (mostly) Filipino American food blog Burnt Lumpia. It's one of those well-written and beautifully photographed blogs that makes we scratch my head. How do they do it? As if we weren't impressed enough already, Marvin's a newlywed with the neatest pantry in the world and he cheerfully provided this sustainable sardines recipe using everyone's favorite condiment: bacon!
Marvin shows with this entry that you can tie up good smoky-chili-tart flavors with sustainable seafood, non-preachy advice, as well as superhero references. This is the genius of Burnt Lumpia.
Marvin's "Captain Planet" Sardines (my name, not his)
MUSSELS
Clotilde Dusouliers, author of Chocolate and Zucchini, was one of the very first blogs my friends pointed me towards when I decided to throw my berêt into the blogging world. Phew - talk about intimidating! Gorgeous photography, sparkling prose. Beautiful food-porn in not one, but two, languages. Oh yes. Did I mention she's French? And writes in perfectly good English. You can tell that she's not native to the US by the polite way she never notices my bad French. Dead giveaway.
Like many of us, Clotilde sort of came to the notion of picking more sustainable seafood choices by accident, she became une Tante. I believe that's French for Aunt? She begins her tale of epiphany about sustainable seafood..."I blame it on my nephew." What I love about her story is that she nails one of the key sticking points..."We just want to eat fish and be merry." Then she tackles the question "it's already sitting there at the fishmonger's why can't we just buy it...?"
Her audience overlaps a bit with mine but she's not been known as a sustainability advocate previously. This makes her entry, like Marvin's, all the more powerful. People who may not have thought much about this issue before will have an opportunity to approach it through the food writing of their favorite blogger.
Read here about her Saffron Mussels Marniere and note how enthusiastically so many readers respond.
Thank you, Merci Beaucoup, Clotilde for being such a good ambassador for sustainable choices!
- 90% of the world's mussels are farmed. Unlike most finfish aquaculture, mussel farming is not environmentally problematic.
SNAPPER
One of my first year participants, Tigerfish from Singapore says:
I'm back for the event this year. I love the pocket guide from Monterey Bay and how I wish Asia could have an equivalent pocket guide for us to take a long when we buy our seafood.
Tigerfish writes Teczcape - An Escape to Food and shared this recipe for Lemongrass Steamed Fish.
I have pocket guides (see Links and Resources page) for locations nearer to you! Here's one for Indonesia from the WWF. And, here's one for Hong Kong, I think my friends at Seafood Watch led me to these.
- Red Snapper was an enormously popular fish and in the 1980's. So popular, it was fished nearly to extinction. It's believed to be at about 6% of a sustainable population. That's enough reason to give it a break, let it recover. Besides, it's quite likely what you're seeing labeled "red snapper" isn't snapper at all. Read about the mislabeling that's going on here, Will the Real Snapper please swim forward?
SMOKED MACKEREL
I had the pleasure of meeting Trevor Corson this year at the Sustainable Sushi launch party hosted by Blue Ocean Institute. BOI simultaneously released their sustainable sushi guides, along with the Seafood Watch Program and the Environmental Defense Fund. Trevor is the man with the best nicknames, bar none. The Lobster Sex Guy and the Sushi Concierge. C'mon. Let me say he has earned all of it, too. The guy knows his crustaceans and his sushi. I get such a kick hearing white guys speak perfectly accented Japanese. Shames me and tickles me all at once.
Ultra-Umami Miso Noodles with Smoked Mackerel from Trevor Corson:
This recipe is something I mixed and matched for myself using a few of my favorite elements of Japanese cuisine and several types sustainable seafood, all beloved in Japanese tradition: skipjack tuna, mackerel, and kelp. In a way, this recipe draws on both of the books I've written about seafood, The Story of Sushi and The Secret Life of Lobsters.
When I was researching The Story of Sushi, I learned that true miso soup starts not with miso at all, but with seaweed. As Japanese food aficionados know, the basic broth that serves as the foundation for much of Japanese cooking, including miso soup, is called dashi. To make dashi, you drop sheets of crackly dried kelp into cold water. If I'm making a large batch of soup, I use about eight cups of water and 5-7 broken up sheets of dried kelp, called konbu in Japanese. I turn the heat on medium and hang around the kitchen, keeping an eye on things, because I want to bring the water the cusp of boiling without letting it actually boil. It takes a while.
The conventional wisdom is that you never want the water to boil when you're making miso soup. Most Japanese cooks hold that the kelp releases bitter compounds if the water boils, although I have heard of chefs who don’t think this is a problem. Later, after you add the miso, boiling water will almost certainly kill the active enzymes in live miso that add taste and are beneficial to your health.
As the water heats up, the kelp releases flavor. While I am waiting for this process to occur, I marvel at the fact that it was a Japanese chemist named Kikunae Ikeda who, in 1908, discovered that kelp releases the delicious compound known as glutamate, which produces the savory taste the Japanese have long referred to as umami. Ikeda realized the compound could be manufactured into a white powder which we know today as MSG. Miso soup is Mother Nature's MSG.
Next I open a bag of katsuo-bushi -- these are Japanese dried bonito flakes made from skipjack tuna (which are also called bonito, thus the name of the flakes). The process behind these flakes is incredible. Artisans take freshly caught fish and simmer them, then smoke them for ten or twenty days, then infect the fish with mold and lock them in boxes for a few weeks, then scrape off the old mold and add new mold and lock them in boxes for another few weeks, and then repeat this procedure several times. During this process digestive enzymes break down the muscle tissues of the fish into delicious amino acids, especially inosine monophosphate, also a source of umami flavor. After several months the fish have dried out to the consistency of old trees and are then shaved with a carpenter's plane into flakes that are thinner than paper, a process you can witness at 7 a.m. outside the Tokyo fish market. I pack two cups worth of these flavorful flakes into a measuring cup and have it standing by for when the kelp water has nearly come to a boil.
When the kelp in the pot has become all flush and thick and open and the water is steaming mightily and just about to boil, I turn off the heat and dump in the bonito flakes. I let them sit in the steaming water with the kelp for about five minutes, not much longer. Then I pour the broth out through a strainer lined with cheesecloth into another pot.
This is dashi, the essential foundation broth of most Japanese sauces. It also can be served as a light soup on its own. Some discerning traditionalists in Japan will even judge a chef first on the taste of his dashi alone. The smoking stage in the preparation of the bonito flakes gives a good dashi a hint of smoky flavor in the broth. Whatever dashi I'm not going to use right away I put in the fridge; it will keep for several days.
Miso is also necessary to make miso soup, of course, and contributes another big does of umami from all the glutamate it contains. My favorite miso in the US comes from a little farm in the remote hills of western Massachusetts called South River Miso. I put the dashi broth back on the heat, but very low. I don't dump the miso straight into the broth. Instead I spoon a ladleful of broth into a small bowl and then whisk several clumps of miso into the broth to break up the miso and liquify it before pouring that viscous mix back into the larger pot of broth. I stir and keep adding miso this way until I like the taste of the soup.
Now that the soup is ready, the final steps are easy. I boil a quick batch of buckwheat soba noodles, and while they're cooking I open a package of my favorite American smoked mackerel, which comes from the Ducktrap River company of Maine. That's where the connection to my other book comes in, The Secret Life of Lobsters. The folks at Ducktrap are located not far on the Maine coast from where I spent time learning about lobsters and the fishermen who catch them. Like the flakes of skipjack tuna, smoked mackerel flesh is loaded with inosine monophosphate and other delicious umami-tasting amino acids.
I plop the cooked noodles in a bowl, pour the hot soup over them, and lay the mackerel fillet on top. Violà, or as the Japanese say, "dekimashita." A complex, smoky, fantastically flavorful fish-and-noodle soup made with sustainable types of seafood, in which the umami flavors compound and complement one another miraculously. For a little green, sauté some bok choy, spinach, or watercress in sesame oil and and maybe some tofu cubes, too. Yum!
This recipe originally appeared in somewhat different form on the food blog Serious Eats, and is copyright © 2008 Trevor Corson, all rights reserved. Published in the Leather District Gourmet with permission.
SALMON
This recipe comes to us from Coastal Living Magazine via my friend and Coastal Living Food Editor, Julia Rutland. Julia and I met in Cordova on that wonderful media tour of the Copper River Basin.
Cedar-Planked Salmon
1 Cedar or alder plank
1 (2-pound) Alaskan salmon fillet
½ cup Sweet and Salty Salmon Rub
- Soak a large untreated cedar plank in water for at least 30 minutes.
- Remove pin bones from salmon and spread with Sweet and Salty Salmon Rub. Cover and chill until ready to grill.
- Drain plank and place on a medium-hot grill for 3 minutes until grill marks appear. Remove from grill. Place salmon, skin side down, on heated side. Place plank on grill and cover.
- Grill for 20 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Check occasionally to make sure edges of plank to do ignite. Makes 6 servings.
Sweet and Salty Salmon Rub
- ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup kosher salt*
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon celery seeds
- 1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
Combine all ingredients; store in an airtight container. Makes 1 ½ cups.
SHRIMP
Author Pat Tanumihardja tackles one of the top three seafoods: shrimp. Some would say we need to give shrimp a rest, but that's a tough sell. Luckily, as Pat points out, there are some sustainable options. While working on The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook, Pat found the time to share this gorgeous Thai hot pot with shrimp.
Pat did her homework too, this post on her beautiful blog contains a wealth of information and a great recipe, too.
- Shrimp trawling is responsible for 25% of wasted by-catch or 1.8 million tons of marine life including turtles, sharks and other animals. Choose shrimp carefully.
HADDOCK, CLAMS
Maybe it's the cold, maybe it's the rain but we can't get enough chowder, can we? Here's a tip I just read somewhere...you can save the liquid under your steamer basket when you steam fish, for use in chowders and fish soups/stews. Imagine that lovely scented broth instead of bottled clam juice? Rick Moonen's recipe for linguine with clams includes steaming the clams, removing them, reducing the liquid, and using it to make a concentrated sauce. Delicious, even if it's a teensy bit more work. (And yes, teensy is a culinary term. I'm sure of it.)
Tammy Donroe's version in her blog: Food on the Food. This is another well-written blog I simply stumbled on through Homegrown, a new-ish food network.Tammy's been tracking her participation in the eat local challenge and gives great detail about meals' ingredients and sources.
For example for this "Chowdah" her sources were:
Bacon: Codman Farm, Lincoln, MA
Onions, potatoes: Drumlin Farm CSA, Lincoln, MA
Celery: Dick’s Market Garden, Lunenburg, MA (Waltham Farmer’s Market)
Haddock, clams from local fishermen: Steamers, Newton, MA
Milk, cream: High Lawn Farm, Lee, MA (Russo’s)
Thanks Tammy!
POLLOCK
Another returning blogger, this one from Hamburg, Germany, notes that having a child has increased the importance of sustainable seafood.
Her blog is Kitchen Stories. Isn't that a great name?
This recipe is for Pan Fried Fish with Potato-Red Cabbage Casserole. The cabbage and potatoes are so excellent this time of year. What a great way to use them. Check out Kitchen Stories for a heartfelt story she shares of her learning to make better choices for the environment and her family.
PG says: I have a child now and eating fish has become more important to us than ever before. But, I feel it as my responsibility to teach him what it means to treat nature and our environment with respect. Sustainable seafood is surely an important part of it. MSC certrified Alaska Pollock is one of the very few options availabe for us locally to eat fish. But, we enjoy it fully! As is obvious from this recipe. We are still in the process of figuring out what is allowed and what is not. Most of the websites we have found are meant for Americans and Canadians than for the the Europeans. But, we are actively searching for a better solution.
Here is a link just for you PG! International Seafood Guides.
- Pollock is problematic, or it can be. Be sure to choose wild Alaskan Pollock and stay tuned for more info from my Alaska contacts, coming soon.
TILAPIA
My friend Kian is an excellent chef and great fun to eat with. In a very short time, I've come to really appreciate the artistry in his cooking and his blog. It is a gift. Please check out Red Cook, which right now is covering his interviews and observations of the James Beard "Dynasties and Dumplings" event.
Sweet and Sour Tilapia (?????)
1 whole tilapia (1 1/2 to 2 lb. )
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cornstarch for breading
8 cups vegetable oil
1/4 cup thinly shredded carrots
1/4 cup thinly shredded bamboo shoots
1 tablespoon thinly shredded green chili peppers (optional)
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
1/4 cup water or chicken stock
Sweet and Sour Sauce
1/4 cup tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon white rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine (????)
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Thinly sliced scallion and cilantro sprigs for garnish
Scale and clean the tilapia, and cut slanted slits on both sides. Salt the fish and dredge thoroughly in cornstarch including the head and tail. Set aside. Prepare the shredded carrots, bamboo shoots and chili peppers and set them aside. Mix all the Sweet and Sour Sauce ingredients together in a mixing bowl and set aside.
Heat the vegetable oil in a wok until it almost reaches the smoking point. Deep-fry the tilapia in the hot oil for about 5 minutes on one side, then turn it over and continue to fry for 3 minutes on the other side. Drain thoroughly and place the fish on paper towel to absorb excess oil.
Drain all but one tablespoon of the oil from the wok and place it in a metal container. On medium heat fry the chopped garlic and ginger for about one minute then add the shredded carrots, bamboo shoots and water. Continue to cook for another 3 minutes until the carrots are al dente. Add the Sweet and Sour Sauce mixture along with the shredded chili peppers. Cook until the sauce is thickened.
Place the fried tilapia on an oval plate and pour the sauce all over the fish. Garnish with the scallion and cilantro and serve immediately.
How lucky your neighbors are to try out your recipes!
As Kian points out in his post: Tilapia are quite successfully farmed and despite the recent squall Tilapia is considered a "best choice." Unlike other aquaculture, tilapia do not require other fish for food, creating stress on the natural balance. Tilapia are vegetarians, so they can be farmed more successfully and with less pressure on the ecosystems than salmon, for example.
HALIBUT
So my new girl-crushes are these wild women from L.A. that write The Haphazard Gourmet Girls. They write about food safety issues when they're not doing burlesque and other such fabulous things. They are relentless in a good way about food safety. And really direct and a bit snarky, which I love.
I found them through Trevor Corson's terrific website, and they can't get rid of me now. Like gum on their killer shoes, I am.
They report sad news of how difficult it is to find sustainable seafood in L.A. You would think that um, being coastal, and all, the shops there would be a little more on the ball. Odd and not good news.
We're sorry to report that during our random trips to five different LA seafood counters, the awareness of sustainably fished seafood and ocean health was very, very low. We won't call out the joints we went to specifically, but one was at The Farmer's Market, one was a very reputable freestanding fish purveyor in Santa Monica, one was at a Gelson's, one was at a Bristol Farms (two local pricey gourmand joints we frequent), and one was at a Whole Foods. Yep, we strolled on into Whole Frauds, because after being disappointed everywhere else, we thought maybe the place we routinely boycott might have a better selection of seafood. Nope: Whole Frauds was the worst one of all (shocking!)...with just two sustainably fished choices from the US, out of 25 kinds of seafood available.
Wow. I want Bristol Farms to be better. I love Bristol Farms! But WF only hits 2/25? Haven't they been promising all over to do better?
Well the Hap girls prevailed using Halibut that was from the approved region and I'd say their conversations with the various fishmongers did some good, too. If people speak up and demand sustainable seafood, the fishmongers will have to listen. They do not want to be left with fish no one will buy.
KAMPACHI
Tataki Sushi and Sake Bar’s Extinguisher Roll
You may have read about the first sustainable sushi bar in America. Our friend Carolyn Jung, the Food Gal wrote the story for SFGate. When I read the story then got the invite from Blue Ocean Institute to the sushi card release party, I saw these guys were on the list. I had to go, exploding Chinatown buses be damned! Yes, I lived to tell the story, part of which involved the new, non-exploding Bolt Bus.
But here are the two chefs from Tataki, Kin Wai Lui on the left and Raymon Ho, on the right. In between is Casson Trenor of Fishwise, consulted with Chefs Lui and Ho when they were planning Tataki. Casson's book, Sustainable Sushi, a guide to saving the oceans one bite at a time, is on our resource list and my Powell's Bookshelf.
Ingredients
• Freshly Prepared Sushi Rice
• 1 sheet of Roasted Nori Seaweed
• 2 oz. of Fresh Kona Kampachi - finely chopped
• 2 oz. of Fresh Kona Kampachi - cut into ¼ inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon of red chili sauce – we prefer Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
• ¼ cucumber, peeled and cut into small strips
• ½ avocado peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon of habanero masago
Sauce
• Spicy mayo sauce (mix ¼ teaspoon of red chili sauce with 2¼ teaspoon of Japanese
mayo – we prefer Kewpie Mayo)
Preparation
• Mix both the finely chopped and cubed Kona Kampachi with 1 teaspoon of red chili
sauce
• Cut nori sheet in half and lay it on a cutting board. Dampen your fingers in water and
spread a thin layer of sushi rice evenly over the seaweed leaving a ½ inch gap on the
top and bottom
• Turn the seaweed with the rice over so that the rice is on the bottom and the nori is on
the top
• Spread the Kona Kampachi mixture lengthwise and thin cucumber slices evenly on the
nori
• To roll; slowly fold the end of the nori closest to you over the filling and tuck it in.
• Use a bamboo mat to seal and compact the filling
• Place avocado slices perpendicular on top of the sushi roll overlapping every ¼ inch on
each slice
• Place plastic wrap over the avocado and use a bamboo mat to bond the avocado to the
sushi rice.
• Keep the plastic wrap on the avocado to avoid any sticking when slicing the roll. Slice
the roll into 8 equal pieces.
• Display on your favorite plate
• Squirt a small amount of spicy mayo sauce on top of each piece of sushi (you can
control the amount of heat here)
• Add the habanero masago evenly on top of the spicy mayo sauce
• And your Extinguisher Roll is Fired Up and Ready to Roll!
Kona Kampachi underscores the complexities in the aquaculture question. This particular product is farmed in such a way as to reduce or eliminate the problems associated with other types of aquaculture, making it a good alternative.
MACKEREL
Chef Stuart Brioza (formerly Excutive Chef at now-defunct Rubicon) demonstrated this recipe at Cooking for Solutions the Monterey Bay Aquarium's annual event. Having had a taste of this, I can tell you this is the one that will turn mackerel-haters into mackerel-lovers. Promise. I think of it as the new dish that replaces my unagi which is now OTL (off the list.) It has that same unctuous salty/sweet/tart/savory umami-packed deliciousness, but better. I called it "Holy Mackerel!" as in "Holy Mackerel that's good!"
Honey, Soy & Beer Broiled Mackerel with Sesame-Lime Glaze
From the Kitchen of Stuart Brioza (photo by Carolyn Jung)
Serves 6-8
2 pounds Mackerel Filet
Ingredients
For the Brine
16 ounces Soy Sauce
32 ounces Water
16 ounces Dark Stout Beer
8 ounces Honey
4 ounces Mirin
2 Tablespoons Chili Flakes
1 Tablespoon Toasted Fennel Seed
1 Tablespoon Toasted Coriander Seed
1 Tablespoon Szechuan Pepper
2 each Bay Leaf, Crushed
2 Each Star Anise
1 stalk Lemongrass, crushed
3 cloves Garlic, crushed
1” chunk Ginger, crushed
For the Sesame-Lime Glaze
4 ounces Honey
4-5 ounces Lime Juice
6 Tablespoons Toasted White Sesame
To taste Salt & Black Pepper
To Garnish the plate:
Fresh Salad of various herbs & Greens tossed in Olive Oil & Sea Salt
Cilantro, Shaved Fennel & Fronds, Thinly sliced Raw Button Mushrooms, Thai Basil, Miyoga if available
Method:
In a mortar and pestle crush the chili flakes, fennel seed, coriander seed, Szechuan pepper, bay leaf & star anise. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk to dissolve the honey. Pour over the mackerel and marinate for about 45 minutes.
For the glaze:
Cook the honey in a small sauce pot and lightly caramelize, add the lime juice and bring to a simmer. Adjust seasonings with salt & pepper and cool. Fold in the toasted sesame seeds.
To finish & plate:
Broil the Mackerel until golden and just cooked through, check often, being cautious as to not let the honey burn on the skin of the fish. The result should be a bronze color of the fish. Sauce the plate with the Sesame-Lime glaze, place the fish on the sauce and garnish with the fresh herb salad
CRAB
Executive Chef Peter Pahk of the Silverado Resort in Napa Valley has this to say about sustainability:
As a professional chef I find that the sustainable movement has become de facto in all areas of food procurement and production. However, the definition and application of the term isn’t always clear; what exactly is "sustainable" and how is that defined?
Napa Valley’s Silverado Resort was a leader in the area of sustainable cuisine long before the term was widely known. It has long been our goal to not only serve environmentally appropriate cuisine offerings but also to educate our guests and employees about the reasons behind those decisions. Partnering with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program, we’re working to meet our goals.
For businesses just looking into sustainability, the “Common Vision for Environmentally Sustainable Seafood” provides a clear pathway to sustainability and promotes partnership with non-profits who can assist with the journey. Taken together, these are key tools for businesses who want to achieve sustainability and have a positive impact on our oceans and sea life!
Chef Pahk is a true leader and a heck of nice guy, too. He is returning this year having been one of my inaugural event's participating chefs! The Butter-Poahed Crab in the photo is one example of the food that Chef Pahk serves at the Silverado Resort.
Here's his recipe for another crab preparation:
CRAB BEIGNETS
5lb. Dungeness crab meat
1 cup diced Maui onion
1 cup diced English cucumber
1 cup diced celery
2 Tbsp. Whole grain mustard
1 Tbsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp. Cayenne pepper and a pinch of salt
Comb through the crab to remove any pieces of shell, add the remaining ingredients.
Pate a choux:
2 cups milk
½ lb. Butter
2 cups AP Flour
4 eggs
Combine the milk and the butter into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the flour and stir constantly until thick and the pate pulls away from the pan. Add directly to the mixer with the paddle attachment and add eggs one at a time to the hot pate. Add enough pate au choux to the crab to make a smooth mixture. Drop one spoon full at a time to the fryer. (Makes 30 Beignets.) Serve with Dashi dip and Chiffonnade of Nappa cabbage.
Serve with 2007 Shafer Chardonnay “Red Shoulder Ranch”
Dashi Stock
1 qt. cold water
1 oz. Tombu (kelp) washed
1 oz. Bonito flakes
Combine all ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Strain.
Dashi Dip for Crab Beignets
3 cups dashi stock
1 cup mirin
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup grated diakon
3 oz. grated ginger
Combine all ingredients.
Dashi Vinaigrette
1 qt. natural rice vinegar
1 qt. Dashi stock
8 oz. Soy sauce
4 oz. Sugar
If only sweetened rice vinegar is available, omit the sugar.
- Don't forget it's Stone Crab Season. Stone Crab are perhaps the ultimate sustainable seafood in that they give up a claw and grow it back. The article link here takes you to our favorite purveyor - in season now!
BARRAMUNDI
Chef Barton Seaver is another returning chef from TAMTF '07. Having left Hook, the DC restaurant he put on the sustainability map, Chef Seaver is continuing his leadership role in the sustainable food movement. His foundation, BartonSeaver.org, can be found here.
Sustainability is a bigger idea than any market label could ever imply. At the heart of the matter is the people who are involved. What is a fishery? What is agriculture? It is one man taking resources from the environment in order to feed another man. This necessarily makes the dialogue centered around our behavior. We are not managing resources so much as we are managing ourselves and the way that we interact with the world around us.
Sustainability cannot be regulated. It cannot simply be handed down as a set of management guidelines. It must become part of our larger cultural model.
With the advancements in aquaculture and our understanding of ocean ecosystems, we have the ability to feed ourselves with fish. But in order for that to happen, we cannot merely 'teach a man to fish'. We must find a new cultural approach to our relationship with our natural resources, all of them as a whole. We must 'teach man a new way of fishing'.
There are lots of ideas out there about how to accomplish this task. But it begins with each of us creating a dialogue that enables us to value life in the sea. Our oceans are a resilient and necessary ecosystem without which we could not survive. In our culture, fish comes into our perception only when lying in rest on our table. So as we seek to create this larger change, lets focus on what we can do today. And that task begins with dinner!
There are lots of delicious, affordable options available to us that actually help to replenish our natural resources. And eating fish is one of the best ways to convince us that we need to save them. Lets celebrate the sustainable resources we have by grilling them, sauteeing, baking, broiling, and steaming them. We can even serve them with drawn butter! Ok, I'm in. Your place or mine?
Barramundi is a sustainably raised fish grown right here in the USA: Turners Falls, Massachusetts, in fact. Australis Barramundi has been lauded for conserving water and using sustainable feeds, and recycling fish manure for local farmers to use as fertilizer. Barramundi is quite versatile.
Seared 'Australis' Barramundi over toasted almond potatoes and lemon garlic gremolata
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 ea 'Australis' barramundi fillets
¼ cup of salt
1 tbsp. sugar
2 cups water
1 1b. red skinned organic potatoes
1 tsp. natural almond extract OR 1 cup almond milk
¼ cup almond oil
¼ cup sliced, blanched almonds
I lemon, sliced very thin
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp. chopped parsley
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Method:
For the fish:
Mix water, sugar and salt and brine fish for 15 minutes. Lightly brush with oil and grill skin side down approximately 3 minutes over high heat. Turn and cook flesh side for 1 more minute on low heat.
For the gremolata:
Grill thinly sliced, seedless lemons until slightly caramelized and edges are black. Very finely chop and mix with chopped parsley, olive oil, and one clove garlic, passed on microplane.
For the potatoes:
Heat oil. Toast almond slices in oil until just golden brown. Using slotted spoon, remove almonds from oil and reserve. Add diced potato and cook until just barely done, approximately 10 minutes. Season generously with salt and add reserved almonds. Toss to incorporate.
To serve:
Place small pile of almond potatoes and gently lay fish skin side up, angled off the potatoes. Garnish with gremolata around plate.
** Serve with steamed broccoli with olive oil and sea salt
I first met Barton at the Southern Expsosure Food, Wine and Music festival in Greenville, SC. See me in the audience? He demonstrated salt baking fish and introduced me to "the sexy" AKA Maldon Sea Salt. Thanks Chef!
HALIBUT
Halibut Carpaccio, Breakaway Style
Eric Gower is the Breakaway Cook. Eric has years of experience in Japan and incorporates Japanese flavors into his contemporary cuisine. It was Eric that inspired my matcha salt gifts last Christmas!
Eric says:
Raw halibut has a very special texture: it's creamy yet has some tooth to it, making it the perfect sashimi fish. Adding a small amount of acid to the raw halibut accentuates this delightful texture even more, so I often end up making carpaccio out of it.
I’m not crazy about the uniform slicing of fish, in which each slice is laid partly on the previous one, forming a circle there something kinda fussified about it; it’s just way too much trouble, for very little payback, at least in my book, especially at home (it's fine in a fancy sushi restaurant, however). So I rely on the good old meat mallet to do its brutal magic. A couple of gentle pounds, with the fish in between pieces of Saran wrap works perfectly. Each piece comes out very differently, a process that creates a lovely mosaic on the plate. Try it as a first course to a special meal. You could do something similar with other fish, especially tai (ed. note: snapper - not recommended), fluke (ed note: careful: stocks are rebuilding, now just at 75%), albacore (ed. note: choose carefully), even conger eel (choose wild pacific).
- 1/2 pound sashimi-grade halibut, gently pounded, as described above
- a few tablespoons liquid from pickled ginger
- drizzle of fruity green extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh, very ripe plum
- 1 teaspoon pickled ginger, julienned
- 1 dried persimmon, julienned
- 5 shiso leaves, rolled together then julienned
- persimmon salt (small piece of dried persimmon, whirred together in a spice grinder with some gray moist sea salt) or fleur de sel, or just any sea salt
Dressing: combined the infused pickled ginger vinegar, olive oil, and plum, and spoon a little on each piece, followed by a few flecks of pickled ginger. Toss on shiso and persimmon, and a pinch of persimmon salt (made the usual way, with a piece of dried persimmon, whirred in the coffee grinder with some sel gris).
BARRAMUNDI
This recipe comes to us from our friends at Australis Barramundi.
Chef Anita Lo is open about saying her priority is not sustainable or local food, she cooks new American food which she feels includes ethnic flavors that don't allow her to make that distinction. Whether you agree with that position or not, this recipe shows that you can make sustainable choices that do showcase whatever cuisine, style, food vernacular you are working in. It's not an either/or choice.
Sauteed Filet of Barramundi with Artichokes, Garlic Chives and Black Trumpet Sauce
Created by Anita Lo, Executive Chef, Annisa
Ingredients:
2 filets Barramundi, skin on, scored and halved
salt and pepper
3 Tbsp. oil
2 large globe artichokes, turned
juice of 1 lemon
salt
10 pieces garlic chives, tops cut into 1” lengths, ends reserved
1 Tbsp. butter
2 oz. water
salt
ends of garlic chives, roughly chopped, blanched and shocked
1/4 cup oil
salt and pepper
2 oz. mushroom stock
2 Tbsp. dried black trumpet mushrooms, pulverized into powder
2 Tbsp. butter
lemon juice to taste
salt and pepper
pinch lemon zest julienne, soaked in lemon juice
pinch lemon thyme leaves
In a small saucepot, place the turned artichoke hearts with the lemon juice, water to cover and salt and bring to a boil. Simmer about 20 minutes until tender. Allow to cool, then cut into ¼” slices.
To make the garlic chive oil, place the garlic chive bottoms that have been blanched and shocked into a blender with the oil, salt and pepper and run until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Taste and adjust seasonings.
To make the black trumpet sauce, place the mushroom stock with the powdered trumpets into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Add the butter and whisk to emulsify. Season to taste with lemon, salt and pepper and keep warm.
Heat a large saute pan on high heat. Season the barramundi both sides with salt and pepper. Add the oil to the pan, and when smoking, add the barramundi, skin side down. Immediately press down on the filets with a spatula to keep them from curling. The fish should relax within 30 seconds. Turn down the heat to medium high and brown. Turn the fish and finish the cooking.
In the meantime, place the sliced artichokes in a pan with the garlic chive tops and add a little water, butter and salt, Bring to a boil just until the chives turn bright green and the artichokes are heated through.
To plate, divide the artichoke mixture between two warm plates, mounded in the center. Circle with the black trumpet sauce and dot with the chive oil. Garnish with lemon thyme and lemon zest and top with the barramundi. Serve immediately.
SQUID, SHRIMP, SCALLOPS
This recipe shows that the "It's too expensive" excuse for why folks can't eat sustainable seafood is hooey. This is a delicious and sustainable meal for very short money.
Doc’s Sustainable Seafood Pasta
Equipment List: flat bottom pan; pasta pot; wooden spoon; tongs
Pantry Ingredients:
Butter, 4 tablespoons
Red Chili Flakes
Olive Oil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Kosher salt
Fresh cracked pepper
Garlic, 2 cloves
Grated cheese (Parmesano Regianno)
Shopping List:
2 shallots
1 lemon
1 lb. fusilli (Whole Foods 100% pure Italian Durum Wheat Semolina)
Flat leaf parsley (local)
1 bottle white wine (Starborough Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand)
1/4 pound cleaned squid, body and tentacles
1/4 pound native sea scallops (Nantucket)
1/4 pound Gulf wild shrimp
Mis En Place:
Dice shallots; juice 1/2 lemon; boil and salt water for the fusilli; finely chop 1 cup parsley; set aside 1 cup wine; rinse and pat dry all seafood; cut squid bodies into smaller rings.
Let’s Get Cooking:
Cook the pasta according to directions (probably 8-10 minutes). While the pasta is cooking:
Heat olive oil (not EVOO) in flat bottom pan over medium heat.
Add diced shallots, diced garlic, pinch (or 2, depending on your preference) red chili flakes, and salt & pepper (adjust for your tastes).
Saute 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add shrimp, flip once after a minute, and remove with tongs.
Add squid and scallops, stir and remove after 90 seconds.
Turn the heat to high and add butter, wine, lemon juice; reduce the liquid.
Add 1/2 cup chopped parsley and turn the heat off.
Add drained pasta to the flat bottom pan and toss with the sauce.
Return all seafood to the pan, along with remainder of parsley, grated cheese (to taste). Drizzle with EVOO and toss well.
Serve immediately, 3-4 people
Notes:
You might be surprised to know how inexpensive this dinner for 3-4 people is. Sustainable seafood does not necessarily mean expensive seafood. My shopping list was purchased at a Whole Foods market in Boston:
2 shallots = $.52
1 lemon = $.89
1 lb fusilli = $.99
1/4 lb squid = $3.92
1/4 lb native sea scallops = $4.08
1/4 lb Gulf wild shrimp = $3.84
Flat leaf parsley was purchased at a local farmers’ market for $1.50
1 bottle Starmount = $14.99 at a local wine shop
Total Shopping List = $15.74 (food) $14.99 (wine)
Grand Total For This Meal = $30.73
Final Thoughts:
I realized that cooking sustainable seafood is not necessarily arduous, expensive, or time consuming. These ingredients are readily available at your local market(s), and this particular recipe takes little time.
[ed.note - this dish was fantastic. each component was cooked perfectly, just enough sauce to coat, and my only wish was for more!]
Wallet Guide Stew
Roz Cummins is a Boston area food writer who is very interested in how chefs decide what seafood dishes to offer in their restaurants, how customers decide what to order and why, and what changes need to be made in the way we eat in order to maintain the health of the oceans. She says she "spent the vast majority of her childhood playing with clams and snails in Long Island Sound, and she considers herself to be a cetaceous mammal in temporary exile on dry land. (And she has the blowhole to prove it!)"
Here is an article Roz wrote for Grist on the wallet cards. And one she wrote on good grilling fish - good for health and environs.
Dungeness Crab
Dory Ford Executive Chef at Portola Restaurant at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, offers this beautiful recipe using Dungeness crab. I first met Chef Ford when I was attending the Cooking for Solutions event last year. Eating some wonderful locally raised abalone in Portola looking out over Monterey Bay - well it just doesn't get much better than that! A magical moment, indeed. I also got to see Chef Ford cooking with Aquarium Explorers - kids and future sustainability leaders for sure. Hopefully, we'll get some of those kids cooking with us next year.
Portola is run by sustainability leaders Bon Appetit Management Company. I learned a great deal from them about the "low carbon" diet which focuses on reducing the total environmental impact of foods from production to transport and including the end of the cycle: food waste. I was stunned to learn how much impact we can have on greenhouse gas emissions by focusing on eating locally grown food and reducing the food waste we produce.
To learn more about what Bamco is doing click here; To read my summary of the Low Carbon Diet read: Moove Over South Beach.
Dungeness Crab and Chanterelle Mushroom Strudel, Meyer Lemon, Chive Crème Fraîche, Watercress, Frisèe, Fuji Apple Salad, Vanilla Bean Vinaigrette
Strudel
Yield – 8 servings
- 2# Fresh Chanterelles, cleaned and torn (can substitute other mushrooms)
- 1/2 cup Shallots, minced
- 1/4 cup Butter
- 2 oz Chardonnay
- 2 Tbsp Herbs, Minced – Parsley, Thyme, Chives, Chervil
- 1# Dungeness Crab Leg Meat
sheet Phyllo Pastry
1 Tbsp Bread Crumbs
Aerosol Olive Oil or melted butter
Melt butter, sauté shallots until translucent. Add chantrelles, saute 5 minutes more. Add wine, saute until liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and stir in herb, season with sea salt and fresh black pepper. Cool and toss in crab with fingers to evenly distribute, being careful not to break apart the crab too much.
Working with the phyllo in the landscape position on cutting board, layer phyllo pastry. Ensure an even coat of olive oil and a light sprinkle of bread crumbs beween each layer. Cut in half lengthwise, and into quarters widthwise. You will have 8 strips 2 high and 4 wide. Divide crab, mushroom filling equally across the bottom of each strip of filo. Roll each one into an open ended roll. These can be made in advance and stored up to 8 – 10 hours before use.
Arrange on baking sheet, and bake at 400ºF until golden brown. Cool 5 – 10 minutes before plating
Crème Fraîche
2 Tbsp Fresh Meyer Lemon Juice
4 oz Crème Fraîche
1 tsp Chives, minced
Salt and White pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until thick pourable consitency. Mixture will thin and then re-thicken like whipping cream.
Vanilla Bean Vinaigrette
1 Each Small Shallot, diced
1 Each Vanilla Bean,
1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
1/8 Tsp Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
3 Tbsp Canola Oil
Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise and, scrape out the soft inside and seeds. Combine all ingredients in a pint glass. Blend with hand blender until smooth. Season to taste with sea salt and white pepper. Can be made in advance and stored in refrigerator up to 1 month.
Salad
1 bunch Watercress, picked, washed and spun
1 head Baby Frisee, picked, washed and spun
2 each Fuji Apples, julienned
Place greens in bowl. Just before service, julienne apple and drizzle with vinaigrette. Toss lightly.
To Finish
Place 1 Tablespoon of Crème Fraiche in the center of each of 8 plates.
Place a Crab and Mushroom Strudel on top.
Toss Greens, Apple Julienne and Vanilla Vinaigrette together and place a small handful on top of each Strudel allowing it to spill down either side.
Serve immediately
-Courtesy of Dory Ford, Bon Appetit, Monterey Bay Aquarium
MACKEREL
Andrew Barrow writes the beautiful Spittoon ("We spit so you can swallow") wine website in the UK. Last year, though he was in the midst of a move and more (as I recall a lot more), he offered wine pairings for our recipes.
This year, he's offering a recipe and a wine pairing. Please visit Spittoon to see what he'd pair with this sustainable recipe.
Mackerel and beetroot and potatoes.
Mackerel is a very healthy, richly flavored, and sustainable fish. Japanese are quite fond of broiling or grilling it basting it with sweetened soy sauce. The poor mackerel has been so misunderstood here, people often only know it as unattractive canned fish. Prisoners in California have even begun to use the cans as currency.
As this recipe and Chef Stuart Brioza's Holy Mackerel show us, the humble mackerel is deserving of our attention in the kitchen and dining room, too.
SALMON
Carolyn Jung agreed to share this holiday entertaining recipe with us, rather than saving it for her own column. It's an elegant idea for a special holiday dinner. Thanks Carolyn!
At the seafood market, I shun farmed salmon and opt for wild for all the usual reasons: uneasiness over pollution those farms can create; concern about diseases, parasites, and antibiotics those tightly confined fish can carry; and increasing anxiety that some of those farms operate with minimal oversight.
But I also favor wild salmon for another reason. Having visited Alaska for the first time this year, I got to experience just what this majestic fish means to fishermen there, and how hard they and state officials work to ensure salmon populations remain vital.
Fishing is the most dangerous occupation around. And one of the most grueling, and unpredictable, too. It takes a lot of sweat and muscle to get that salmon to your plate.
So when commercial fisherman Bill Webber of Gulkana Seafoods of Alaska gave me a gift of a fillet of Copper River Coho salmon he had caught, processed, and packed, I cherished it, knowing how much work went into getting it.
I knew I wanted to serve it simply, to let its regal flavor and buttery texture shine through. So I cured it with salt and brown sugar, and presented the fillet whole in all its glory.
I was proud to serve that wild salmon, and prouder still to support the fishermen who make it possible for us to enjoy such a magnificent creature - now, and for years to come.
Mark Bittman’s Gravlax
(makes 12 or more appetizer servings)
1 (3- to 4-pound salmon, weighed after cleaning and beheading, skin on)
1 cup salt
2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup spirits: brandy, gin, aquavit, lemon vodka, etc.
2 good-sized bunches dill, roughly chopped, stems and all
Fillet the salmon or have the fishmonger fillet it for you: the fish need not be scaled. Lay both halves, skin side down on a plate.
Toss together salt, sugar, and pepper, and rub salmon all over (skin, too) with this mixture; splash on spirits. Put most of the dill on the flesh side of one of the fillets, sandwich them together, tail to tail, and rub any remaining salt-sugar mixture on the outside; cover with any remaining dill, then wrap tightly, in plastic wrap. Cover the sandwich with another plate and something that weighs a couple of pounds _ some unopened cans, for example. Refrigerate.
Open package every 12 to 24 hours and baste, inside and out, with accumulated juices. When flesh is opaque, on the second or third day (you will see it changing when you baste it.), slice thinly as you would smoked salmon _ on the bias and without the skin _ and serve with rye bread or pumpernickel, and lemon wedges.
The gravlax will keep for one week after curing, and although it’s not an ideal solution, you can successfully freeze gravlax for a few weeks.
From “How to Cook Everything’’ (MacMillan) by Mark Bittman
Carolyn’s Creamy Greek Yogurt-Dijon Sauce
(makes about 1 cup)
7 ounces (2 percent) Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Serve with the gravlax.
SHRIMP
Stuffed Shrimp a là Salesses
Our friend John makes "the best stuffed shrimp" if he does say so himself - and he does. Portions vary as to number of guests and he also varies proportions to guests' preferences. This is an outline, then of this killer shrimp recipe.
- Crush the crackers in a large mixing bowl. Add other ingredients.
- Clean the shrimp, stuff them.
- Here's John's secret: Bake the shrimp covered with Romaine lettuce - it keeps them moist. Bake no longer than 20 minutes @ 325 degrees and enjoy.
Selecting shrimp is getting scary. Beware the cheap imports: only 2% are inspected entering our market. Guess what they're finding? Banned chemicals, antibiotics and beyond that, we now know that the farmed shrimp from Asian and Latin America come with a huge environmental cost. They are destroying coastal mangrove forests that serve to protect the land from hurricanes. People are displaced and ecosystems destroyed once the waste from these cheap shrimp farms kills everything.
- Save this recipe for special occasions and choose shrimp from domestic shrimp farmers like Lauren Farms or wild-caught from Oregon or British Columbia.
SEA BREAM
The Roving Lemon supplies this recipe from Canberra, Australia. Read her blog entry Fishing Lessons, and enjoy this delicious, simple preparation. I appreciate these stories when we share our real-life adventures on the road to sustainable choices - such as going to download your Australian pocket guide only to discover it is delivered by snail mail.
Nancy says:
I decided to join in this event because I know that eating fish is good for me, and that choosing fish to eat mindfully is good for the planet. Thanks for the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else has done, and hoping I'll be able (in good conscience) to get some of the selected fish down here!
SCALLOPS
Chef Silvia Bianco is the chef behind Food411.com a resource for home cooks which gathers product reviews, recipes and tips in one handy newsletter and blog. Her CT resto Biscotti won the Zagat’s “Award of Distinction” year after year. She has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows including the “Today Show”, where she demonstrated recipes from her first book, "Simply Sauté". Chef Bianco also participated in year one, and her quick marinara uses an umami boosting trick. Have you tried it yet?
"Everything that is not sustainable is in question now...whether it's our food, our lifestyle, our relationships, or our beliefs. We are being asked to consider and awaken to new ways of doing, thinking and being."
Chef Silvia Bianco of Food411.com
Scallops in Pesto-Wine Sauce over Fettuccine
I find pesto sauce a bit too intense by itself. But mixing it with a basic white wine sauce tones it down just enough for me, while leaving it rich enough to stand up to large sea scallops. A pesto sauce alone might overwhelm the scallops’ flavor. The red peppers provide just the right contrasting flavor and color.
Makes 4 servings
- 1/2 cup Pesto Sauce (store-bought, or use recipe below)
- 1 pound fettuccine (or other favorite pasta)
- 3 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 16 to 20 sea scallops
- 1 red bell pepper, cut in strips
- 1/2 medium clove garlic, minced
- 3 to 4 tablespoons white wine
- 1/4 cup fish broth
- 1 cup White Wine Sauce (see below)
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream (optional)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
If you’re preparing pesto sauce for this recipe, do that while you bring the pasta water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions in a large pot of boiling, salted water.
- While the pasta cooks, put the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat for about 30 seconds, until the oil is hot but not smoking. Cook the scallops for about 1 minute, until they are brown on one side, turn, and cook on the second side for 1 minute more with the pepper strips. Add the garlic, wine, and fish broth, and cook for 2 to 3 more minutes, until the scallops begin to turn opaque and the peppers have begun to soften. Stir in the White Wine Sauce and the Pesto Sauce and cook for another minute, or until the sauce begins to boil. Stir in the cream, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for about 1 minute, until the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper. Add a bit more fish broth if the sauce is too thick.
- To serve, drain the pasta and toss it in a serving bowl with about half the liquid part of the sauce. Put the pasta on individual serving plates and top each serving with additional sauce and the scallops.
Pesto Sauce
I love making pesto sauce using basil and parsley, as this recipe does, instead of just basil. Because the parsley mellows the flavor, the sauce is not as intense when made this way.
Makes about 1 cup
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
- 1 cup Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, stems removed and loosely packed
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2 medium cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
- Salt to taste
Put the basil, parsley, oil, pine nuts, and garlic in the workbowl of a food processor, and process until smooth. Pour the sauce into a bowl and stir in the grated cheese. Add salt. Use as directed in previous recipe.
White Wine Sauce
Makes about a cup or so
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup unbleached white flour
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup chicken broth
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste (see note)
Pour the olive oil into a saucepan over medium heat, then add the flour and stir with a wire whisk until all the flour is dissolved and the mixture looks like a paste. Reduce the heat and slowly add the wine; the mixture will start to thicken quickly. Continue to stir and remove from the heat, if necessary, until all the wine has been mixed in. Slowly pour in the chicken broth while you continue to stir. Simmer, uncovered, for approximately 20 minutes or until the taste of alcohol is no longer present in the sauce. Use what you need for the recipe and freeze the rest in a container or in an ice-cube tray to allow easy small additions to sauces. It can stay in the freezer for 6 months or more.
Note: You can easily double or triple the recipe and freeze it in various sized containers. I know you’ll use this sauce to enhance other sauces and dishes and to create inventive sauces of your own.
NOTE: Be sparing with the salt and pepper. It’s better to under season this sauce, because you will season it again in the sauté pan.
NOTE: If this (or any) sauce ever has lumps caused by undissolved flour, just pass the sauce through a sieve or a mesh strainer. It will come out lump-free.
HALIBUT
I met Charyn through a Media Bistro discussion board. She's a Seattle based food writer and just returned from a Prosciutto and Parmigiano Reggiano tour. She's green, I'm green with envy.
Pacific Halibut Ceviche
By CHARYN PFEUFFER
2 lbs. Pacific halibut, cut into ½” pieces
½ cup fresh squeezed lime juice
½ cup fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
1 small jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
2 teaspoons of sea salt
½ red onion, finely diced
1 grapefruit, cut into segments and halved, the long way
4 small tomatillos, finely diced
¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped
Method:
In a glass bowl, combine fish and lime and grapefruit juices.
Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for one hour.
When ready to serve, add red onion, jalapeno, tomatillos and grapefruit segments. Toss gently and season with sea salt. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Serve immediately with tortilla chips.
Optional: Can use farmed bay scallops as a substitute for some of the fish.
OYSTERS
One of my FoodBuzz friends, Cajun Chef Ryan shares his views on oysters. Oysters are filter feeders and have been a favorite of mine since the first one crossed my lips.We share a love of oysters and a love for New Orleans which I miss terribly...maybe I'll have to make this recipe and put on some good jazz, have a Sazerac...
Many years ago (early 1990’s) I was asked to speak at a news conference arranged by the Louisiana Oyster Council with respect to concerns about irradiated oysters and their effects on human consumption. I voiced my concerns about the need to ensure healthy oyster beds to prevent a need to irradiate oysters, and that oysters prepared and handled in the right way do not need to be irradiated. As a concerned chef I made several statements that food irradiation for preservation should be avoided since the concentration should be on preservation and conservation of the natural resources and not a short term “band-aid” solution to solve a much larger problem.
Yield: 1 ½ gallon approximate
Ingredients:
2 lb. Bacon, diced
2 cups Onions, diced
2 each Red bell peppers, julienne
1 Tbsp Shallots, minced
¼ cup Garlic, minced
1 lb. All purpose flour
1 quart White wine
1 quart Oyster liquor
2 cups Chicken stock
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp Sage, fresh, chopped
1 lb. Spinach leaves, fresh, and coarse chopped
½ gallon Oysters
To taste Salt and white pepper
½ cup Chives, chopped
Procedure:
- Cook bacon until crisp and remove to paper towel lined sheet pan.
- Sauté the onions, red peppers, shallots and garlic in the bacon grease until translucent.
- Add the flour to make a roux and cook until blond stage.
- Whip in the white wine and then the oyster liquor.
- Add the chicken stock if sauce is too thick, then bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.
- Add the Worcestershire Sauce and fresh chopped sage, then the fried bacon and the chopped fresh spinach leaves and stir well. Continue to simmer until the spinach has wilted into the sauce.
- Gently fold in the oysters and simmer until just cooked through.
- Season to taste with salt and white pepper and garnish with the fresh chopped chives.
Notes:
A la Carte Service: This sauce can be served over angel pasta for an a la carte menu item. Remember to prepare the complete sauce without the oysters and chives. On command heat 8 ounces of sauce to order and add 6 oysters to cook through and then garnish with the fresh chives. For variations you can add this sauce as an accompaniment to other seafood items such as grilled swordfish or tuna.
For buffet service prepare the full recipe and have in it’s own chaffing dish or mixed in with angel hair or other pasta, then garnish with the fresh chopped chives.
HALIBUT & SCALLOPS
Do you know about Fishwatch? Did you know that NOAA our National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration has its own sustainable fisheries management program, including guides and recipes and podcasts for kids? Learn about leaders in sustainable fisheries management and get up to date information on closings, product recalls and the health of various fish stocks.
Potato Crusted Halibut
Ingredients:
- 6 fillets of halibut (6 oz each)
- 3 eggs, whisked with 1/4C water
- 2 C all natural dehydrated potato flakes
- 1/4 C finely chopped corn flakes
- 2 pinches fresh chopped rosemary
- 2 pinches fresh chopped thyme
- Salt and Pepper
- 1/2 C canola oil
- juice of one lemon
Combine potato flakes, cornflakes and herbs. Season with S&P. Dip fish, flesh side only into whisked eggs. Press that side into potato flake mixture and press gently. IN a large skillet place oil on high heat 30 seconds to one minute. Place fish crust side down. Fry to golden brown 2-3 minutes. Lower heat to medium, then gently flip fish. Allow 2 more minutes then squeeze lemon into pan, but not on fish. Gently swirl.
Fiery Dusted Scallops
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs sea scallops
1 tsp smoked sea salt
1/2 tsp smoked sweet paprika
2 TBSP tomato powder
1 TBSP black pepper
2 TBSP butter
1/2 C diced tomatoes
1/4 C fresh basil leaves julienned
Combine dry spices and brush lightly onto scallops. Heat a non-stick pan over high heat. Brush pan with butter and sear scallops, 3 minutes on each side, until caramelized and firm to touch. Arrange scallops on a plate and garnish with tomatoes and basil.
FLYING FISH
No, not really. We're not eating it. But we are announcing the First Annual Flying Fish Award: FOR GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND. (get it? Flying Fish, above...beyond?)
This year it goes to Lia Huber. Lia publishes Swirling Notions - the official blog of Clos du Bois. She writes, develops recipes and is working on two books. Still, she agreed to participate in my blog event.
Rather than submit a recipe she submitted an entire action plan. Anyone courageous enough, who really wants shake things up, can follow Lia's lead. Go on, I dare ya!
Five Steps to Better Fish:
Step 1) I’ll ask to speak with whomever is in charge of purchasing and ask whether the store has a policy on purchasing sustainable seafood, pointing out—gently, politely—that I’ve noticed that some of the fish they have on offer are harmful choices for our oceans.
Step 2) I’m going to pull out my Seafood Watch Pocket Guide and discuss a couple of the fish they’re selling that fall under the red column (like the  ones I mentioned above).
Step 3) Since I don’t want to just point out negatives, I’ll come equipped with Seafood Watch’s chart of alternative recommendations so I can make some suggestions on sustainable substitutions.
Step 4) If all goes well with steps one through three, I’ll ask if I can bring in some more Pocket Guides to keep on the counter for customers to take. I’ll also ask if they’d like me to bring by some more information for their staff, and give them info on where to go for training support, presentations and materials.
Step 5) Finally, I’ll ask for their support and commitment, including a timeline for follow-up.
~ ~ ~
You know it is so impressive and a little scary, but why should it be? We're giving the fishmonger the information they need to serve their customers better. They should welcome the dialogue. I'd be leary of shopping with them if they got defensive or didn't seem to know or care.
Lia recently tested nine recipes in one day, so maybe she just needed a bigger challenge.
Congratulations to Lia on being our inaugural Flying Fish Award Winner!
I wish I could say the award comes with riches, or jewels, or even a gift of fish, but since I just made it up, it brings you our respect and admiration and that's it. I'll get to work on buffing this up a bit for next year.
And now here's a slideshow of some my sustainable seafood dishes - recipes like Miso-marinated Sablefish can be found in the links to this event, Sustainable Seafood - Links for TAMTF 2008.
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
