For those of you who don’t know, one of our big Octoberfish events this month has been our Get Cookin'! sustainable seafood recipe contest, in which we had contestants send in recipes featuring a recommended fish. Other criteria for the recipes included that they used sustainable/local ingredients and were unique, flavorful, healthy, and easy to prepare.

As part of our “judging” process, we recently held a massive cooking extravaganza at the house of a Food & Water Watch staff member, with the brilliant Chef Joseph “Rocky” Barnette in charge of the operation. We split the cooking/tasting process over two evenings, trying out an array of dishes such as “Idaho Meets the Sea” and the “Hogfish Hoagie” – just to name a few!

While we don’t want to give anything away until the winners are announced, we do have three favorites in the running for the top prize, and overall we were immensely pleased with all of our submissions. They were well-written, easy to make, and showed inventiveness and creativity – all things that make a good recipe, according to Chef Rocky. We were able to buy most of our ingredients at a local market that had all the selections we wanted at very affordable prices, and they tasted incredible. We also put to work our Smart Seafood Guide, using only sustainable seafood in our cooking.

We’ll be voting on our favorite recipe over the next few days, and will notify the winner by October 31st. And for those interested in trying some of these amazing recipes, we will be choosing several to publish in our recipe booklet, which will be available in time for the holidays – as well as an online video of the cooking event, which includes a few tips from Chef Rocky. Stay tuned!

- Sofia Baliño

Chef Rocky Barnette reports from various exciting locations as he begins his seafood-savvy tour. First, he's stopped in New York.

September 4, 2008

    My first day in the city, I was fortunate enough to have lunch at restaurant WD-50, which is definitely a hot spot and a culinary destination for foodies and chefs alike.  The lunch menu had great variety of appetizers, main courses, and desserts.  I was pleased to see that there were delicious seafood choices available, including cod and scallops.  Finding out where these items were from came as a relief because the cod was from the Pacific, where cod is not overfished, and the scallops were diver-caught, which means they are collected in a way that’s much less damaging to the ecosystem.  They were sensational and I have included menu descriptions and pictures of both.
 
 Cod, smoked mashed potato, pickled mushrooms, red pepper oil

Scallops, hen o’ the wood mushrooms, cranberry, pecan, spice bread consommé

It's important to always ask where your seafood comes from. Though waiters or chefs may not be able to tell you right away, they can and should find out for you. It's good for restaurants to know that their customers are interested in the source of their seafood.

September 8, 2008

I had only been in the city for a few days and found myself on my way back to the country.  This was like no country I had ever seen: I was going to upstate New York.  I went to artist Peter Nadin’s farm in Greene County.  We were not going to see fish on this farm, but rather pigs.  I am currently designing a menu for a “Ceremonial Performance Dinner” in New Orleans on November 1st that opens the KK Projects Art installations and celebrates the New Orleans Art Biennial.  Peter is a premiere artist in the show.  Here is a little more about that:

Roots Menu will feature the highest-quality foods grown in this region, influenced by the offerings of Indian, French, African, and Spanish cuisines interpreted with delectable contemporary sensibility.

The evening is star-studded with celebrated Chef “Rocky” Barnette, former executive sous-chef at critically acclaimed restaurant The Inn at Little Washington. Artist Dawn DeDeaux, the dinner party queen of New Orleans, will be in charge of the setting, creating a magical, mystical evening through art and choreographed performances.

Barnett and DeDeaux have collaborated on a conceptual menu and presentation that deconstructs New Orleans gastronomical/historical traditions towards the creation of an indelible, highly original amalgamation of tastes synchronized with sights and sounds. 

Barnette – partner chef of the consumer advocacy organization Food & Water Watch, which promotes sustainable seafood in restaurants – will incorporate sustainable Gulf Coast fish together with indigenous grains and vegetables.  His culinary team will include the highly regarded New Orleans-based chefs, the que crawl boys, who have delighted guests for two previous KK Projects gala dinners. 

DeDeaux first utilized the dinner arena as art form in 1982 with Feasting with Panthers: The 100th Anniversary of Oscar Wilde's Visit to America, sponsored by the New Orleans Museum of Art.  Here again, she will work with local and international artists to produce a highly original theatrical experience – complete with customized dining utensils, table sculptural form, and choreographed live performances.

The dinner will feature sustainable Gulf Coast seafood and pork from Peter Nadin’s farm.  These pigs really have the life.  They live on a beautiful piece of land and, along with their normal diet, they are able to forage to their hearts’ desire.

I will also be doing a dinner in mid-October for the people attending Peter’s symposium and the first showing of his work since 1991.  We will be featuring one of his pigs and a sustainable fish that has yet to be determined.  I call it “operation porkfish.”

September 10, 2008

    I am back in the city and amazed (and disappointed) at the number of restaurants that don't know the origin of the fish they serve.  Often, they don’t even seem to care where they seafood comes from.  At the Fulton Fish Market, a chef or restaurant can buy any type of seafood, from anywhere in the world, with little thought of any ramifications for the environment or fishing communities.  It’s a big problem, and can seem overwhelming. But really, anyone who eats seafood has the power to help change this. If people start asking where their seafood comes from (and shopping accordingly), restaurants and grocery stores will have to change to meet the demand. This, in turn, will support fishermen whose practices are sustainable and good for human health and the environment, and ultimately can encourage other fishermen to transition to good practices. It’s common sense, really.

    I did have the wonderful opportunity to dine at a traditional English fish & chip shop called “A Salt & Battery.”  They had a sign posted at the register where orders are taken announcing their stand against Atlantic cod and informing diners that they are using haddock.  Hook-and-line caught haddock, in particular, is a good sustainable choice. The fish and chips were lovely and spot-on.

September 11, 2008

    I decided to find out what kind of fish people were buying when they were going to buy it themselves in a grocery store, rather than dining out.  I went to the local Whole Foods, where they “ensure that we only source farmed seafood from the world’s leaders in environmentally responsible aquaculture” and “know that we can trust our farmer partners because, like us, they’re committed to the healthiest, most environmentally friendly farmed seafood.”  I was really hoping this was not just environmental lip service.

  

On this day ALL the shrimp there were from Thailand.
 

There is no sustainable Chilean seabass.

 

Atlantic Salmon as far as the eye can see.
 

Russian Crab.

I am trying not to be overly critical of Whole Foods’ buying and selling practices, because I do realize that they often provide environmentally responsible choices for a variety of foods. Still, with all good things they do, they have the opportunity to be even better, and should be – especially with regards to seafood.

September 13, 2008

    My last day in New York, I met my best friend Rob Ramirez in Chinatown.  It was the day of the Chinese Moon festival and Rob’s wife is from Taiwan, so we decided to celebrate with a barbecue and cook some fish.  We went to Chinatown to find out what kinds of choices they had for whole fish in the market.  In Chinatown the celebration was already underway and I felt like I was swimming through an ocean of people.  We went to a few different stalls and finally decided on the one that was the cleanest and had the freshest-looking selections.  There were so many fish that I could not identify because I had never seen them before and I could not read the placards that were in Chinese.  We finally settled on a seven-pound bluefish and two three-pound Spanish mackerels. These aren’t the best choices out there, but for what was available that day, they were. (There are a number of questions you can ask a seafood provider to help lead you to the best choice available – check out our Smart Seafood Guide.)  I took the fish on a six-block tour of the city and a subway ride to Brooklyn.  There I turned one mackerel into ceviche with red onions, fresh lime juice and zest, poblano peppers, red pepper flakes, oregano from the garden, and salt, sugar, and cumin for seasoning.  The other mackerel was filleted, seared in a pan and coated with lemon juice and black soy sauce molasses.  With the big daddy bluefish I scored the skin and rubbed him down with a chunky peanut and chili oil paste and coarse salt.  We roasted him whole on a bed of Thai Basil from the garden over a charcoal fire.  The fish was a hit and there was nothing left but a mess of bones.  I realized after eating these fish that it was the first time that I had eaten or cooked either one.  People would do well to to lose their inhibitions and get out of whatever salmon/tuna/cod rut they are in and find out more about lesser-known and fish.