The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) states that fish is a great source of protein, B vitamins, and omega 3 fatty acids (well known for its anti-inflammatory properties). From a cancer standpoint it is advisable to limit fish that are high in PCB’s and Methylmercury. The Food and Drug Administration in fact made recommendations on tuna consumption for pregnant women and young children
The AICR recommends:
For Environmentaly sound and low contaminant choices, high in omega 3:
- Wild salmon (fresh, frozen or canned), Alaskan is a great choice, as low in contaminants and good environmental practices
- Arctic char
- Sablefish (black cod)
- Sardines
- Atlantic mackerel
- Farmed rainbow trout
- Farmed striped bass
- Barramundi
- Mussels
Low contaminants, eco-friendly and low saturated fat:
- Pacific halibut
- Alaskan pollock
- Catfish
- Tilapia or shrimp from U.S. farms
- Wild shrimp
- Clams
- Oysters
- Bay scallops
Special recommendations for women of childbearing age and children up to age 12:
- Avoid swordfish, shark, tile fish and king mackerel
- Consume up to 12 ounces per week (less for those under 6 years old) of a variety of other seafood.
- Before cooking, remove the skin and fat where PCBs concentrate.
This lovely and very simple recipe come from Louise of Fed and Watered a British Food Blogger:
Salt and pepper. Tomato and basil. Gin and tonic. Enduring combinations that avoid the tag of cliché by simply working. And, as I further my ambition to become a fish lover, I’m learning that the ideal partner for cod isn’t chips, but fennel.
This dinner begins with a fennel bulb trimmed, sliced into four (with the fluffy tops reserved for later) and arranged in a roasting tray with peas, runner beans sliced lengthways, and a thickly-shredded little gem lettuce.
Next, grate two big cloves of garlic over the top and dot over knobs of butter before dousing everything in a good dry white wine (I poured mine through the grater to rinse off the remaining garlic – good, no?) and seasoning. And that’s about as much effort as is required for the sauce.
The vegetables will take around 20 minutes so loosely cover your tray with foil and leave in the oven for about five minutes before laying fillets of cod on top and returning to the oven for another 15. About a minute before time’s up, sprinkle the reserved fennel tops over the fish and squeeze over little lemon juice.
I had two fillet of cod to myself so I didn’t think carbs were necessary but if you can’t go without, try some herbed new potatoes.
This is a Chesapeake Bay inspired dish that 5 star foodie created using Mark Salter’s Eastern Shore Pub Sauce. This tomato-based sauce features a fusion of delicious flavors and can be used to compliment a number of dishes including crab cakes, burgers, and fish & chips. 5 star foodie used the Pub Sauce to coat Wild Chesapeake Rockfish Fillets, which were then topped with creamy and cheesy Crab meat.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/3 cup cream
2 tablespoons white wine
1/2 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
1/4 cup milk
Salt to taste
1 cup Alaskan Crab meat
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
4 Wild Chesapeake Rockfish Fillets
About 1/2 cup of Eastern Shore Pub Sauce
Chives (optional)
Directions:
In a skillet, melt butter. Add flour and stir until a paste forms. Whisk in cream and wine. Add Gruyere cheese, mix until the cheese is melted. Add milk, making sure the sauce is smooth and uniform. Season with salt and fold in crab meat. Take the crab mixture off the heat.
Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Cover the rockfish fillets with Pub sauce on all sides and place on a baking sheet. Top each fillet with a generous portion of crab mixture (about 1/2 cup). Bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle lightly with Parmesan and broil for 1 more minute. Garnish with chives if desired.
Serve with additional Pub sauce and baked potato fries.
This recipe was kindly supplied by Natasha of 5 star foodie
Cod has been on the top 10 seafood list in America for the last five years. Famous for its mild taste, firm texture and big flakes, it lends itself to be cooked in a variety of ways such as baking, broiling, poaching or frying, its commonly dipped in batter and fried in the UK and eaten with chips.
The Alaskan cod season opened on August 15th this year in Alaska’s Bering sea, it has a limit of 36,000 metric tons or over 79 million pounds. Then later in in September the Gulf of Alaska’s season opens with an additional 20,000 metric tonnes or 44 million pounds for harvest.
Interestingly, 95% of the cod eaten in the US is caught in the Pacific with the most common place being Alaska. Thankfully Alaska’s Cod supply is abundant and sustainable thanks to good management practices-this is not the case in the UK, Canada and other Atlantic countries where cod is in danger of being over fished.
Cod is a great source of protein. In fact, a 3.5 ounce serving contains 22g and only 105kcal and less than 1g of fat. It is also an excellent source of omega 3 fatty acids, a good source of phosphorus, niacin and vitamin B12. The livers of cod are processed to make cod liver oil, rich in vitamin D, Vitamin A and Omega 3 fatty acids.
So why not try this wonderful and most versatile fish all the while knowing it is in good supply.
There has been a big debate in recent years about Pollock fleets inadvertently catching king salmon. It has been reported that since 2000 the number is over 120,000 king salmon. Last April The North Pacific Fishery Management Council passed a hard cap on the Pollock fishery. Those who participate are allowed 60,000 kings a year and if that cap is reached the council will close down the fishery. In order to help protect the precious king salmon, and allow them to return to spawn to start the next generation. The fisheries who don’t join the program have a cap of just 47, 951 fish.
The small villages along the Yukon river who rely on the salmon and the smokehouses are at a great loss, this year hiring fewer employee’s than years past. Biologists state other possible reasons for the declining numbers of king salmon are changing ocean currents, plankton blooms, and even the carnivorous nature of the king salmon themselves.
Many of the rivers have even been closed to fishing this year due to the depleted numbers of salmon returning to spawn. The lower Yukon villages are particularly devastated.
Lets hope the measures taken to preserve the kings result in better numbers next year, as we enjoy the salmon, but respect the earth and seek to only participate in sustainable, healthy and fair fishing practices!
they vary in size from a tiny pea crab, to up to 4 meters
they communicate with each other by drumming or waving their pinchers or claws
they fight to get the best hiding holes in seaside caves
they are omnivores eating algae, worms, bacteria, fungi and crustaceans
females brood 1000’s of embryos under her tail for up to a year
the larvae settle to the ocean floor and grow into little crabs
in some places of the world they are eaten whole
Alaska has 3 main commercial crab species, blue, red and golden king crab.
the red and king settle on the ocean floor at 90-100 feet and the golden can settle and grow at a whooping 300 feet below sea level
a crabs skeleton is its shell and therefore in order to grow it often sheds it and grows a new one
some king crabs can live as along as 20-30 years
crab is very versatile and can be cooked in soups, curries, simple eaten plain or made into fish cakes.
Because Alaskan crabs have been so heavily fished over the years their is a special project at the University called the King Crab reasearch program.It is trying to grow and hatch larvae and then release them back into the wild to replenish stocks. Be sure to check out the projects website for video clips on the progress.
Salmon has an amazing and courageous life story. They are born into a stream and spend their first few years playing and growing into adolescents. They are called smolts at this point and are bright silver in color. It is estimated that only 10% of eggs make it to this point, and when the time is right, groups of young salmon gather at the mouths of the rivers ready to enter the ocean.
It is at this point that their bodies can physiologically be able to survive at sea. They then spend the next few years growing into adults in the bay gulf of Alaska, often having periods of rapid growth in the summer months. They develop ring-like markings every time they go through a period of growth, similar to the rings on a tree trunk.
Their life at sea is not an easy on often being hunted by seals, Orca whales and of course, fishermen. After often swimming a staggering 2000 miles in the ocean they head home to their birth site to spawn, and continue the circle of life.
The journey is long and full of obstacles tackling fast flowing steams and waterfalls, to finally reach they home. They then spawn, (some turn bright red in color, like below) and die shortly after, allowing the next generation a chance.
The Alaskan department of Fish and Game manages and protects up to 15,000 salmon steams in order to take care of these special fish.
This amazing recipe comes courtesy of Chef E a personal chef and restaurant consultant:
Gazpacho recipes can vary greatly in terms of ingredient composition, texture and viscosity. This usually depends on the geographical location as well as family traditions. This bowl of liquid salad originally came from Spain. Cookbook author Anya Von Bremzen says on The Splendid Table that “gazpacho” comes from the word “caspa,” which means “to break into fragments.”
The origin of the word gazpacho is uncertain, but etymologists believe it might be derived from the Mozarab word caspa, meaning “residue” or “fragments,” an allusion to the small pieces of bread and vegetables in a gazpacho soup. On the other hand, it may be a pre-Roman Iberian word modified by the Arabic. One will hear a lot about Mozarab when speaking of historic Andalusia. “Mozarab” is a corruption of the Arabic must’arab, “would-be Arab,” those Hispano- Romans who were allowed to practice their religion on condition of owing their allegiance to the Arab caliph as opposed to the muwalladun, Hispano-Romans who converted to Islam.
José Briz, who wrote a book on gazpacho, also suggests that the word derives from the Hebrew gazaz, meaning to break into pieces, referring to the bread base. Gazpacho was traditionally eaten by workers in the fields, whether they were vineyards, olive plantations, citrus groves, wheat fields or cork farms. Originally gazpacho was nothing but bread, water, and olive oil, all pounded in a large wooden bowl called a dornillo; it was poor people’s food.
Summer Cherry Gazpacho
1 pound good summer, or heirloom tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
1/2 a small onion, roughly chopped
1 small green pepper, roughly chopped
1 jalapeño, seeds and membrane removed, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, roughly chopped
8 ounces sweet summer cherries, seeded
1 cup of watermelon pieces
1 slice bread (use any bread with some density)
1 tablespoon blueberry-basil vinegar I purchased in the PNW
Salt/White Pepper to taste
Add all the ingredients to a blender and process until smooth, or just pulsate each ingredient to get a slightly textured gazpacho (hubby likes his to have some chewy texture).
Serve topped with ricotta cheese, smoked shrimp like mine or fresh crab meat.
Cherry BBQ Sauce
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 cups fresh, seeded/strained crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about 2 oranges)
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 cups fresh seeded cherries, crushed
Procedure
1. In a medium saucepan, cook the onion over medium-high heat, until it softens, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and chili powder and cook 1 minute more. Add the tomatoes, orange juice, tomato paste, sugar, and cherries and cook 5 minutes more, stirring frequently.
2. Transfer the mixture to a blender or a food processor fitted with the metal blade and blend until smooth. Transfer to a plastic container and keep cold in a refrigerator or ice-filled cooler until ready to use or for up to one week (will appear dark).
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