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Monkfish
Fat sardines for sale at the Quai des Belges in MarseillesThe oceans, assailed by pollution, overfishing, and global warming, are in rough shape. By changing our eating habits—and staying away from such often contaminant-laden big fish as tuna, swordfish, and grouper—we can help curtail the ongoing destruction of the top levels of the oceanic food chain. The following dishes, which use sustainably caught species from lower down in the food chain, have one thing in common: they’re all delicious. Bottomfeeding, it turns out, has its rewards.

>> Stargazey pie
>> Jellyfish Salad
>> Moules à la provençale
>> Deep Fried Haddock
>> Shrimp and Vegetables with Champagne


Sardines are at once astonishingly abundant, sustainably fished, and full of omega-3s (the ultimate brain nutrient). In England, where large sardines are known as pilchards, they are also the basis for this astonishing savory pie.

Stargazey Pie

This Cornish Pie is probably so called because the fishes' heads are left outside the pastry, gazing upwards. Originally they were arranged like this because the oil drained back into the pie, so nothing was wasted and the pie was moistened.

In some parts of Cornwall a mashed potato crust is used instead of pastry. Pilchards were once so plentiful in Cornwall that they were hung on lines to dry. Stargazey pie was a fun dish, made for special occasions, or to amuse children.

Ingredients:
Serves: 4-6

6 tablespoons fresh white breadcrumbs
150 ml milk (5 fl oz)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
3 tablespoon lemon juice, plus the zest
1 medium onion, chopped
6 pilchards, filleted with heads left on
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 rasher bacon, rinded and chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
150 ml dry cider (5 fl oz)
225 gram (8 oz) flaky pastry

Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk and leave to swell a little. Add the parsley, lemon juice, lemon zest and onion and mix well.
Divide this stuffing between the fish, spreading it over the flat fillets. Fold them over, then put them into a round ovenproof dish, tails downwards and with the heads on the edge.
Put the chopped eggs, bacon, seasoning and cider all around and in between the fish.
Roll out the pastry to fit the dish. Press on, leaving the fish heads exposed on the rim.
Bake at 220 °C/ 425 °F for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven to 190 °C / 375 °F and cook for a further 25 minutes.
You can use herrings or mackerel in place of the pilchards

—reproduced with the permission of the British Food Trust, www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk

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As larger fish like tuna, swordfish, and cod are being fished to the brink, species at the bottom end of the food chain are thriving. Jellyfish in particular are experiencing salad days; so why not take a tip from Asian cuisines, and make a salad out of them? The following recipe, courtesy of chef Frank Pabst at the Blue Water Café in Vancouver, British Columbia, is for a cold appetizer; you can find dried jellyfish in most Asian supermarkets. The texture is fantastic.

Jellyfish Salad with cucumber and daikon

Jellyfish is great flavor carrier that has a nice crunchy texture to it. Dried jellyfish can be found in specialty asian markets

250g of dried shredded jellyfish
4 tbsp of sesame oil
2 tsp of unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tsp of sugar
2 tsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of togarashi (dried red pepper)
2 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds
1 cup of thinly shredded daikon
1 english cucumber
1 tbsp of black sesame see

  1. rinse the jellyfish under cold water and strain
  2. cover with boiling water and let stand for 10 minutes
  3. strain and rinse again under cold running water for 30 minutes
  4.  mix sesame oil, rice vinegar, sugar soy sauce, togarashi and toasted sesame seeds
  5. strain jellyfish and dry with kitchen towel
  6. mix jellyfish with the marinade in a ziplock bag and let sit overnight in fridge
  7. slice cucmber thinly and place along the inside of a bowl or martini glass, add the thinly shredded and rinsed daikon in the center.
  8. place the jellyfish salad on top of the daikon and garnish with black sesame seeds and a pinch of togarashi

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Like oysters, mussels are fantastic filter-feeders, cleaning the oceans of plankton that, unchecked, could lead to vast algae blooms and huge dead zones. The vast majority of the mussels we eat are farmed in cold northern waters and are completely safe. (Make sure to toss aside the ones that don’t open after steaming, though; they were dead before you bought them!)

Moules à la provençale

Serves 4

3 pounds of mussels, debearded (scrape away any algae on the outside) and rinsed
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 finely chopped shallots
8 roma tomatoes, quartered and then diced
1 red pepper, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of thyme
3/4 cup tomato juice
Sea salt
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
Pepper
Several fresh basil leaves, cut in strips

Heat the olive oil in a pot, lightly sauté shallots, garlic, red pepper, diced tomatoes, and season with sea salt and pepper. Add thyme and bay leaves and let the tomatoes cook until they’re reduced to a well blended sauce. Pour in the tomato juice, add the mussels, and then cover the pot and bring to a boil. Remove cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes, until all the mussels have opened (throw away those that remain shut), stirring occasionally. Add basil at the last minute. Serve in bowls—preferably with mayonnaise-topped french fries on the side.

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Though cod is still the most popular fish in British “chippies” (fish and chip shops), North Atlantic stocks are being fished to the brink of commercial extinction, and much of the cod that comes from the Barents Sea is thought to be caught by pirate ships fishing outside of quotas. As a sustainable alternative, use haddock (ask for line-caught, not trawled), a sweet-fleshed fish that is prefered in northern England and Scotland.

Deep Fried Haddock

Fish and chips is one of Britain's favourite take-aways, often accompanied with mushy peas or curry sauce. This is a simple recipe to fry the fish at home.

Ingredients

Serves: 4

Deep fat or oil, for frying
8 haddock fillets
4 ounces self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon Butter, melted
2/3 cup milk
Lemon wedges, to garnish

Method

Half-fill a deep pan with melted fat or oil. Heat until a faint haze rises from it (or until a bread cube sinks to the bottom of the pan, rises to the top immediately and turns golden in 50 seconds).

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Beat to a smooth batter with unbeaten egg, butter and milk. Coat 2 pieces of fish with batter. Lift into the pan with a fork or kitchen tongs. Fry until crisp and golden, allowing about 6-8 minutes for large pieces and 4-5 minutes for medium.

Remove from the pan and drain on absorbent kitchen paper. Repeat with the remaining fish. Garnish with lemon wedges.

—reproduced with the permission of the British Food Trust, www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk

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Farmed shrimp can be an unhealthy choice, thanks to the fungicides, pesticides, and antibiotics that are too often used to treat them in the developing world. A great alternative is wild-caught northern shrimp, pink shrimp, and spot prawns from Canada and northern U.S. waters. The following recipe, provided by Katherine Czapp of Ann Arbor, calls for the small and tasty Maine shrimp (Pandalus borealis) from the Gulf of Maine. It is also sold as coldwater or northern shrimp.

Shrimp and Vegetables with Champagne

(Rather than Champagne, I actually prefer a Blanquette de Limoux, notable for predating Champagne by about 150 years as the first sparkling wine developed by Benedictine monks at Saint Hilaire in 1531. The wine is delicious and moderately priced. Of course, serve the remainder of the bottle with the shrimp!)

Peel 1 1/4 pounds of fresh medium or large Gulf shrimp. In a saucepan melt 1 tablespoon of butter and sauté 1 cup each of thinly sliced carrots, onions, leeks and celery. Add 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried), a bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook, covered, for 5-10 minutes. Add 1 1/4 cups homemade fish broth (preferably broth made with shrimp shells) and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes or so to reduce the liquid. Add 4 tablespoons minced shallots and one cup of Champagne and reduce liquid by half over high heat. Add 4 tablespoons very thick raw cream and stir to blend thoroughly. Add peeled shrimp and stir over high heat for about 1 1/2 minutes, or until all shrimp are pink and just cooked. Taste and add salt if needed. Serve immediately as an elegant first course.

—reproduced with permission of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

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  About Bottomfeeder Excerpt Op-Eds and Articles What the Critics are Saying How to Eat Ethically
Recipes Home		  
  Recipes

Monkfish
Fat sardines for sale at the
Quai des Belges in MarseillesThe oceans, assailed by pollution, overfishing, and global warming, are in rough shape. By changing our eating habits—and staying away from such often contaminant-laden big fish as tuna, swordfish, and grouper—we can help curtail the ongoing destruction of the top levels of the oceanic food chain. The following dishes, which use sustainably caught species from lower down in the food chain, have one thing in common: they’re all delicious. Bottomfeeding, it turns out, has its rewards.

>> Stargazey pie
>> Jellyfish Salad
>> Moules à la provençale
>> Deep Fried Haddock
>> Shrimp and Vegetables with Champagne


Sardines are at once astonishingly abundant, sustainably fished, and full of omega-3s (the ultimate brain nutrient). In England, where large sardines are known as pilchards, they are also the basis for this astonishing savory pie.

Stargazey Pie

This Cornish Pie is probably so called because the fishes' heads are left outside the pastry, gazing upwards. Originally they were arranged like this because the oil drained back into the pie, so nothing was wasted and the pie was moistened.

In some parts of Cornwall a mashed potato crust is used instead of pastry. Pilchards were once so plentiful in Cornwall that they were hung on lines to dry. Stargazey pie was a fun dish, made for special occasions, or to amuse children.

Ingredients:
Serves: 4-6

6 tablespoons fresh white breadcrumbs
150 ml milk (5 fl oz)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
3 tablespoon lemon juice, plus the zest
1 medium onion, chopped
6 pilchards, filleted with heads left on
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 rasher bacon, rinded and chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
150 ml dry cider (5 fl oz)
225 gram (8 oz) flaky pastry

Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk and leave to swell a little. Add the parsley, lemon juice, lemon zest and onion and mix well.
Divide this stuffing between the fish, spreading it over the flat fillets. Fold them over, then put them into a round ovenproof dish, tails downwards and with the heads on the edge.
Put the chopped eggs, bacon, seasoning and cider all around and in between the fish.
Roll out the pastry to fit the dish. Press on, leaving the fish heads exposed on the rim.
Bake at 220 °C/ 425 °F for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven to 190 °C / 375 °F and cook for a further 25 minutes.
You can use herrings or mackerel in place of the pilchards

—reproduced with the permission of the British Food Trust, www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk

print | top

As larger fish like tuna, swordfish, and cod are being fished to the brink, species at the bottom end of the food chain are thriving. Jellyfish in particular are experiencing salad days; so why not take a tip from Asian cuisines, and make a salad out of them? The following recipe, courtesy of chef Frank Pabst at the Blue Water Café in Vancouver, British Columbia, is for a cold appetizer; you can find dried jellyfish in most Asian supermarkets. The texture is fantastic.

Jellyfish Salad with cucumber and daikon

Jellyfish is great flavor carrier that has a nice crunchy texture to it. Dried jellyfish can be found in specialty asian markets

250g of dried shredded jellyfish
4 tbsp of sesame oil
2 tsp of unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tsp of sugar
2 tsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of togarashi (dried red pepper)
2 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds
1 cup of thinly shredded daikon
1 english cucumber
1 tbsp of black sesame see

  1. rinse the jellyfish under cold water and strain
  2. cover with boiling water and let stand for 10 minutes
  3. strain and rinse again under cold running water for 30 minutes
  4.  mix sesame oil, rice vinegar, sugar soy sauce, togarashi and toasted sesame seeds
  5. strain jellyfish and dry with kitchen towel
  6. mix jellyfish with the marinade in a ziplock bag and let sit overnight in fridge
  7. slice cucmber thinly and place along the inside of a bowl or martini glass, add the thinly shredded and rinsed daikon in the center.
  8. place the jellyfish salad on top of the daikon and garnish with black sesame seeds and a pinch of togarashi

print | top

Like oysters, mussels are fantastic filter-feeders, cleaning the oceans of plankton that, unchecked, could lead to vast algae blooms and huge dead zones. The vast majority of the mussels we eat are farmed in cold northern waters and are completely safe. (Make sure to toss aside the ones that don’t open after steaming, though; they were dead before you bought them!)

Moules à la provençale

Serves 4

3 pounds of mussels, debearded (scrape away any algae on the outside) and rinsed
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 finely chopped shallots
8 roma tomatoes, quartered and then diced
1 red pepper, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of thyme
3/4 cup tomato juice
Sea salt
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
Pepper
Several fresh basil leaves, cut in strips

Heat the olive oil in a pot, lightly sauté shallots, garlic, red pepper, diced tomatoes, and season with sea salt and pepper. Add thyme and bay leaves and let the tomatoes cook until they’re reduced to a well blended sauce. Pour in the tomato juice, add the mussels, and then cover the pot and bring to a boil. Remove cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes, until all the mussels have opened (throw away those that remain shut), stirring occasionally. Add basil at the last minute. Serve in bowls—preferably with mayonnaise-topped french fries on the side.

print | top

Though cod is still the most popular fish in British “chippies” (fish and chip shops), North Atlantic stocks are being fished to the brink of commercial extinction, and much of the cod that comes from the Barents Sea is thought to be caught by pirate ships fishing outside of quotas. As a sustainable alternative, use haddock (ask for line-caught, not trawled), a sweet-fleshed fish that is prefered in northern England and Scotland.

Deep Fried Haddock

Fish and chips is one of Britain's favourite take-aways, often accompanied with mushy peas or curry sauce. This is a simple recipe to fry the fish at home.

Ingredients

Serves: 4

Deep fat or oil, for frying
8 haddock fillets
4 ounces self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon Butter, melted
2/3 cup milk
Lemon wedges, to garnish

Method

Half-fill a deep pan with melted fat or oil. Heat until a faint haze rises from it (or until a bread cube sinks to the bottom of the pan, rises to the top immediately and turns golden in 50 seconds).

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Beat to a smooth batter with unbeaten egg, butter and milk. Coat 2 pieces of fish with batter. Lift into the pan with a fork or kitchen tongs. Fry until crisp and golden, allowing about 6-8 minutes for large pieces and 4-5 minutes for medium.

Remove from the pan and drain on absorbent kitchen paper. Repeat with the remaining fish. Garnish with lemon wedges.

—reproduced with the permission of the British Food Trust, www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk

print | top

Farmed shrimp can be an unhealthy choice, thanks to the fungicides, pesticides, and antibiotics that are too often used to treat them in the developing world. A great alternative is wild-caught northern shrimp, pink shrimp, and spot prawns from Canada and northern U.S. waters. The following recipe, provided by Katherine Czapp of Ann Arbor, calls for the small and tasty Maine shrimp (Pandalus borealis) from the Gulf of Maine. It is also sold as coldwater or northern shrimp.

Shrimp and Vegetables with Champagne

(Rather than Champagne, I actually prefer a Blanquette de Limoux, notable for predating Champagne by about 150 years as the first sparkling wine developed by Benedictine monks at Saint Hilaire in 1531. The wine is delicious and moderately priced. Of course, serve the remainder of the bottle with the shrimp!)

Peel 1 1/4 pounds of fresh medium or large Gulf shrimp. In a saucepan melt 1 tablespoon of butter and sauté 1 cup each of thinly sliced carrots, onions, leeks and celery. Add 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried), a bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook, covered, for 5-10 minutes. Add 1 1/4 cups homemade fish broth (preferably broth made with shrimp shells) and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes or so to reduce the liquid. Add 4 tablespoons minced shallots and one cup of Champagne and reduce liquid by half over high heat. Add 4 tablespoons very thick raw cream and stir to blend thoroughly. Add peeled shrimp and stir over high heat for about 1 1/2 minutes, or until all shrimp are pink and just cooked. Taste and add salt if needed. Serve immediately as an elegant first course.

—reproduced with permission of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

print | top