Seafood and fish have always been of my favorite dishes. I’ve grown up close to the sea and, as a result, my mom did cook it pretty often. It never came to my mind the whole eating fish habit could come to an end. Then widely consumed fishes species started collapsing like Canadian cod back in the 90s.

A very frightening documentary called « Global sushi : demain nos enfants mangeront des méduses »  (Global sushi: tomorrow our kids will be eating jellyfishes) was aired the other day on TV here. I can’t stop thinking about it since I saw it. Some scientists were explaining that we now know it’s impossible to reverse the effects of overfishing;  fishing prohibition usually comes when a species has reached a very critic level and these fishes populations never get to grow again, even after decades.

Fish farming doesn’t seem to be a solution either given that we still need to feed these fishes with smaller ones. Count something like 10 lbs of small wild fish to get 1 lb of salmon…

It got back to being a hot topic because of the actual concern for tuna, especially bigeye and yellowfin  which should be extincted over the next 3 to 5 years if we don’t do anything about it being overfished.

Think about it. We, occidental consumers, have been eating it all our lives. And, let’s face it, we’ve been eating most of the fish predators like swordfish, cod, skate and tuna. Now that huge populations in the world are in the process of accessing the western way of consumption, this will not get any better… Less and less predators in the sea, more and more smaller plankton-feeding fishes. If nothing changes, jellyfishes could replace the ones we eat in our seas during this century, Greenpeace says.

I had already stopped eating tuna sushis but I’m definitely going to cut down my fish consumption and get more information on the one I actually buy. As for scallops, you shouldn’t buy any from New Zealand as they’re endangered in that region. They’re now being farmed in most places and, as they eat plankton, it seems sustainable.

Here is a recipe I adapted from French magazine « Elle à Table » (last December issue). I used fresh scallops already opened and cleaned but if you buy them with shell, click here for explanation on how to clean them.

Preparation time: 5 minutes – Baking time: 8 minutes

Ingredients (for 6 servings)

12 big fresh scallops (18 if they’re small)
4 thin slices of Parma ham
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoons of dried breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons of parsley
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Pepper

Instructions

1/ Preheat oven to 410° F (210° C / T 7).

2/ Mix breadcrumbs, Parma ham, garlic, parsley and 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a food processor.

3/ Fold a piece of kitchen paper, pour 1 teaspoon of olive oil on it and use it to grease an oven rack.

4/ Place scallops on the greased rack and top them with Parma ham mix.

5/ Pour a dash of olive oil on top and bake in oven for 8 minutes.

Serve as a starter with a few leaves of lamb’s lettuce or rocket if you like.

Happy New Year fellow foodies . May 2010 bring you and your loved ones everything you’ve been hoping for!

I’m usually not really good at realizing new year’s resolutions, that’s why I stopped making them a few years ago. This time is different, I do need to be more organized in 2010 in order to be able to keep posting at a regular pace. A whole load of work is ahead in a business project I’m part of, it should take most of my time this year. I’ll try to stick to more organization and see how it goes

Let’s get back to this salmon now. It’s been part of the appetizers I made  for New Year’s eve dinner and I must say we all enjoyed it. At first, I was planning on using salted soy sauce and pretty disappointed when I found out I didn’t have any. Well, now I can say I’ll do it again with sweet one. It tastes amazing with ginger!  I kept lime as a last ingredient to give this tartare a fresh taste. If you want to experiment you can also add the grated zest before marinating but don’t forget lime juice has to be added last if you don’t want your tartare to turn out being a ceviche!

This ginger and lime salmon tartare recipe is meant to be served in appetizer spoons or small verrines (glass cups) but if you wish to have it as a unique starter, count about 4.5 oz per serving and adapt the ingredients’ quantity accordingly.

Preparation time: 10 minutes – Marinating time: at least 30 minutes

Ingredients (for 6 servings as an appetizer)

15 oz (425 g) of salmon fillets (skinless, boneless)
2 spring onions
1-inch square of fresh ginger root (= 1 tablespoon grated)
1 non-treated lime
6 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce

Instructions

1/ Clean and chop spring onions.

2/ Peel and grate ginger.

3/ Rinse and dry salmon fillets. Cut them into small dices (around 1/2-inch square).

4/ Combine salmon, spring onions, ginger and sweet soy sauce. Cover and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

5/ Serve in Chinese soup spoons, small individual ramekins or glass cups leaving marinade in the plate.

6/ Rinse lime and grate zest over individual portions.

7/ Squeeze lime, add on top and serve tartare right away.

I’m sure you all know Gazpacho, but have you ever tried Salmorejo? It’s from Spanish Andalusia as well, you eat it cold too but it has a thicker texture which makes it a cream rather than a liquid soup. You can eat it as a starter or as an appetizer. In Spain, people usually dip it with bread but it’s also pretty good with crude veggies (pepper, cucumber, Portobello mushrooms, zucchini etc.). Vegetarians can skip this part, the others will top it with a hard boiled egg and some cured ham.

Preparation time: 10 mn

Ingredients (for 6 servings)

Salmorejo

2.2 lbs (1 kg) ripe tomatoes
7 oz (200 g) of bread from the previous day
1 cup (250 ml) of olive oil (click here to buy online)
1 garlic clove
2 tablespoons of vinegar
Salt

Topping

1 egg
3 slices of cured ham

Instructions

1/ Heat tomatoes in a pan filled with water until their skin gets easy to take away. Let them cool down a little off the water.

2/ Cut bread into pieces.

3/ Peel tomatoes and garlic clove.

4/ Mix bread, tomatoes, garlic, vinegar and olive oil in a blender.

5/ Season with salt and keep in the fridge.

6/ Before serving, get water to a boil in a small pan. Add egg thoroughly with a tablespoon and leave in boiling water for 9 minutes.

7/ Rinse egg with cold water, let it cool a little and shell.

8/ Dice cured ham and egg.

9/ Serve salmorejo in individual dishes or in a salad bowl for dipping and sharing. Top with egg, ham and a dash of olive oil.

Enjoy

My twitter followers might have been aware my Internet connection has been down for the last month and a half… Well, I’m back! And since we’ve been spending vacation in Andalusia with my Spanish family-in-law, I came back with a bunch of Spanish recipes in stock

Let’s start with this very easy to make garlic and parsley calamari recipe. If you have a great olive oil at home, use it. The better your olive oil tastes, the better this baby squid recipe will come out…

Preparation time: 5 mn – Cooking time: 15 mn

Ingredients (for 2 servings)

1.1 lbs (500 g) of baby squid (fresh or frozen)
3 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons of olive oil (click here to buy online)
3 tablespoons of parsley
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/ Clean baby squid or defrost them if you’re using frozen ones.

2/ Peel garlic cloves. Clean and chop parsley.

3/ Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Pour olive oil and add garlic.

4/ Move garlic around the pan so the oil gets garlic flavor.

5/ Pour baby squid into the pan.

6/ After 10 minutes, add parsley, salt and pepper to the calamari and cook them for 5 more minutes or until they’re firm.

7/ When they’re done, serve baby squid leaving the garlic cloves and all the oil you can in the pan.

You can serve these garlic and parsley baby squid alone, as a starter or with wild rice as a main dish.

Here is a perfect summer salad recipe: very fresh and tasty. Mangoes and shrimps combination is close to perfection . I didn’t discover it long ago but I know I’ll be trying lots of dishes with these two…

Preparation time: 10 mn

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

14 oz (400 g) of cooked shrimps
7 oz (200 g) of Portobello mushrooms
1 mango
1 lettuce
1 red onion
1 lime
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/ Peel and chop onions. Squeeze 1/2 lime in a glass and pour onions slices into juice. Leave it so it marinates.

2/ Peel shrimps.

3/ Peel and chop mushrooms. (Peel mushrooms by taking off the white ’skin’ they have on top and cutting their bottom end. If you wash them they’ll get soaked in water)

4/ Peel and dice mango.

5/ Wash and dry lettuce thouroughly. Cut big leaves and pour into a big salad bowl.

6/ Add shrimps, mushrooms, mango dices, marinated onion with its lime juice, salt and pepper.

7/ Add juice from the remaining half of the lime along with olive oil.

8/ Mix well, try it and adjust seasoning according to your own taste.