Warming Winter Recipes for Snow Days

It’s been a cold start to the year for friends and colleagues in the Pacific Northwest, where massive amounts of snow, sleet and rain brought much of Washington state to a standstill. We hope everyone’s family and friends managed to stay out of harm’s way.

Below is a recipe for Classic Albacore Chowder, adapted from Michael Kornick, Fish Bar, it's guaranteed to warm you up! We use good quality US canned albacore instead of fresh as most people will have a can or two in their pantry. Feel free to use either canned, fresh or frozen vegetables. Whatever you have on hand.

Classic Seafood Chowder with Albacore (Serves 8-10)

Adapted from Michael Kornick, Fish Bar, Chicago

1 pound new or Yukon gold potatoes, peeled

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour

2-3 cans of Wild Pacific Albacore

4 ounces salt pork or unsmoked bacon, sliced into 3 long, 1-inch-thick strips

3 ribs celery, chopped (about 1 cup)

1 medium Spanish onion, chopped (about 2 cups)

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

11⁄2 quarts heavy cream

1/2 cup good quality fish stock

1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon dry thyme leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cayenne pepper, oyster crackers, for serving

In a large stockpot full of boiling, salted water cook potatoes until tender, about 13 minutes. Drain and let cool slightly, then dice and set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking frequently, until thickened, about 4 minutes. Set the roux aside.

In the large stockpot, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add the salt pork and cook until brown and crispy. Add celery, onion and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat cream in a saucepan over medium heat until just below a boil.

Add the parsley, thyme and stock to the onion mixture and bring to a boil. Gradually whisk the roux into the broth mixture. Once all the roux is added, stir in the hot cream. Bring the chowder to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add albacore at the last minute, remove the salt pork, season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne. Stir in the reserved potatoes and serve hot with oyster crackers.

For more winter recipes using sustainable, Northwest albacore tuna visit http://www.pacificalbacore.com/recipes.php.

For daily updates and news follow us on Twitter (@PacificAlbacore) or join our Facebook page.

Happy Holidays!

It's a busy time of year but we want to take the opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a relaxing, fun-filled and safe festive season. We're straying from tradition a little this yea, using the last of our albacore to make this delicious recipe from Martha Rose Shulman, the author of “The Very Best of Recipes for Health.”

She uses albacore instead of sea bass in this dish from Italy. If you can't bring yourself to give up the ham or turkey, try out the recipe in the new year as part of your resolution to eat better (and more fish) in 2012!

Albacore Steaks With Simmered Fennel

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 leek, white and light green parts only, cut in half lengthwise, cleaned, and thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 pounds fennel, trimmed, quartered, cored and cut across the grain into thin slices

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 pounds albacore tuna steaks

1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the leek and cook, stirring, until leeks are limp, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until the mixture is fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Add the fennel and a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, until it begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low, cover and cook slowly for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the lemon juice, taste and adjust seasonings. The mixture should be very soft.

2. Meanwhile, season the albacore steaks with salt and pepper and heat the remaining olive oil in another pan over medium-high heat. Sear the albacore steaks for 30 seconds on each side. Place on top of the fennel. Cover the pan, turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes, until the fish is cooked through.

3. Sprinkle on the parsley and serve, laying the fish on top of the fennel, with lemon wedges on the side.

Yield: 4 servings.

Advance preparation: You can cook the fennel up to 2 days ahead and refrigerate. Bring back to a simmer in the skillet, add the albacore fillets and proceed with the recipe.

Nutritional information per serving: 439 calories; 4 grams saturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 65 milligrams cholesterol; 20 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 210 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 46 grams protein

be back in the new year, with more interesting events, delicious recipes and other Wild Pacific Albacore news!

Enjoy Late Season Albacore Later - or Now

The albacore season is coming to an end with catches off Oregon and Washington continuing 6-weeks longer than in the previous two seasons in the Northwest. Look out for late-season albacore at your local market to freeze, preserve, smoke or can for the winter.

A great smoking recipe here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/63629215/Cooking-With-Albacore-Smoked-Albacore

Or check out this excellent story on home canning from MIX magazine http://www.oregonlive.com/mix/index.ssf/how-to/a-do-it-yourself-tuna-canning-party-at-the-coast.html

Or you could just eat it now.

The following is an excerpt from a recent article in New York Magazine.

After a peak summer season spent feasting on herring, sardines, and the occasional squid, local albacore tuna are at their fattiest best. The pale-pink flesh is the palest in color and mildest in flavor of all tuna varieties, but takes well to a sensational Japanese blackened-tuna-sandwich treatment that chef Andrew Carmellini gives the tuna at The Dutch restaurant in NYC.

For their interesting sandwich recipe follow the link below.

http://nymag.com/restaurants/recipes/inseason/albacore-tuna-2011-10/

Seafood Health Facts: Making Smart Choices is Launched

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED TO CLARIFY HEALTH BENEFITS AND RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH SEAFOOD CONSUMPTION

A new website aimed at helping consumers weigh the benefits against possible risks of eating seafood has just been launched, and organizers hope the site will help clear up many of the myths surrounding seafood.

The site, seafoodhealthfacts.org, developed largely through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was created to serve as a credible resource to health care professionals and consumers, said Dr. Michael Morrissey, Director of Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center, and primary investigator for the project.

The initiative, Seafood Health Facts: Making Smart Choices, included researchers from Oregon State University, Cornell University, and the Universities of Delaware, Rhode Island, Florida, and California, along with the non‐profit Community Seafood Initiative. The end result is a user‐friendly, comprehensive website and downloadable brochures aimed at health care professionals and consumers.

“We finally have a straightforward and comprehensive guide for health care professionals and consumers alike to educate themselves on the importance and the risks of consuming seafood,” said Dr. Morrissey. “Our program has synthesized all the available information from government agencies and leading universities and we’ve made it accessible, not just to health care providers but also to the general public. Consumers should feel confident about their seafood choices—and Seafood Health Facts answers their questions in a credible and balanced way.”

Heather Mann, Director of the Community Seafood Initiative, added: “Today’s consumers are bombarded with conflicting information about the benefits and risks of consuming seafood. From health magazines to mainstream media, the message about seafood is confusing at best and even conflicting at worst. Can I eat seafood while I’m pregnant? What’s the mercury risk? Should I get my Omega 3’s from supplements versus eating seafood? To complicate matters more, advice from physicians and even from our own various government agencies is often at odds. Throw in advocacy group agendas and a potential seafood consumer is more likely to choose chicken.”

The information on the site is organized by topic and includes resources for seafood nutrition and the benefits of seafood consumption, seafood safety and the risks associated with certain types of seafood, a comparison of the risks and benefits of seafood consumption, and the seafood supply in the United States. It is also organized to provide resources aimed at specific population groups, Mann said.

For more information about the Seafood Health Facts project please contact Heather Mann, Director, Community Seafood Initiative at hmann@seafoodschool.org

To download a PDF of the Seafood Health Facts click on the link below.

file:///var/folders/EH/EHl8phV6EFWTYAzMcgGRRU+++TI/-Tmp-/com.apple.mail.drag-T0x10051ffc0.tmp.oAIM1E/final-seafood-health-flat-brochure.pdf

Great ideas for lunch boxes - yours and theirs

With kids settling in to a new school year, we thought we’d list a couple of our favorite lunch box-approved recipes. All the recipes below are healthy, delicious, and can be fully or partially prepared the night before. We also think they’re pretty good lunch options for big kids, too!

Albacore Pasta Salad: We like this one from British chef, Nigella Lawson. It sneaks in a serve or two of veggies.

Albacore Lettuce Cups: Make your favorite tuna salad recipe and put in a container, you can add other sliced vegetables or cheese. Separately, wrap 4 large lettuce leaves (iceburg or cos lettuce work well). At lunchtime kids can make their own tuna wraps. Don't forget a fork and napkin.

Albacore and Artichoke Sandwich: A twist on a classic. http://www.scribd.com/doc/60331934/Cooking-With-Albacore-Albacore

Pan Bagnat (French Tuna Sandwich): http://www.scribd.com/doc/59546975/Cooking-With-Albacore-Pan-Bagnat

Albacore Patties: Usually served hot, these healthy patties are delicious cold, as lunch the next day. http://www.scribd.com/doc/56966421/Cooking-With-Albacore-Albacore-Patties

Please feel free to share your favorite lunch box recipes with us, email info@pacificalbacore.com.

Smoking Albacore at Home

This week one of our favorite writers, Kathleen Bauer, posted photos of smoked, Northwest albacore on her blog, Good Stuff NW, check out the full post and her recipe for this tasty treat.

Check out the full post here.

Photo courtesy Kathleen Bauer of GoodStuffNW.com

Smoked Albacore Loin

Adapted by Good Stuff NW from a Jan. '08 forum post on Sportfishermen.com by Andaman Andy

For the brine:

1 gal. water, room temperature

2 c. salt

1 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. white pepper

2 albacore loins (3-4 lbs.)

For the brine, mix all ingredients, except albacore, until everything is dissolved. You may need to make more to cover all the fish.

Cut the loins into 4" chunks for ease of submerging and later handling. Put the fish into a container large enough to allow the fish to be completely submerged but not piled on top of each other.

Pour the mixture over the fish so it's completely submerged. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.

After brining rinse the fish quickly under cold water. Pat dry and place the fish on a lightly oiled wire rack elevated on a tray. This is intended to allow a thin glaze ("pellicle") to develop; it's supposed to be a little sticky, and it helps the fish maintain moisture and allow smoke to adhere to the fish.

Put the fish onto the cleaned and well-oiled grate of a smoker at 180-200 degrees. The fish is done when you can flake it easily with a fork and the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees. About 1 1/2-2 hours. Enjoy!

Whole Foods Promotes Local Albacore at Oregon, Washington and BC Stores

Whole Foods Market is expanding its promotion and distribution of local albacore tuna this summer by partnering with the Western Fishboat Owners Assn. (WFOA) for the fourth consecutive year to promote Marine Stewardship Council-certified (MSC), troll-caught albacore caught off the West coast of the United States.

On Saturdays from August 13 through September 10, there will be whole albacore “truck sales” with a team of expert cutters on hand to fillet and wrap customers’ albacore at select Portland-area, Seattle-area and BC stores. Whole albacore will sell for $3.99-$4.99 per pound. There will also be price promotions, tastings, fishermen visits, and cooking demonstrations highlighting the taste and health benefits of this seasonal tuna. The activities are part of Whole Foods Market’s efforts to support and promote local, sustainable seafood.

“Whole Foods Market is a huge supporter of West coast albacore and albacore fishermen, they’re always looking for ways to increase interest in local seafood,” says Wayne Heikkila, executive director of the WFOA, which represents about 400 albacore fishing vessels and local supporting businesses on the West coast. “These events are a great way to get people to try and buy local albacore and to teach them about the health, economic and environmental benefits of buying local.”

Albacore that is troll-caught by WFOA members received the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) seal of sustainability in March 2010. The group is working to increase albacore sales at MSC-certified retailers, including Whole Foods, to maximize the benefit of obtaining the certification. Whole Foods was one of the first American companies to support and participate in the Marine Stewardship Council chain of custody program.

Wild Pacific Albacore is available at all Northwest and British Columbia Whole Foods Markets from August through October.

Wild Pacific Albacore is available at all Northwest and British Columbia Whole Foods Markets from August through October. For Oregon “truck sale” dates visit http://www.scribd.com/doc/61852568/Wfoa-Wf-Pac-Event-Listing-or-Aug for Washington dates visit http://www.scribd.com/doc/61852567/Wfoa-Wf-Pac-Event-Listing-Wa-Aug.

Events are free. Whole albacore will sell for $3.99-$4.99 per pound. For additional product information and recipes visit http://www.pacificalbacore.com and http:// www.wholefoodsmarket.com/