The fishing hasn’t improved.  He’s still catching mostly Australian salmon.  Luckily, the recommendations are  to eat oily fish at least a couple of times a week, and Australian salmon are one of the best oily fish.  And they’re one of the few on the list that are sustainable – gemfish are a threatened species, blue-eye trevalla are often long-line fished, Atlantic salmon are all farmed, and canned tuna is overfished, threatened, and fished in wasteful and destructive ways.

Australian salmon may not be a prized eating fish, but you can make a dinner from them that people will go back for seconds.  Which is just as well, because they’re a big fish – you get a lot of meals from one. The tricks are: they must be very very fresh, filleted to remove the dark  “blood” meat, the skin and the fat just under the skin, and used in recipe that includes some acid (tomato, lemon) and involves flaking them.

The Recipe:

With a mortar and pestle, mash together to a paste:

• 1 dessertspoon of chopped fresh ginger
• 1 small dessertspoon of chopped fresh turmeric (or a teaspoon of powder)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Fresh or dried chili depending on your chili and your taste, but not too much. I use ½ teaspoon of dried chili
• 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
• 1 stalk of lemon grass

In a little olive oil in a large pot, saute a chopped onion till translucent.

Add the spice paste, and continue cooking for a minute, then add

• 700 grams of fish fillets chopped into bite sized pieces (white meat only, skin removed)
• 700 grams of vegetables (broccoli, snow peas, cauliflower)
• 1 jar of tomatoes
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• scant teaspoon salt
• a cup of water

Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes or so until the vegetables are tender and the fish is flaked.

Take the pot off the heat and stir in 5 good dessertspoons of plain low fat yoghurt. If you bring it back to the boil at this point, the yoghurt will curdle.  It will still taste good but it won’t look as creamy.

Serve with rice and chopped fresh coriander to sprinkle on top.

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The fishing hasn’t been good lately.  He comes home with either nothing, or bream (which are one of my lesser favoured fish) or salmon.   Australian salmon are not a salmon at all, but a sea perch.  They’re listed as sustainable and that’s at least partly because  they are notoriously not a prized table fish.  They are a good source of omega 3 though, and they can be turned into a good fish dinner with a bit of care.

Salmon are strong flavoured, in the same way that many of the oily fish that are really good for you are – think mackeral, herring, sardines. The flavour gets stronger, fast, after they are caught, so they really need to be very fresh.  The dark  “blood” meat and the fat just under the skin is the strongest, so they should be filleted to remove it. They go best with some acid like lemon or tomato and strong balancing flavours.  And the texture is chewy, so they work best in something where they’re chopped, flaked or smoked.

But after all that, they do make very good  curries, casseroles, stews, soups and patties, maybe even better for being stronger flavoured. This is one of my favourite ways to use them.

The Recipe:

Makes about 14 fish cakes.

In a pressure cooker or a large pot with a close fitting lid, poach

• 600 grams of fish fillets (white meat only, without skin)
• juice and rind of ½ lemon
• 3 bay leaves

In a pressure cooker, you will need just a dash of water and 5 minutes.  In a pot you will need a bit more water and a bit longer.

Cool the fish until you can handle it, then discard the bay leaves and use your fingers to flake it into a bowl, feeling for bones as you go.

Meanwhile, cook 300 grams of diced potato (2 medium spuds) till soft.

Use your hands to squish together:

• the flaked fish
• the cooked potato
• ½ cup (packed) of finely chopped parsley and dill (I like it to be two-thirds parsley, but if you like dill, you might go the other way)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• juice and rind of the other ½ lemon
• salt and pepper

Shape into patties and shallow fry in olive oil till golden.

They’re good with salad or vegetables for dinner, and surprisingly good cold for lunch.

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Mullet are undervalued.  My partner remembers seeing them buried on the beach by the thousands, bycatch regarded as too cheap to bother selling.  Though those days are over they’re still regarded as sustainable, and really fresh mullet are one of my favourite eating fish.  Fresh fillets are not too strong flavoured, and they’re super cheap and a really good source of Omega 3.

The Recipe:

For 4 large mullet fillets:

In a food processor or blender, blend together to a fine crumb:

• ½ cup parsley
• ½ cup rolled oats
• a good teaspoon lemon zest

Tip the mixture out onto a plate.

On another plate, put two good dessertspoons of plain low fat yoghurt.

Dip the mullet fillets first in the yoghurt to coat, then in the crumb mix.  Pat it on.

Shallow fry the fillets in olive oil for a few minutes each side until golden.

Serve with a wedge of lemon.

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Australian Conservation Society conducted a sustainable seafood assessment project over the 2009-10 summer.  One of the five studies was the assessment of squid from the Hawkesbury River. My local river is the Richmond, not too much further north and fished in the same way, so I was really happy to see that squid was listed as sustainable.

In fact most sources list squid as sustainable – they breed fast, die young, and may even be over-filling their niche, sadly because their predators are being fished to extinction.  They’re a good source of omega 3, better even than canned tuna and a lot more sustainable.

The Recipe:

This recipe used 8 medium-smallish whole squid – 500 grams all up with their heads and tentacles on. This amount fed four of us for a dinner party, with a couple of side salads. It would also make a fine entreè for eight.  Beware of using squid that are too small as they are hard to stuff without tearing.

First you need to clean and process the squid.  This is easier than it sounds in instructions!

You will find that if you pull the tentacles firmly, the head and tentacles will separate from the tube.

To process the head bit, cut below the eyes and discard the head and the guts.  Push the beak out from between the tentacles and discard it.  Put the tentacles aside for mincing.

To process the tube bit, being careful not to make holes in it, feel for and remove the quill (the see-through plastic-like feather inside the tube). Wash inside well to remove any remaining gut.

Stuffing:

Mince the tentacles in a food processor or by chopping finely.

Mix with

• one-third of a cup uncooked rice
• one onion finely diced
• lots of garlic
• a chili, finely diced
• ¼ cup chopped fresh herbs – I used oregano and lemon thyme
• salt and pepper
• a finger lime squeezed out, or a tablespoon of lemon or lime juice

Fill the tubes with the stuffing.  Don’t overfill (the rice will expand in cooking), and close the tops with a skewer.

Sauce:

Saute a finely diced onion in a little olive oil.

Ad lots of finely chopped garlic, then:

• a jar of tomato passata
• 1 cup of water
• a good swig of white wine if you have it
• juice of ½ a lemon

Cook the sauce down for a few minutes to soften the tomatoes.

Put a little olive oil in the bottom of a heavy pot with a  lid and arrange the filled tubes in it.  Pour over the sauce.  Bake, covered for 1 ½ hrs, or simmer over a very low heat on the stovetop, watching at the end that it doesn’t boil dry. Add a little more water, or take the lid off to allow it to reduce, so that the sauce is nice and thick.

Slice the squid into decorative slices and serve on a bed of the sauce.

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