Celebrate Earth Day with Sustainable Seafood

New Yorkers love to eat out, but dining-in this Earth Day is a delicious way to help protect the environment. Cooking and eating at home can be is gentler on your wallet, your waistline, and our oceans. And now, there is a way to recreate dishes from some of the world’s top restaurants.

The conservation of our oceans is a top priority for renowned chefs Mario Batali and Dan Barber, who use sustainable seafood in their recipes for Mackerel in Scapece with Lemon Thyme and Sweet Peppers and Escabeche of Spanish Mackerel. This April 22, celebrate Earth Day by trying these user-friendly plates. Your stomach, and your planet, will thank you.   

“For the past 50 years, we’ve been fishing the seas like we’ve been clear-cutting the forests,” Barber says. “We desperately need a new approach of conservation and stewardship. Hopefully we’re showing the relationship between sustainability, pleasure, and good food.” 

For centuries, the oceans' bounty seemed inexhaustible.

Cooking with sustainable seafood is more important now that ever, as scientists have a clear idea about how human behavior has affected the wide world under the sea. Degraded fish habitats and over-fished waters have both led to a decline in the population of many of the sea’s creatures.

This means that, as a planet, we need to start thinking hard about what kind of fish we put on our tables. Without eating seafood that is sustainable, we are in danger of changing the ocean’s ecosystem forever. 

“The disregard of any ecosystem is the ultimate narcissism and the eventual downfall of our species unless we get together and really think about the ultimate connectedness of every single living thing on our planet,” Batali says.

Recipes for a healthy, delicious planet

Mackerel in Scapece with Lemon Thyme and Sweet Peppers
Mario Batali, The Babbo Cookbook (Clarkson Potter 2002)

1 pound mackerel fillet, cut diagonally into 2-inch diamonds
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons lemon thyme leaves
1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes
10 to 15 saffron threads, crushed in a mortar and pestle
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 red bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch dice
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Serves 4
Season the fish with salt and pepper.
In a wide, deep sauté pan, combine the vinegar, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, the lemon juice, lemon thyme, red pepper flakes, saffron, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Add the fish chunks, adding a bit of water if needed to cover the fish, and simmer until the fish is just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the fish to cool in the liquid.
In a 12- to 14-inch sauté pan, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the bell peppers, reduce the heat to low, and cook slowly to wilt the peppers. Once the peppers have begun to soften, sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of sugar, the mustard seeds, and garlic. Cook until the garlic is softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Remove the mackerel pieces from the scapece and arrange in stacks on four chilled plates. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the saffron liquid over each serving and then sprinkle with the red pepper mixture. Serve immediately.

Escabeche of Spanish Mackerel
Dan Barber, Executive Chef/Co-owner Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns

For the poaching liquid:
5 ounces white wine vinegar
1.75 ounces champagne vinegar
5 ounces salt
1.75 ounces sugar
3.5 ounces white wine
4 cups water
1 tablespoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 sprigs thyme

For the mackerel:
One 2-3 lb. Spanish Mackerel, boned, filleted and portioned into 1-inch cubes
Espelette pepper
1 cup microgreens, cleaned and dried
Cauliflower puree (recipe below)

• Combine the ingredients for the poaching liquid in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
   
• Meanwhile, place the cubes of mackerel in a large, non-reactive bowl.
   
• Just before the poaching liquid comes to a boil, begin plating: Using a tablespoon, plate five small dollops of warm cauliflower puree on each plate.
   
• Once the poaching liquid reaches a boil, remove from the stove and pour it over the fish. The fish will cook quickly (approximately 5 to 7 seconds), turning opaque. Once the fish is cooked (test for doneness), quickly but gently drain the liquid. Sprinkle the fish with espelette pepper to taste.
   
• Finish plating the dish: Place one medallion of fish alongside each dollop of cauliflower puree. Garnish with microgreens.

Cauliflower Puree
1 head of cauliflower, cleaned, trimmed and cut into florettes (about 4 cups)
1 ½ cups water
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper

• Preheat oven to 250ºF.
   
• Place cauliflower florettes in a small pot with water and milk. Bring to a simmer and season well with salt and pepper. Cook until florettes are very tender, about 10 minutes. Strain and reserve about 1 cup of cooking liquid.
   
• Spread cooked florettes on a baking sheet and dry in oven for 10 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a blender and puree until smooth, adding cooking liquid as necessary. Add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.

For more information about things you can do on Earth Day, or about sustainable seafood, visit www.nature.org.