Eco-Friendly Recipes Show Link Between Farms, Oceans

For tastier shrimp, Rick Moonen suggests poaching as close as possible to serving time.

We’re making our diet more eco-friendly by buying local and organic vegetables and sustainable seafood whenever possible. So we’re eager to try the light and environmentally sound recipes from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program and Earthbound Farm, the largest grower of organic produce and specialty salads. The Seafood Watch program provides information about bycatch (fish and animals caught and discarded, often dead), habitat damage and overfishing, as well as a seafood guide and an iPhone application, similar to the Environmental Defense Fund’s Seafood Calculator we mentioned recently.

Myra Goodman, Earthbound co-founder and author of Food to Live By: The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook (Workman Publishing Co., 2006) provides several entree salads from her upcoming cookbook, slated for release in 2010. The recipes aim to create awareness about the link between organic farming and healthy oceans. “It’s not just about our plot of land and how we steward that soil to produce the healthiest possible organic crops, but also about the downstream impact of our farming practices,” Goodman says.

Rick Moonen, a frequent celebrity chef at the aquarium’s annual Cooking for Solutions event and author of Fish Without a Doubt (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008), provides several recipes that feature sustainably caught fish or seafood not endangered by overfishing. Following is a recipe from Moonen that uses a poaching method he promises produces crisp and flavorful shrimp.

Classic Court Bouillon for Poaching

1 large onion, cut into very thin slices
1 rib celery, cut into very thin slices
Herb bouquet (a bay leaf, a few sprigs of thyme, and some parsley stems, tied together with kitchen string)
5 cups water
¾ cup white vinegar
¼ cup coarse salt
1 teaspoon white peppercorns
6 sprigs tarragon (or another soft herb)

Combine the onion, celery, herb bouquet, water, vinegar, salt and peppercorns in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook at an active simmer for 15 minutes. Add the tarragon and simmer for another 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the court bouillon infuse for 30 minutes. Then it’s ready to use. Makes about 6 cups.

Poached Shrimp

Classic Court Bouillon (see above)
1 pound extra-large (about 16–20) shrimp in the shell

Have a bowl of ice water ready for the shrimp. Bring the court bouillon to a full boil. Add the shrimp, stir, and bring back to a boil. Turn off the heat and let the shrimp steep for 8–10 minutes, until just cooked through. Pull one of the shrimp out at 8 minutes to check. Pour pan contents into a strainer and run some cold water over it to cool shrimp enough for you to handle. Place shrimp in the ice water and toss the vegetables and herbs into the trash (or compost). Let the shrimp chill thoroughly for about 5 minutes. Peel and devein before serving.

Serves 4

NUTRITION SCORE (per serving)

85 calories
10% fat
Fat 1 g
Carbs 0 g
Protein 18 g
Fiber 0 g
Calcium 34 mg
Iron 2.7 mg
Sodium 193 mg

Photo credit: DreamBigPhotos

Tags: Bycatch, Caridea, Court-bouillon, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Issues, Fishing, Fishing industry, food, Food and drink, Hospitality/Recreation, iPhone, Seafood, Shrimp, Sustainable food system, Sustainable seafood, Symbiosis