Check out the new Marine Fishers Association SEAsonality website for fresh, new seafood inspiration and some fab recipes!
I’m told that the warmer weather is approaching (although at the time of writing this, this food blogger is finding that a little hard to believe) meaning lots of us will want to move away from the heavy comfort dishes of winter and look to lightening up our diet – often seafood is a favourite way to do this. And while returning to the pleasures of enjoying the seasonal variations of fresh fruit and vegetables is now popular, I wonder just how many of us realise that seafood is seasonal too?
Australia produces some of the very best and cleanest seafood on the planet and while there are over 60 scalefish species harvested commercially across South Australia, when it comes to cooking or eating seafood we all seem to stick with a small, familiar handful of these species – ignoring some pretty splendid eating in the process. With their new SEAsonality website up and running, South Australia’s Marine Fishers Association hopes to encourage us to change those habits.
Representing the interests of more than 300 South Australian family fishing business, the Marine Fishers Assoc. Inc was founded in 2007. It provides advice on fishing and fisheries and implements recommendations to SARDI (the South Australian Research and Development Institute). With this new website, it hopes to encourage and inspire a broader range of local seafood consumption – in the process, easing pressure on the top half dozen or so species that we seem so fond of.
The SEAsonality website has pages on the seasonality of different, sustainable, seafood species, the regions in which they are caught, an easy-to-use calendar for working out what to eat and when plus a selection of recipes supplied by local restaurateurs and chefs who are committed to making the most of our local, seasonal produce. These alternative (or secondary) fish species are every bit as tasty as their more familiar counterparts and frequently more economical.
So next time you feel like a feed of whiting, why not try Yellow-fin Whiting instead of King George? If you are hankering after some European rollmops try making a local version using Australian Herrings (delicious and formerly known to many of us as Tommy Ruffs) and for a dead simple, but truly impressive dish to serve to dinner guests you really can’t go past Snook Ceviche.
Snook Cevice from The Locavore’s Frederick Monaghan – SEAsonality
Snook is a great source of Omega 3 oils, is a fast-growing and prevalent species and in season right now. This recipe using this sustainable fish species is from Frederick Monaghan of popular Adelaide Hills restaurant The Locavore and answers all my requirements for perfect food – it is fast, fresh and utterly fabulous. Do give it a try!
Snook Cevice
Ingredients
- 500 g fresh Snook skinned and diced into ½ inch pieces
- ½ cup lime juice
- 1 small red onion fine dice
- 3 tomatoes skin and dice
- 2 cloves garlic diced
- ½ red pepper fine dice
- ½ chilli fine dice more if you like it hotter
- ½ bunch coriander chopped
- ½ bunch flat parsley chopped
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Mix diced Snook and lime juice together, cover in fridge and stand for 2 hours.
- Drain off ½ of the liquid add rest of ingredients ,season with salt and pepper and stand for 5-10 min. Serve in individual dishes on a fresh tossed salad.
What a great initiative. It’s a bit like Ocean Wise in Vancouver which I’ve always thought was brilliant.
Great resource Amanda! I worked in a fish market for a year and people just weren’t game to try something new, I hope this idea can change that xo
This is a really good initiative and I do agree that we have some of the best and cleanest seafood in the world. I have never heard of snook! xx
I lurve seafood! Haven’t heard of this fish, thanks for educating me 😉
I don’t even know if I’ve seen snook for sale in Sydney but I bet that now I will see it everywhere. Supporting sustainable fish is such an importance issue and I do think that education is the key to changing public purchase habits.
I love the concept of eating seasonally and locally and you are lucky to get so many varieties of seafood. It is one of the things that I love about living at the coast 🙂
How did I miss this post?! What a fabulous initiative. I wish other states would do similar.