Travel: Seafood of the Sicilian seas

The view whilst eating dinner in Sant'Ambrogio, Sicily, Italy

Travelling to picturesque islands in the Mediterranean sea for some may simply mean absorbing the sun, sea and local atmosphere. However, my favourite of the holiday rituals is sampling the local cuisine. Sicily has many local products on offer from gelato, Aperol spritzes and limoncello to pasta and a delightful array of seafood.

In a little village on the hilltops of Northern Sicily, we were welcomed to the restaurant in Sant'Ambrogio by the most beautiful, breathtaking view overlooking the sea (see photo above). It was obvious from that point on that as we were right on the coast, the fish and seafood available were bound to be fresh and delicious. 

Mussel spaghetti

 We went for three different seafood dishes; mussel spaghetti, 'la regina del mare' (meaning 'queen of the sea') with potatoes, and capone (gurnard) with potatoes. The Italians really do do seafood pasta well! The huge bowl of mussels with a splattering of spaghetti were incredibly flavoursome as well as being a seafood with a high level of sustainability. This is definitely a dish I will attempt to recreate at home. 

"Queen of the Sea" with potatoes

Capone (gurnard) with potatoes

 We could also all recreate both of the whole fish dishes, gurnard is widely available in the UK and is a fish with a high sustainability rating. 'Queen of the Sea' is in fact a fish called amber jack, which so far does not have a rating on the MCS good fish guide. Both of the fish tasted delicious and are definitely worth a try. Eating of any of these three seafood species would mean branching away from the 5 most eaten seafoods in the UK (cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns) and could help alleviate the pressure on these species' fish stocks.

Activity: Rock-Pooling

The truth is that people only want to conserve and protect the things they love. A great way to get people to love the ocean is getting them to interact with it, and going rock-pooling is an easy way to get close to nature.

I went down to Cuckmere Haven this week to check out what it has to offer. One of the most exciting things with nature is that you never know what you are going to find, some days you will see hundreds of animals and the next day virtually nothing. Our day was one of the latter! But, it was still a fun day out and great just being by the sea!

Cuckmere Haven, situated in the Seven Sisters Country park, a great place for a summers walk

Some limpets stuck to one of the rocks

Although live crabs eluded us we saw plenty of evidence of them

An image of a typical rock pool

A Sea Anemone, we saw loads of these in all the rock pools!

We managed to catch a tiny shrimp. make sure you bring a net with you so you can catch these little critters! (obviously return them safely to the water afterwards)

 So, although we didn't see a lot we had a great day out. Such a good activity to do while there is still a bit of the summer left!! Top tip: Check the tide times before going, you want it to be low tide so there are lots of rock pools to visit.

Other things you could expect to see include crabs, Starfish and little juvenile fish.

 Comment and add pictures below if you go rock-pooling and find anything interesting! If you don't know what it is we will try our best to tell you the species and a bit about its life.

Recipe: Mackerel Ceviche

Ceviche is a classic central and south american dish usually comprising of white fish cooked by the acidity of citrus fruit. It is delightfully fresh and clean and is one of my favourite ways to eat fish. Here I am using mackerel, which is a bit out of the ordinary, but I think the deliciously oily component of this fish adds to the taste of the ceviche.

Mackerel is an excellent source of omega-3 and reasonably inexpensive compared to other fish. It is rated between 2 and 4 on the MCS good fish guide, with fish caught in the UK or EU being classed as good to eat and only that from the Faroe Islands and Iceland as unsustainable. So check where your mackerel is from before buying.

Ingredients (serves 2-3): 

2 Mackerel fillets (preferably de-boned and de-skinned)
4 Limes
1 Chilli (depending on how hot you like it)
1/2 a Cucumber
A small piece of Ginger
A handful of Mint
A handful of Coriander

Methods:

1) Chop the mackerel into roughly 5cm chunks and put in a bowl with the juice from the limes and finely chopped deseeded cucumber
2) leave that mixture for the fish to cook (it should turn opaque in roughly 5 minutes)
3) chop the chilli and herbs and grate the ginger and add to the fish mixture
4) Its ready to eat! We served ours with corn chips.

adapted from recipe: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/10302221/Ceviche-of-line-caught-Cornish-mackerel-recipe.html

Recipe: Sustainable Crab Cakes

These have to be the most delicious crab cakes I have eaten! Crab is rated 2-3 on the MCS good fish guide, so from 'good to eat' to 'eat occasionally', depending on where and how it is fished. When buying yours just check it is responsibly sourced. Crab meat is also a great addition to any diet. It is low in saturated fat and really high in vitamin B12 which helps your body produce healthy red blood cells and supports normal brain function.

Time: 15 minutes preparation, 2 hours chilling, 5/6 minutes frying

Ingredients (serves 2):

- 200g of Crab meat (half white and half brown)
- 200g of potato (peeled and chopped)
- 3 spring onions
- 1/4 of a red chilli (more if you like it hot)
- 1 lemon
- A few sprigs of flat leaf parsley
- Salt and pepper to season

Our beautiful fresh ingredients

Methods: 

1) Boil the potato till soft, drain the water and mash with the crab meat and season
2) Zest the lemon and chop the chilli, parsley and spring onion very finely (could use a food processor to get it extra smooth)
3) Mash the chilli mixture into the crab mix
4) Separate the mix into 4/5 portions and shape into 'cakes'
5) Chill the cakes for around 2 hours for the mixture to firm up (this stops them falling apart in the pan)
6) Fry in olive oil for 2/3 minutes on each side until brown and crispy
7) Enjoy! We paired ours with a baby leaf spinach salad dressed in lemon and extra virgin olive oil.

Crab cakes ready for chilling

The finished product

Adapted from a recipe fond at: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/seafood-recipes/beautiful-homemade-crab-cakes-with-a-hot-blackened-salsa/#3G43wz2mPjJOSlHQ.97

Seafood abroad: The Rialto Market, Venice

The location of the Venice (Google Maps)

The Rialto market in Venice is bustling with life, and the fish market is no exception. Fresh fish lines the stalls with the smells and colours of the sea. Such interesting varieties of seafood on offer for locals to buy at reasonable prices.

                           

                           

                           

                           

A Venetian speciality is cuttlefish ink spaghetti (see photo below), this delicious dish is local and sustainable in Italy. Cuttlefish are a mollusc similar to squid or octopus and can be cooked in similar ways. They are abundant in UK waters especially of the South west coast. MCS rates them as 3 for sustainability, so it is ok to eat occasionally, but many of the cuttlefish fisheries are still unassessed, so have no rating yet (see post on the MCS Good Fish Guide). 

Venetian speciality: Cuttlefish ink spaghetti

                       

When Anyfin is Possible visited Brixham fish market in January, we saw crates and crates full of cuttlefish caught off the south coast that were being exported to Italy and Spain as there was no market for them in the UK. If we could start eating these molluscs then there would be no need to export them, cutting down on the carbon used for export, and providing us with a cheap and delicious seafood. For instance, looking back at our visit to Brixham Fish Market in January; Barry Young (Chief Auctioneer) showed us the huge amount of cuttlefish being brought to the market by fishermen every day and noted the huge proportion of it sent to other European countries, for instance, Spain and Italy.