Off the Fork: Cooking the catch of the day? Charity says be flexible

In the early 1970s, when Jacqueline Pell Tuttle decided to write “Seafood Recipes from Local Waters,” she had already noticed that the varieties of fish coming out of our waters was declining.

Although it wasn’t recognized at the time, the average sea surface temperature started to spike starting around 1970, going up steadily through the rest of the 20th Century, and continues to rise 20 years into the new century. As our water temperatures increased, our fish decreased.

No local seafood has been harder hit by the effects of climate change than bay scallops. Algae blooms interfere with their filter feeding, cow-nose rays eat them like potato chips, and a parasite present in all scallops seems to kill the adults. Biologists think that all of these challenges are related to and exacerbated by higher water temperatures.

You may not be able to find fresh local bay scallops, but if you’re lucky enough to find some for sale, don’t feel guilty about eating them — it’s only legal to harvest them in their second year, after they have reproduced, and about to die of old age anyway.

Fortunately, sea scallops are still relatively plentiful, and both of the recipes below work beautifully with big scallops, and could even be used with a pound of boneless fillets of weakfish or flounder.

Because these days, if you want to cook local seafood, you have to be ready to cook the catch of the day — whatever it is.

Here are two recipes from Ms. Tuttle’s book, adapted slightly to accommodate the tastes and realities of a new century.

Baked Scallops Supreme

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

½  cup fresh bread crumbs

2 teaspoons unsalted butter

1 cup (4 ounces) chopped leek

2 tsps. fresh, coarsely chopped tarragon,
or ¼ tsp. dried.

2 tsps. chopped parsley or 1 tsp. parsley flakes

A few grinds of black pepper

2 tsps. fresh lemon juice

1 pound of scallops

Procedure:

1. Heat the oven to 500 degrees.

2. Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a skillet, add the bread crumbs, and brown over medium heat, tossing in the oil. Set them aside.

3. Wipe out the skillet, heat two teaspoons of butter and remaining olive oil over medium heat until the butter melts.  Add leeks and sauté until they are soft, but not brown.

4. Add the tarragon, parsley, pepper, and lemon juice to the leeks and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.

5. Arrange scallops in 4 individual greased shells or one shallow baking dish. Spoon the leek/herb mixture over scallops and spread the crumbs over it.

6. Bake at 500 F for 5-8 minutes, until browned.

Sherried Scallops

Serves 3 or 4.

Adapted from Seafood Recipes from Local Waters by Jacqueline Pell Tuttle

Ingredients:

¼ cup unsifted all-purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

1-pound sea scallops, briefly washed and
well drained

2 tbs. butter

⅓ cup dry sherry

2 tsps. fresh, coarsely chopped, or
¼ tsp. dried tarragon leaves

Lemon slices

Procedure:

1. Combine flour with salt.  Toss scallops in flour mixture; shake off excess. 

2. Heat butter in large skillet.  Carefully add the scallops in a single layer, and do not crowd the pan.  Allow them to cook undisturbed until they are light brown on one side, and then turn them to cook on the other side, a total of no more than 5 to 7 minutes until golden and tender.  Remove scallops to heated dish. 

3. Add sherry and tarragon to skillet; stirring any browned bits into the sauce, and cook for 1 minute until it is syrupy.   Pour over scallops. 

4. Serve with lemon wedges.