Cooking fish can be intimidating, which is one reason so many people seem to avoid trying new species, opting instead for the usual suspects, like salmon, swordfish, tuna and sea bass.
On Tuesday, September 24, 2019, Catalina Offshore Products is hosting From Ocean to Table: San Diego Seafood Festival as part of a year-long initiative funded by NOAA’s Saltonstall-Kennedy grant as a way to encourage people to eat a greater diversity of seafood species and to use more of each fish landed. At the event scientists from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, local fishermen, and innovative chefs will be on site to introduce guests to new opah recipes and dishes.
Even if you can't make it to the festival, you can support the ocean-to-table movement by cooking more opah at home.
Opah swim near tuna schools, which have been surfacing closer to the California coast, and often become bycatch. The underutilized fish is highly sustainable and delicious.
A slab of Opah is deep red, it doesn’t smell like fish, and tastes even less so, and cooking it doesn’t have to be challenging in terms of time or effort.
Davin Waite, Executive Chef and Owner of Oceanside’s Wrench and Rodent, started “playing” with Hawaiian opah years ago, because it was inexpensive and abundant. When the fish started being landed locally a few years back, he doubled down on his efforts, creating the likes of opah ‘Spam’.
“Opah plays the part of pork well.” he explained. "Cook the beefy abductor like tri-tip steak and the belly like bacon."
For the abductor, simply marinate and sear on the barbecue.
Tommy Gomes, Fishmonger at Catalina Offshore Products, has spent years perfecting his recipes for rich Opah chili, sauteed opah tacos, savory seafood sausage, and smoked Opah pastrami sandwiches.
“It can be used in so many dishes, but a chef is a member of the orchestra. The owner of a restaurant is the conductor, crunching the dollars, so going with something safer and cheaper like farmed salmon is the choice they often make,” he said, adding that if you don’t see opah on the menu at your favorite seafood spot, the best thing that you can do for the sustainable seafood movement is to ask for it.
Shop for local opah at Catalina Offshore Products and every weekend at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market.
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