a fine kettle of fish : Avila Beach : Seafood lovers sampled the trendiest and the tastiest morsels from the deep paired with just the right California wines for a bit of culinary heaven on earth at Avila Beach event

Seafood lovers came to this coastal community recently to experience four hours of heaven--heaven meaning the opportunity to eat their fill of such luxury dishes as crab thermidor, lobster Newburg, oysters Rockefeller, shrimp, smoked salmon and sushi. An equally generous pouring of California wines made the event even more celestial.

The tasting was sponsored by the Olde Port Inn, a restaurant at the end of the Port San Luis Pier. Seafood wholesalers and wine makers contributed their wares; chefs came from Southern California to cook, and the host restaurant provided a variety of its specialties.

Although consumption was conspicuous, it was not the only reason for the event. Another goal was to raise funds for the San Luis Obispo County YMCA. According to Charles Richards, YMCA general director, proceeds will be used to purchase equipment for adaptive gymnastics and movement education programs for physically and developmentally disabled children.

The sellout crowd paid $60 to attend a tasting that was not only lavish but informative. At one table, the National Marine Fisheries Service offered samples of fish prepared by a Japanese process that softens the bones to make them as tender and edible as the meat.

The process, which employs pressure and heat, permits use of more of the fish. And the nutritional content is higher, said Susumo Kato, research biologist at the Tiburon Laboratory of the Southwest Fisheries Center, National Marine Fisheries Service.

Kato exhibited a chart that showed the presence of 400 milligrams of calcium in 100 grams of processed, bone-in triggerfish (a bony fish abundant around Japan). “With fillets, you don’t even talk about calcium,” he said.

The fisheries service is investigating the application of the Japanese procedure to fish from American waters, Kato said. An additional advantage is that small fish not now used for food can be turned into a palatable product, he added.

The bones were not detectable in the breaded portions of processed triggerfish, imported frozen from Japan, that were fried and served at the tasting.

Dungeness crab thermidor was among dishes presented by the W.R. Merry Co., a seafood wholesaler and distributor based in Los Angeles. The plentiful supply of Dungeness expected this season did not materialize, said Bill Merry, company president.

“We don’t know all the reasons. The crabs just weren’t there,” Merry said. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Dungeness season extends from Dec. 1 to July l5 north of Sonoma County and from the second Tuesday in November through June 30 from Sonoma County south.

Merry prepared a family recipe for thermidor, simmering the crab meat with mushrooms, onion and parsley in a rich cream sauce seasoned with Sherry, Worcestershire sauce and dry and prepared mustards.

The trendiest food was put out by Michael Kang, chef at Five Feet restaurant in Laguna Beach. Kang crossed Cajun with Asian to produce blackened sashimi and deep fried whole Louisiana catfish coated with sweet sour citrus sauce and crowned with shredded greenery.

For the sashimi, Kang rolled chunks of Hawaiian ahi in a mixture of black, white, cayenne and Sichuan peppers and blackened them in a wok lightly coated with sesame oil. The blackening process cooked only the outer one-eighth inch of the fish, leaving the interior raw. Kang then composed an ornate display of sashimi, grapefruit and lemon slices decorated with daikon sprouts and raspberries. The accompanying sauce was composed of wasabi, soy sauce and wine vinegar. Kang’s display was sponsored by Pacific American Fish Co.

Toshio Sato turned out more traditional Asian fare--sushi made with yellowfin tuna. Sato came from Azuma restaurant in Santa Barbara to represent Tsurugi Japanese restaurant of San Luis Obispo because Tsurugi did not have a sushi chef that night. The sparkling wines of Domaine Chandon and Shadow Creek poured to accompany the sushi were a departure from the sake, beer or green tea customarily imbibed at sushi bars.

Holly Sea Food presented lobster Newburg, sauteed shrimp and scallops prepared by Greg Jellum, assistant head chef at the Seafare Inn in Whittier. Jellum used 10 pounds of boiled lobster meat for the extravagant Newburg.

The Los Angeles Smoking & Curing Co. (LASCCO) stocked its table with smoked steelhead trout, kippered Alaska king salmon, cured Winnipeg whitefish and smoked California salmon. Ocean Sierra wholesale seafood distributor presented a variety of local and imported fish that had been grilled in an auxiliary kitchen trucked to the site by Lee Schlossberg of New West Catering Co. in Buellton.

The Olde Port Inn set out Cajun-style blackened swordfish and salmon, oysters Rockefeller, bacon-wrapped prawns stuffed with cheese; breaded petrale sole, baked snapper and samples of the rich tomato base, combined with small shrimp, that is used for the restaurant’s cioppino. The Olde Port Inn’s founder and owner, Barry A. Cohen, is also a seafood dealer and importer.

Host of Wines Uncorked

Accompaniments included breads produced by San Luis Sourdough in San Luis Obispo, among them an unusual sourdough wheat-walnut baguette. United Coffee Corp. served a blend of Irish cream extract with pure Colombian coffee. And wine makers and winery owners from Napa, Sonoma and the Central Coast uncorked a host of wines--sparkling, blush, white and red.

The old rule that white wine goes with seafood was ignored by the experts. The wine they deemed appropriate to go with cioppino, the hearty seafood stew that is native to California, was Pinot Noir.

“I love Pinot Noir personally, and I think it does go well with our cioppino, “ said Leonard Cohen, general manager of the Olde Port Inn. Cohen often makes cioppino himself, substituting Pinot Noir for the sauterne that is added to the stew at the restaurant. “It is a little richer. You don’t have as winey a taste,” he said.

Huge pots of cioppino, each crowned with a whole Dungeness crab, were placed on tables the next night at a dinner honoring the wine makers and food suppliers.

Byron Ken Brown, wine maker at Byron Vineyard & Winery near Santa Maria, poured his 1984 Pinot Noir from a magnum.

“Pinot Noirs tend not to be as tannic as most of the reds and have fairly long, rich flavors,” Brown said. “They are ideal with cioppino .” White wines don’t fare as well. “The fruitier Chardonnays get lost. The only ones that have a chance are the bigger, richer, malolactic-type Chardonnays,” he said. (Malolactic fermentation is a secondary fermentation that occurs naturally in wine or is induced to promote stability and complexity and to reduce acid.)

Pinot Noir Tastings

A cioppino enthusiast, Brown staged a “cioppino-noir” tasting at his winery last summer, inviting other wine makers who specialize in Pinot Noir. The comparative tasting paired the seafood stew with Pinot Noirs from California and Oregon and red Burgundies (the French wine is made with Pinot Noir grapes). Brown plans to serve cioppino again at an open house April 26, which is the day after the annual Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Festival.

Although he used cooking sauterne in a demonstration of the cioppino, Eric Ulman, Olde Port Inn chef, also favors Pinot Noir as an ingredient and accompaniment. “It’s really smooth, not overpowering . . . not heavy and oaky like a Cabernet could be,” he said. Like Brown, Ulman noted that cioppino can overpower a Chardonnay and selected spicy Gewurztraminer as the most suitable white wine to serve with the stew.

Ulman started the cioppino by simmering a stock pot full of leeks, onions, garlic, herbs and wine for an hour. Then he added diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Dried herbs are preferable to fresh because the greater quantity of fresh herbs required to achieve the same flavor would discolor the soup, he said. Olive oil and saffron contribute to the distinctive flavor.

The seafood added to the soup can vary. Ulman suggests firm-fleshed fish such as swordfish or shark, California red rock crab, calamari and mussels as additions or alternatives to the shellfish called for in the following cioppino recipe.

OLDE PORT INN CIOPPINO

8 large shrimp

8 clams in shell

1 quart Cioppino Base

1 dozen scallops

1/4 pound cooked small (cocktail) shrimp

4 cooked Dungeness crab claws

Lemon wedges

Shell shrimp, leaving shell on tail segment. Remove sand veins. Scrub clams. Heat Cioppino Base in large pot. Just before serving, add shrimp, clams and scallops. Cover and simmer 5 minutes. Lower crab claws into pot and heat. Stir in small shrimp. Ladle cioppino into large, shallow soup plates. Garnish each with 1 or 2 lemon wedges. Makes 4 servings.

Cioppino Base

4 1/2 large leeks

2 large yellow onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup dried parsley flakes

1/2 teaspoon thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon Greek oregano leaves

3/4 teaspoon saffron threads

4 bay leaves

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

1 quart Sauterne or Pinot Noir

6 cups diced canned tomatoes

3 cups canned tomato sauce

Cut off and discard root ends and green part of leeks. Cut white part on diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place in 4-quart pot. Cut onions in half through stem ends, then cut halves lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Add onions, garlic, parsley, thyme, oregano, saffron, bay leaves, salt, pepper and oil to pot and stir.

Place over medium high heat and simmer until leeks and onions are tender, about 15 minutes. Do not allow ingredients to scorch. Add wine. Simmer very gently, uncovered, 1 hour. Add tomatoes, their liquid and tomato sauce. Simmer very gently, uncovered, 30 minutes longer. Makes 2 1/2 quarts Cioppino Base.

OLDE PORT INN OYSTERS ROCKEFLLER

6 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 1/4 pounds chopped spinach

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 bay leaves, finely crumbled

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs

18 large or 24 small oysters on the half shell

2 bacon slices, diced

Grated Parmesan cheese

Lemon wedges

Heat butter over medium heat in 3-quart saucepan. Add spinach, onion, parsley, bay leaves, salt and cayenne. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is tender. Stir in bread crumbs. Set aside.

Open oysters with sharp knife. Loosen oysters and remove from shells. Wash shells. Cut oysters into large pieces or leave whole. If desired, line large shallow baking pan with rock salt to hold oyster shells in place.

Return oysters to shells and place on salt. For each shell, form about 1 1/2 tablespoons spinach mixture into small flat patty large enough to cover oyster but not shell. Place over oyster. Sprinkle with bacon bits and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 425 degrees 10 minutes, or until bacon is crisp. Serve garnished with lemon wedges. Makes 18 to 24 appetizers.

BACON-WRAPPED PRAWNS

6 large shrimp

2 ounces Jack cheese, shredded

6 slices thick-cut bacon

Peel shrimp, leaving shell on tail segments. Remove sand veins. Partially butterfly shrimp. Form cheese into 6 long thin rolls. Place 1 roll in open part of each shrimp. Place shrimp on bacon and roll up. Run 1 long bamboo skewer through upper portion of all 6 shrimp and another through lower portion of all 6 shrimp in order to keep shrimp closed and hold bacon in place.

Grill until bacon is cooked and shrimp are no longer translucent. Remove from skewers to serve. Makes 6 appetizers or 1 main dish serving.

Variation: Shrimp may also be deep-fried. Skewer as directed, but leave some space between each shrimp. Coat with seasoned cracker crumbs. Deep-fry until cooked through. Serve with cocktail sauce. BAKED SNAPPER

1 1/2 cups fine cracker crumbs

3/4 teaspoon Season-All

3/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

Scant 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

Scant 1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Scant 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

2 pounds red snapper fillets

Salt

2 egg whites, lightly beaten

Combine cracker crumbs, Season-All, parsley, garlic, pepper and mustard in shallow dish. Wash snapper fillets and pat dry. Season to taste with salt. Dip in egg whites, then pat firmly into breading. Place in baking pan. Bake at 450 degrees 8 to 10 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

BILL MERRY’S DUNGENESS CRAB THERMIDOR

1 cup chopped onions

1 pound mushrooms, chopped

1/2 cup butter

2 cups flaked Dungeness crab meat

1/2 cup chopped parsley

2 1/2 cups Rich White Sauce or 2 (10 3/4-ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup Sherry

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

1 teaspoon dry mustard

Salt, pepper

Grated Parmesan cheese

Paprika

In large saucepan, saute onions and mushrooms in butter until tender but not brown. Add crab meat, parsley, white sauce, Sherry, Worcestershire, prepared and dry mustards. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes. Serve as first course in crab or scallop shells, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and paprika. Or serve over rice or noodles. Makes 8 servings.

Rich White Sauce

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup flour

2 1/2 cups milk

Salt, pepper

Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk. Cook and stir until thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes about 3 cups.

GREG JELLUM’S LOBSTER NEWBURG

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1 1/4 pounds cooked lobster meat

1/4 cup dry Sherry

1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

Dash lemon juice

Cream Sauce

Salt

White pepper

Melt butter in heavy pot. Add onion and mushrooms and cook until tender but not browned. Add lobster meat, Sherry, paprika and lemon juice and simmer 5 minutes. Add Cream Sauce. Bring back to low boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes 8 servings.

Cream Sauce

1/2 cup butter

6 tablespoons flour

2 3/4 cups milk, heated

1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt butter. Stir in flour to make roux and cook 5 minutes. Be careful not to scorch. Gradually whip in hot milk. Add salt. Cook and stir until thickened. Strain before using.