SCALED DOWN : Seafood experts cast out ideas for healthful, lower-fat ways to cook fish

People who work in the seafood industry have far-ranging ideas on what to do with the catch, judging by recipes gathered at Sea Fare International 1990, a recent industry exposition in Long Beach.

The dishes ranged from pomfret stuffed with spicy coconut chutney and steamed in a banana leaf to salsa-topped, achiote-painted tilapia.

The former dish is from India; the latter represents Mexico. Both reflect trends toward healthful eating commented upon by speakers at Sea Fare seminars.

A. Samuel King, president of the Long Beach-based University Restaurant Group, reported that demand for rich butter and cream sauces has dropped by about 25%. Instead, customers are turning to fish accompanied by salsas, chutneys and vegetable purees.

King’s company operates the Pine Avenue Fish House and 555 East Restaurant, both in Long Beach, and Ocean Ave. Seafood in Santa Monica. Healthful dishes produced by chefs in those establishments include swordfish with pineapple salsa, sea bass with tomatillo salsa and grilled swordfish served with papaya chutney and watercress salad. Recently, the restaurants switched to canola oil--the oil lowest in saturated fats--for deep-frying.

Steve LaHaie, general manager of Shaw’s Crab House in Chicago, cited “a big opportunity in health” for restaurant operators. To gain confidence in seafood cleanliness and safety, restaurateurs must “pick out the best fish from the cleanest waters” and make customers aware that they have done so, he said.

Shaw’s Crab House is part of the 26-restaurant Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc., which is headquartered in Chicago. That firm’s corporate marketing department has coordinated a heart healthy promotion that will start March 20, LaHaie said. Each restaurant will develop and introduce two appetizers, four entrees and some desserts that fit American Heart Assn. guidelines.

Examples from Shaw’s Crab House include grilled wild Alaskan King salmon with citrus relish and red snapper en papillote with mushrooms and a sauce of broth and wine.

A participant in the chefs’ cooking demonstration at Sea Fare was Julio Ramirez of the Fishwife Seafood Restaurant in Seaside, Calif. Ramirez pointed out the low cholesterol benefits of fish as he presented his signature dish, Tilapia Cancun. This recipe took first place in the Northern California preliminaries of the 1990 California Seafood Challenge and third place in the finals.

(The challenge, a competition for chefs, was won this year by Alan Greeley of the Golden Truffle in Costa Mesa. Greeley will represent California in the American Seafood Challenge in New Orleans March 15 to 18.)

Ramirez breaded tilapia fillets with cornmeal as well as flour, a technique that minimizes oil absorption, he said. Instead of a butter sauce, he daubed the fish with fat-free achiote paste. And he topped it with a spicy cabbage salsa that looked like coleslaw without the mayonnaise.

Salsa appeared again as the topping for broccoli florets, an accompaniment to the fish. Those limiting their intake of fats could omit the dab of creme fraiche atop another accompaniment, black bean cakes, and either eliminate or consume less of the Green Cashew Sauce that Ramirez places under the fish.

Chutney-stuffed pomfret steamed in banana leaves is a popular dish on the west coast of India. There it is closely linked to the Parsis (followers of the religious precepts of Zoroaster), who form a prominent community in Bombay. This dish is known as Patrani Machhi, which means “fish in a leaf.”

Others who make it include the inhabitants of Goa, a coastal state of India that was once a Portuguese enclave. A Goan version of the stuffed fish was demonstrated in The Times’ Test Kitchen by Avito Moniz, director of technical services for Ore-Cal Corp. of Los Angeles, a West Coast shrimp processor that exhibited at Sea Fare.

Moniz, who is from Goa, showed how to slit pomfret and remove the backbone to make a cavity for the chutney stuffing. This brilliant green mixture blends fresh coconut with lots of cilantro, enough lemon juice to make it decidedly tangy and hot green chiles. Although coconut contains saturated fat, only a small amount is used, and steaming the fish eliminates cooking oil. At home, Moniz would steam the fish in a rice cooker.

Other types of soft-fleshed fish can replace pomfret in this recipe, and the chutney can be spread on fillets rather than stuffed in a whole fish, Moniz said. If banana leaves are not available, the fish can be wrapped in foil.

Bud Jones, vice president of the Coldwater Seafood Corp. of Rowayton, Conn., traded a bottle of wine years ago for the Caesar Salad recipe used at the Barbizon Hotel in New York. Jones’ innovation is to substitute smoked salmon for the anchovies that are often included in the dish. He uses two kinds of lettuce, chives, a heady amount of garlic and finishes the salad off with garlic croutons and a generous dusting of Romano cheese.

The dressing requires both oil and a coddled egg. Diet watchers can adapt the recipe to their needs by eliminating the croutons, reducing the quantity of cheese and taking a small helping rather than the large portion that Jones would serve.

Ecuadorean ceviche is a light, fresh tasting dish that combines seafood with onion, orange and lemon juices, olive oil and a dash of catsup. Ricardo Ponce Noboa, vice president of Oceanpac of Guayaquil, Ecuador, served shrimp ceviche at Sea Fare because his firm deals in frozen shrimp. But he suggested corvina as an alternative, and the recipe also works well with red snapper.

The fish is “cooked” in lemon juice; but if shrimp are used, they should be simmered in water until done and some of the cooking liquid added to the sauce, Noboa said.

The final dish is a practical recipe for cooks with little time to cook. It comes from Paul J. (Sam) Pearson Jr., sales and marketing manager of the Aquaculture Business Unit of J. R. Simplot Co. of Caldwell, Ida., which exhibited tilapia at Sea Fare. Pearson’s recipe is nothing more than fish fillets baked with mustard and bread crumbs. “It’s real quick and real easy,” he said.

The fish may be flaked and tossed with rice--that’s the way Pearson used to serve it to his college fraternity brothers--or the whole fillets may be placed on top of or alongside rice. Pearson butters the baking pan and the fish, but oil may be substituted, and salt is unnecessary if a spicy mustard is used, he said.

TILAPIA CANCUN

8 (3- or 4-ounce) tilapia fillets

1 lime

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup cornmeal

Salt, pepper

1/2 cup Achiote Paste

Oil

Green Cashew Sauce

Salsa Brava

Black Bean Cakes

Creme Fraiche

Cooked broccoli florets

Papaya Salsa

Dry fish fillets with towel. Rub each side with lime half. Combine flour and cornmeal and season to taste with salt and pepper. Coat fish lightly with flour mixture.

Place few at time in single layer in large, lightly oiled skillet or on grill heated to 350 degrees. Brush top side generously with Achiote Paste. Cook 3 minutes, then turn and cook achiote side 3 minutes. Do not spread what is now top side with achiote.

To serve, place spoonful Green Cashew Sauce on each plate. Top with 1 fish fillet and top each fillet with 2 to 3 tablespoons Salsa Brava. Accompany with black beans topped with Creme Fraiche and with broccoli topped with Papaya Salsa. Makes 8 servings.

Achiote Paste

1/4 pound achiote seeds

1/4 medium yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic

White vinegar

Combine achiote, onion and garlic in bowl. Add enough vinegar to cover. Let stand 1 1/2 days, until softened, adding more vinegar if necessary to keep covered.

Puree mixture in blender. Set aside 1/2 cup for use in recipe. Refrigerate remainder for another use.

Green Cashew Sauce

2 cups roasted unsalted cashews

2 bunches cilantro

5 serrano chiles

1 cup peanut oil

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup water

Salt, pepper

Place cashews in food processor and process until ground. Add cilantro, chiles, oil, vinegar, water and season to taste with salt and pepper. Process until pureed. Makes about 2 3/4 cups.

Salsa Brava

1/2 head cabbage, shredded

1/4 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped

4 serrano chiles, finely chopped

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

1/2 teaspoon black pepper or to taste

Combine cabbage, onion, peppers, chiles, vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix well. Pack snugly in jar with lid. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours. Makes about 4 cups.

BLACK BEAN CAKES

2 cups cooked black beans

Oil

Drain beans and mash lightly. Form into thin cakes, allowing about 1/4 cup beans for each cake. Place cakes between 2 layers wax paper and refrigerate until needed.

When ready to serve, saute cakes in lightly oiled skillet until heated through. Lift with spatula onto each dinner plate. Top with dab of creme fraiche. Makes 8 servings.

Creme Fraiche

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon buttermilk

Combine whipping cream and buttermilk. Let stand at room temperature 36 hours. Makes 1 cup.

PAPAYA SALSA

1/2 papaya, peeled and diced

1 tomato, unpeeled, diced

1/2 small red onion, diced

1/2 serrano chile, finely chopped

Juice of 1 lime

Salt, pepper

Combine papaya, tomato, onion, chile, lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes about 2 cups.

AVITO MONIZ’S PATRANI MACHHI

(Fish in Banana Leaf)

2 cups chopped cilantro leaves and stems, tightly packed (about 2 bunches)

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons water

1/2 cup grated fresh coconut

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger root

2 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons finely chopped serrano chiles

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground cumin

6 whole pomfret

1 lemon

Banana leaves

Combine cilantro, lemon juice and water in blender and blend until pureed, scraping down sides of blender as needed. Add coconut, onion, ginger, garlic, chiles, sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper and cumin and blend until smooth, about 10 minutes. Stop occasionally to mix with spatula. Taste and adjust seasonings. Store in covered container in refrigerator up to 1 week. Makes 1 1/2 cups chutney.

With scissors, cut opening just below head of each fish. With knife continue making slit around lower edge of fish to tail, then cut through to back of fish, keeping halves attached. Remove viscera. With scissors, cut through back bone at each end, then cut bone away carefully with knife.

Season inside of each fish lightly with salt and lemon juice. Stuff 3 to 4 tablespoons chutney into each fish. Wrap each in piece of banana leaf to cover completely. Packets do not have to be tied. Place on steamer rack with cut edges of leaf down to hold in place. Steam until fish is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

BUD JONES’ SALMON CAESAR SALAD

6 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

12 thin strips smoked salmon

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 egg, coddled

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

3/4 cup grated Romano cheese, about

1/2 bunch chives, finely chopped

1 head romaine

1 head Bibb lettuce

Garlic-flavored croutons

Additional strips smoked salmon

Use large wooden bowl. Mash 4 cloves garlic in bottom of bowl. Rub sides of bowl with remaining 2 cloves, then mash with garlic in bowl. Add Dijon mustard and mash with fork until smooth. Add 4 strips smoked salmon and mash into garlic until creamy. Squeeze in lemon juice. Add egg and beat. Add oil and vinegar and beat until well mixed. Mix in 1/4 cup cheese. Add chives and mix well.

Cut out center leaves of romaine and add whole to bowl. Quarter large outer leaves. Cut out some of Bibb lettuce core. Separate leaves and add whole to bowl. Toss with dressing. Cover top with as much Romano cheese as desired. Then add garlic flavored croutons. Garnish with remaining 8 salmon strips. Makes 4 large servings.

ECUADORIAN CEVICHE

1 pound red snapper fillets

Lemon juice

1/3 red onion, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup catsup

Wash fish and cut into strips about 1/2 inch wide. Place in deep bowl. Add lemon juice to cover, 3/4 to 1 cup. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight, until fish is opaque throughout.

Combine onion, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, olive oil and salt in another bowl and let stand 1 hour. Add orange juice and catsup and stir to mix. Drain fish and place in serving bowl. Pour onion mixture over fish and combine gently. Taste and add more salt if needed. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

SAM PEARSON’S CRISPY BAKED TILAPIA

Butter or oil

6 tilapia fillets

6 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 cup bread crumbs

Cooked white rice

Butter or oil 15x10-inch jellyroll pan. Lay tilapia fillets in single layer in pan. If desired, butter bottom side of fillets. Spread top of each evenly with 1 teaspoon mustard, then sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake at 400 degrees until fish is fully cooked and flakes easily, about 20 minutes. Check for doneness after 15 minutes to prevent overcooking. Serve fillets whole on top of rice or on side. Or flake fish and toss with rice. Makes 6 servings.

Dinnerware by Philippe Deshoulieres, Courtesy of Geary’s / Food Styling by Donna Deane and Minnie Bernardino

RELATED STORY: “Back to Basics” column describes how to remove bones of fresh supermarket trout. H12