Seafood

Shellfish Night: Raw Oysters with Wild Salmon and Sprouted Salad

Last night was Shellfish Night. We try to eat shellfish or organ meats at least once a week because they are so chock-full of vitamins. Seriously, folks, they put veggies to shame.

It would take just over a quarter pound of beef per day to fulfill the minimum requirement for zinc, yet a single serving of oysters per week fulfills the same requirement. One would have to eat two servings of salmon per week to meet the minimum requirement for vitamin B₁₂, but would only have to eat clams once per month to meet the same requirement. – Source: Chris Masterjohn, Cholesterol & Health

We started with a plate of raw oysters. These are sustainably-raised oysters that I buy from a local producer at the farmer’s market. (Here’s a good article on which fish are raised sustainably and good to eat, and which you should not eat.)

Kate and I always eat fresh raw oysters while we are shopping on Saturday mornings at the Santa Monica farmer’s market.

She wasn’t so sure about them at first but now she loves them! Literally grabs them out of my hands. She ate two yesterday morning for breakfast at the market.

I am thrilled that she loves oysters. I could care less if she eats vegetables — as long as she eats plenty of shellfish and butter. 🙂

For the second course, we had a salad.

Sunflower sprouts, lentil sprouts, tomato, red pepper, red onions, and feta cheese with homemade vinaigrette.

If you are not making your own salad dressing, you really need to, people. It literally takes 5 seconds.

And trust me, every salad dressing for sale at the store is not only bad for you (two words: soybean oil) but it’s also ridiculously overpriced.

When I’m in a hurry, I just put a little olive oil in a bowl or Pyrex measuring cup and whisk in a little Balsamic or red wine vinegar until it tastes good. Season with sea salt and fresh black pepper. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

Third course: Wild salmon. Broiled in the oven, three minutes on each side, finished with a dab of butter.

I got the salmon from Costco. Yes, real wild salmon (not farmed). For only $2.45/pound. Cheaper than grass-fed hamburger! Considering how much Seth loves salmon, it’s worth it to have a membership at Costco for this reason alone.

With the salmon, I served basmati rice.

I cooked the rice in homemade chicken stock. I really recommend doing this every time you make rice or beans. It is so much tastier and more flavorful, and it is also much more nutritious.

It’s easy to do. Just add a cup of dry Basmati rice to your rice cooker. Rinse with filtered water, swirling around with your hand until the water is no longer cloudy. Then drain and add 6 ounces of chicken stock.

I freeze my chicken stock in ice cube trays. Each cube is one ounce. So you just throw in 6 cubes. It takes 5 minutes to make this rice (plus the time it took to make the homemade stock, but who’s counting?).

My Zojirushi rice cooker is one of my absolute favorite kitchen appliances. It plays a happy little song when you set it to cook, and again when it’s done making the rice.