The older I get, the more enraptured I seem to become with the wonders of efficiency, the silent little systems that somehow turn our day-to-day grind into more of a dance. And though it might sound wild (pun fully intended) Alaskan seafood — besides being delicious, nutritious and easy to cook — has brought to my life, along with all these aforementioned attributes, the phenomenal quality of efficiency. How, you ask?
Planning Protocol
The simple fact of always having a freezer full of wild Alaskan seafood options is itself a meal plan. For example, right now I know I have king salmon, lingcod, ground salmon, hot smoked sockeye salmon and red king crab in my freezer. I’ll poach the king salmon in a coconut lime sauce, make tacos from the lingcod, and spinach feta pies with the ground salmon (which I know I’ll want to eat as leftovers the next day). I can munch on the hot smoked salmon throughout the week for breakfast and anytime snacks, and I’ll save the king crab for my dad’s 75th birthday this week. Week’s menu: done. The point is that the variety of wild Alaskan seafood in my freezer gives me the perfect starting point from which to craft my menus and plan our meals.
Pantry Power
If the frozen seafood tells me where to start, it’s the items in my pantry that round out the plan. I know, for example, to have spot prawn stock and cans of coconut milk around for the ultimate poaching liquid. Likewise, corn or low-carb tortilla shells for tacos are always standing by. Since we also often resort to simple salmon seared in a skillet, I tend to keep a jar of capers on deck. As well as a tub of white miso, a bottle of mirin and some honey, the trifecta that makes my favorite marinade for sablefish. My spice collection, too, has become a world of flavor potential unto itself, with spices like sumac and baharat making Middle Eastern flavor profiles come alive on my seafood, and of course the fish rub blends that I always pick up in Alaska. In this way, my pantry, in synchronicity with my freezer, tells me what to cook.
Inspired by Seasonality
And speaking of synchronicity, there’s another quality of wild Alaskan seafood that comes into play as I work through the plans: seasonality. A word inextricably linked to the harvest and preservation of wild Alaskan seafood. Knowing that the various species in my freezer were harvested during their respective seasons and frozen at the peak of freshness, inspires and motivates me to embrace the seasonality of produce with which they will be paired. That king salmon in the heart of winter, for instance, will be gorgeous with the sumo oranges I have in the fridge.
Efficiency, my friends. It makes everything better.
Live Wild!
Monica
Pictured Above: from upper left clockwise: hot smoked sockeye served alongside a lovely egg salad for a family brunch; a feast of fish tacos waiting to be descended upon; miso-glazed sablefish broiled to perfection; a hearty plate of red king crab, potatoes and homemade tartar sauce; hot smoked salmon on a toasted bagel with some cream cheese; classic pan-seared sockeye fillets drizzled with a butter-caper sauce; and a pair of assembled fish tacos begging to be folded and gobbled up.
