The shellfish harvests at Cedar Key, Florida, inspire delectable dishes.
By Janet Groene, F47166
July 2015
Travels always have a sweeter taste when we learn as we go, sampling local produce, chatting with local fisherfolk and farmers, and helping fledgling food industries. A trip to Cedar Key, a Gulf Coast fishing village in Florida’s forgotten Big Bend country, is always a treat because of its rich natural and cultural history. John Muir paid a visit in 1867, and many of the flora and fauna that caught his attention can be seen today.
Now, culinary history is being made in the aquaculture production of succulent shellfish. Sea farms in Cedar Key not only produce tons of food that is shipped all over the world, some places welcome travelers to tour their facilities and see how clams and other seafood are “farmed.” The area offers a choice of campgrounds, and Cedar Key National Wildlife Refuge, a group of islands, is located just off the coast.
It isn’t unusual for motorhome visitors to leave with their freezers filled with seafood from their own catches or from purveyors around the islands. Regardless of where you acquire your own bounty, look for inspiration from the following recipes.
Mustard Sauce For Seafood
This recipe is from the book Preparing Fish & Wild Game. See the review elsewhere in this column.
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon snipped parsley
1 teaspoon chives
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
Combine the ingredients well. The book’s editors suggest serving this sauce with poached, fried, or baked fish. It keeps up to a week in the refrigerator.
Salmon Pate
This recipe, also inspired by the book Preparing Fish & Wild Game, calls for fresh salmon and homemade court bouillon, but I saved time by using canned chunk salmon and fish bouillon.
8 ounces salmon poached in fish bouillon OR 8 ounces canned chunk salmon (picked over and drained)
1/3 cup snipped fresh parsley
1/4 cup sliced scallions
1 clove garlic, minced
4 ounces cream cheese (half an 8-ounce brick), softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Blend ingredients in a food processor for a fine pate’, or mash with a fork for a chunkier spread. Cover and refrigerate overnight and serve as a spread for crackers or a dip with carrot sticks. Makes about 1 3/4 cups.
Deviled Crab
Make a meal out of this crab-rich dish or see the next recipe for a deviled crab that is more budget-friendly and, if you wish, less picante.
16 ounces (2 cups) pasteurized crabmeat (or cook and pick your own)
2 tablespoons butter
1 8-ounce carton whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 cups herb-seasoned stuffing mix, such as Pepperidge Farm
Prepare the crabmeat. Butter a baking pan and set the oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet, melt the butter, then stir in the cream, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings. Stir in a cup of the stuffing mix, then the crab. Spread this mixture in a baking pan and top it with the remaining stuffing mix. Bake 15 minutes or until heated through. Makes four servings.
Toned-Down Deviled Crab
1 16-ounce container pasteurized crabmeat
1 cup finely chopped mixture of onion, celery, green pepper, red sweet pepper
1 hard-boiled egg, diced
6 slices sandwich bread, diced
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 stick butter, melted
Set the oven to 400 degrees. Butter a baking dish and in it mix the crabmeat, vegetables, diced egg, and bread. In a bowl, whisk the raw eggs and remaining ingredients. Pour the bowl mixture into the baking dish and let it soak in for five minutes. Then bake for 20 minutes or until “set” and toasty. Makes six to eight servings. Cold leftovers are good in rolls spread generously with mayonnaise.
Seafood Carnival
Put this together early in the day, then enjoy happy hour with the gang while it warms in the oven.
1 6- to 8-ounce pouch of cooked rice
1 small can or jar mushrooms, drained
1 8-ounce container pasteurized crabmeat, drained, and picked over for shells
1 8- to 12-ounce package cooked shrimp (tail off, thawed and drained)
1 cup finely chopped mixture of bell pepper, celery, onion
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup bread crumbs (or to taste)
Liquid margarine or melted butter to taste
In a buttered baking pan, combine everything except bread crumbs and margarine/butter. Cover the top with bread crumbs and drizzle with margarine or melted butter. Cover and chill or, to proceed, bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. (Baking time will be longer if the casserole was chilled.) Makes four servings.
Spicy Shrimp
3 pounds cooked shrimp (tail on for easier eating as a finger food)
1 large sweet onion, peeled and sliced in rings
1 cup olive oil
3/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon celery seed
1 tablespoon dill weed
3 to 4 whole bay leaves
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
Put everything in a large zip-top bag and “work” the bag a little to mix well. Refrigerate overnight. Empty the bag into a large bowl, discard the bay leaves, and let everyone dig in with fingers, forks, or skewers. Complete the meal with chunks of crusty bread. Makes 10 to 12 appetizer servings.
Buttermilk Delight
This is my version of a recipe from Preparing Fish & Wild Game. It’s delicious with fish or chicken.
2 cups buttermilk
2 1/2 pounds fish fillets, about 6 ounces each
3/4 cup self-rising flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons onion salt
Soak the fish in buttermilk for 45 minutes, then discard the milk. Mix the dry ingredients, dredge the fish pieces in the flour mixture, and fry them in a deep bath of oil heated to 375 degrees. Makes six servings.
Oyster Oven Fry
Oven frying is much easier and it’s tastier, too, thanks to the bacon.
4 thick slices bacon, diced
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1/2 stick butter
2 cups plump oysters, drained and patted dry
Lemon or lime wedges for garnish
Set the oven to 400 degrees and spread the diced bacon on a baking pan. In a small skillet, melt the butter and stir in the bread crumbs. While the bacon starts to cook in the oven (about five minutes), roll the oysters in the buttery crumbs, pressing to adhere. Spread the bacon fat evenly and carefully in the pan. Place the oysters in the bacon and bacon fat. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until the oysters are toasty. Garnish with lemon or lime wedges. Makes four servings.
Cioppino
For a dazzling presentation, fill a bowl with a mixture that includes shellfish in their beautiful shells.
1 10-ounce box spinach, thawed and pressed dry
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 24-ounce jar pasta sauce with basil
2 1/2 cups chicken broth or fish bouillon (may be part white wine, if you wish)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 pound cooked, tail-off, deveined shrimp, thawed and drained
1 pound scallops, cut up if large
1 pound scrubbed littleneck clams
1 pound scrubbed mussels
Parmesan cheese (optional)
Thaw the spinach, drain it well, and press it dry with paper towels. In a large pot, sizzle garlic in the hot olive oil until it’s fragrant, then stir in the pasta sauce, broth or bouillon, spinach, and seasonings. Bring to a boil and add seafood, starting with the shrimp and scallops. Then bring it back to a boil and add the clams and mussels. When the shells open, ladle into big bowls. Pass the Parmesan cheese and plenty of chunky bread. Makes eight servings.
More Shellfish Suggestions
- Combine chopped, cooked shrimp and diced, hard-boiled eggs with mayonnaise and pickle relish or chopped celery to make a creamy sandwich filling.
- Buy the local newspaper to catch up on island news, then spread it on a picnic table and invite the neighbors over for a bring-your-own-bibs crab boil.
- Buy clams by the bushel. Have a clam steam. Then chop leftover clams to make stuffed mushrooms.
- Use leftover flaked, cooked fish to make fish melts or fish tacos.
- Make a hobo meal with individual foil dinners. On a piece of foil, place a chunk of fish, vegetables sliced paper-thin, a shower of herbs, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Squeeze half a lemon over it all and seal the foil. Grill, turning several times, until the fish flakes and the vegetables are crisp-tender. Eat out of the foil.
- Bulk up a small catch by serving small fillets with a hearty cheese sauce. Or, if the catch is scanty, make a chowder by combining fresh fish with canned tuna or crab.
- Slice a tube of polenta, brush the slices with butter, grill them, and top each slice with cooked shrimp and a dollop of salsa.
Book For Cooks
Preparing Fish & Wild Game (Voyageur Press, $19.99), new in paperback, is a complete guide to field dressing, cooking, and serving seafood as well as common and less common game. The book is the size of the old Sears catalog and is packed with drawings, photos, recipes, and invaluable how-to tips from experts. It includes instructions for making blackening spices and court bouillon; salt-curing fish to make gravlax (a Scandinavian salmon dish); preparing fish for smoking; pressure-cooking squirrel; and poaching fish. The book is a must for avid anglers and hunters and their cooks. The recipes are well worth using with supermarket meat and fish, too.