Houston, Texas – Celebrity chefs and sustainability advocates Andrew Zimmern and Barton Seaver are diving deep into the future of food and it starts with the ocean. Their new cookbook, THE BLUE FOOD COOKBOOK spotlights ingredients from the sea that are both delicious and sustainable.
Zimmern, best known for his adventurous palate and global food explorations, teamed up with Seaver, a chef and leading voice in sustainable seafood, to show how “blue foods” - everything from mussels and oysters to kelp and seaweed, can help solve global food challenges.
The pair say the goal isn’t just to get people cooking, but thinking differently about where their food comes from. As Seaver puts it, “If we take care of the ocean, the ocean will take care of us.”
Together, Zimmern and Seaver’s message is clear: eating sustainably doesn’t mean sacrificing flavor, it means discovering a whole new world of it.
Check out this campfire-style trout from their new book
Campfire-Style Trout with Bacon and Italian Dressing (serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 4 steelhead or rainbow trout, butterflied (this is how trout are most commonly available)
- Salt
- Freshly cracked Black Pepper–Fennel Blend
- (page 53) or black pepper
- 12 strips smoked bacon
- 1 lemon, sliced as thin as possible on a mandoline
- Italian Dressing (recipe follows) or about 3/4 cup
- store-bought
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Season the trout on the inside with salt and pepperfennel blend and let it rest for 15 minutes.
- Place the bacon on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes for most of the fat to render out but so it is still pliable.
- Remove from the oven and set on paper towels to drain.
- Place the lemon slices on one side of the trout.
- Use 3 strips of bacon per fish to wrap the lemons and trout. Use toothpicks to secure.
- Preheat a charcoal or gas grill to a medium-high heat.
- Grill the trout for about 5 minutes per side, until the bacon is crisp and the lemons are slightly charred. The bacon fat will drip into the fire, causing flare-ups (which is why we rendered most of the fat off ahead of time). If this becomes an issue, simply move the fish to a cooler part of the grill.
- Pry open one of the fish to make sure it’s cooked through. Or use an instant-read thermometer. The thickest part of the fish will read 125°F to 130°F when fully cooked. If they need more time, simply cover the grill and cook for another couple minutes.
- Serve with Italian dressing drizzled over the top.