“Eat It to Save It!” Bristol Bay Salmon Dinner on July 24th

Join Slow Food Seattle in supporting the great advocacy work of Save Bristol Bay on Tuesday, July 24th at Local 360 with SFS board member and Top Chef alum, Chef Robin Leventhal to cook up awareness and support with their Eat It to Save It Bristol Bay Salmon Dinner. Joining the ranks of more than 50 restaurants nationwide, the event promises to shine a light on a proposed Pebble mine at Bristol Bay, Alaska that threatens to change the landscape of our ecosystem and the very survival of the northwest’s most beloved fish – the sockeye salmon.

The Eat It to Save It Bristol Bay Salmon Dinner will feature a 3-course menu for $35, with salmon-safe wine pairings for an additional $15, in the main dining room from 3pm to 10pm. There will also be a special opportunity to enjoy a 6-course menu prepared by Chef Leventhal in Local 360’s private dining room at 7pm. Offered at $85 per guest, this exquisite meal will feature wine pairings by Novelty Hill • Januik, a salmon-safe winery. A portion of all proceeds for the evening will go to Save Bristol Bay.

Reservations can be made at reservations@local360.org or by calling 206.441.9360 – don’t delay as this event will sell out.

Chef Robin Leventhal’s Menu – 3 Courses for $35
Paired with Novelty Hill • Januik salmon-safe local wines for $15

• 1st Course: Smoked Salmon Rillette, Crostini
• 2nd Course: Salmon Tartar, Fennel, Capers, Creme Fraiche
• 3rd Course: Seared Salmon, Paprika Polenta, Spicy Orange Molasses BBQ

Private Dining Room Menu – 6 Courses for $85
Paired with Novelty Hill • Januik salmon-safe local wines
Prepared by Crave Chef, Robin Leventhal

• 1st Course: Beet cured Gravlax, Ozette Purple Potato Lattke, Pickled Shallot, Fennel Pollen, Crème Fraiche
• 2nd Course: Chilled Cucumber Avocado Shooter, Smoked Salmon Roe, Preserved Lemon Gremolata
• 3rd Course: Salmon Rillette, Pickled Egg Gribiche, Pumpernickel,
• 4th Course: Seared Salmon Belly, Sea Beans, Miso Ginger Emulsion, Black Sesame oil
• 5th Course: Coriander Seared Salmon Fillet, Roasted Corn Pudding, Poblano Verde
• 6th Course: Mascarpone Panna Cotta, Cardamom Blueberry compote, Candied Salmon Skin Crackling

Click below for more participating restaurants in Seattle and across the US.

2nd Annual Tuna Canning Workshop: Time to Tin a Tuna with Jeremy Brown

Prepping the tuna for canning

Join Slow Food Seattle and Jeremy Brown, fisherman and fish canner extraordinaire, on Sunday, January 8th to learn how to can your own fish. For a preview of the canning day – check out the Slow Food USA blog for a piece on our event from last year. Jeremy will be coming from Bellingham with everything we need to preserve our own delicious and nutritious, locally caught albacore tuna in canning jars to see us through until the 2012 albacore fishing season.

**The tuna canning will be all day process – it’s your choice to attend in the morning or afternoon but allow yourself at least an hour or two to share in the work of canning the tuna (or stay all day)! We have space for about 40 people over the course of the day to share the labor.**

How much will it cost?
Workshop cost is $10/pp and tuna is $62/flat (12 jars/flat), choose either:
- Class + one flat of canned tuna ($72)
- Class + two flats of canned tuna ($134)
- Class only ($10)
- Kids 12 & under free

Any remaining flats will be sold first come first serve to the folks who attend the canning event.

What will Jeremy bring?

• 1,000 pounds of Albacore tuna that was caught of the Washington coast this fall
  

  Tuna in jars - next step, olive oil and the "secret ingredient"

• A pallet canning jars
• Olive oil & sea salt
• A secret yet everyday ingredient that makes this the best tuna ever
• Pressure canners
• Propane cookers to heat the pressure cookers
• The know-how to pull this all off!

What do you need to bring?

• Yourself
• An apron if you wear one
• Sharp knife
• Plastic cutting board (a wood board might come away tuna scented!)
• Whatever you need to stay hydrated…maybe a snack if you’ll be hungry

What should I expect?

• To make it easy, Jeremy will pre-cut the albacore in to steaks.
• Rinse the tuna steaks
• Trim skin & cut the tuna into jars size pieces
• Stuff tuna into the half pint jars
• Add oil and a pinch of salt
• Wipe the jar rims and top with lids
• Pressurize the finished jars under Jeremy’s expert and safe supervision
• Take home jars and eat tuna with the pride of knowing you supported a local fisherman

PNW Albacore - all ready to be processed in the pressure cookers

Be sure to let us know if you need to cancel your reservation to take part in the event so someone “can” come!

Wild Pacific Albacore has been in the news for all the right reasons – topping the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Super Green List and on National Public Radio in a feature on the growth of micro-canneries in the Pacific Northwest. You can look for canned albacore tuna at your favorite food co-op or fish market or join us at Gourmondo‘s catering kitchen to can your own albacore to stock your pantry.

Special thanks to Gourmondo Catering for hosting Slow Food Seattle at their catering kitchen (309 South Cloverdale Street, Suite B-24, Seattle).

All photos: Jennifer Johnson

My fish has issues; it’s complicated – Sustainable Seafood in a Multimedia World

By Amy Grondin

Join Slow Food Seattle for My fish has issues; it’s complicated – Sustainable Seafood in a Multimedia World, a conversation with Chefs Barton Seaver and Becky Selengut at the Broadway Performance Hall on Monday October 17th from 6:30pm to 8pm. A cookbook signing and reception featuring Snoqualmie Vineyards, The Pike Brewing Company, and an oyster bar from Taylor Shellfish will follow from 8pm to 8:45pm. Tickets available now through Brown Paper Tickets, $12/pp.

It’s time to cut through the fog of confusion that surrounds choosing and eating seafood. Sustainable seafood can be enjoyed in such a way that our personal health and the health of the oceans are of equal consideration. There are lots of sustainable seafood options to be had but how do we identify them?

Becky Selengut and Barton Seaver

East coast meets West coast for this fun and informative sustainable seafood presentation with Becky Selengut, our own local fish whisperer, and Barton Seaver, who’s visiting from D.C. While cooking is a hands on activity that engages all your senses, these two chefs have also engaged their minds and ethics in the process without finger pointing at those of us who are still learning about sustainable seafood. We can benefit from their research and hours in the kitchen by reading the sustainable seafood cookbooks each chef released in Spring of 2011

The evening’s conversation will appeal to folks who receive their information in many different ways, from slow as the printed word to speedy as devices can deliver. As part of the presentation our chefs, led by edibleSEATTLE editor Jill Lightner, will talk about how technology allows them to engage with eaters who may be new to seafood and not necessarily cookbook readers who specifically sought out a sustainable seafood book. Love your smartphone? Smart and sassy blog and Facebook posts, Tweets, websites and YouTube videos by Becky and Barton are just a click away.

Or perhaps you would rather meander printed pages that are glossy with images of seafood briny and sweet from the ocean? A person can pick up either chefs’ cookbook and get the full story – recipes with a dash of science sprinkled in as seasoning. Pick up your copy of For Cod & Country, Barton’s cookbook or Good Fish, Becky’s cookbook after the presentation.

  

What might you learn from our chefs? Both Becky and Barton encourage us to eat a variety of fish besides the perennial favorites of shrimp, salmon and tuna.

Eating a variety of seafood protects the health of humans and fish populations. Creating a marketplace demand for many types of fish eases the pressure on the whole ocean food web by spreading harvest efforts over many species and not over fishing a one popular fish.

An example? Small silver fish – once popular, then over fished due to market demand but on the rise again – just might make it back to everyone’s dinner plate as Barton and Becky’s followers learn from reading a computer screen or a cookbook page about recipes that balance the fishes intense flavor so the rich, nutritional qualities of these environmentally friendly fish are enjoyed.

And in or out of a tin, we need to get over our national suspicion of small silver fish; they are delicious, not scary! Join us on Monday October 17th and we’ll talk about it.

Speakers:

• Barton Seaver, chef, National Geographic Fellow and author of For Cod & Country
• Becky Selengut, chef, instructor and author of Good Fish
• Jill Lightner, Editor of edibleSEATTLE

Thanks to our event sponsor, Seafood Producers Cooperative for their generous support and also to our presenting partners: Readers to Eaters, Snoqualmie Vineyards, Pike Brewing Company, Taylor Shellfish, and edibleSeattle.