Seafood New Zealand’s guideuide to sustainable seafoo seafood

Seafood New Zealand has created a website guide (bestfishguide.co.nz) to help Kiwis learn more about the sustainable seafood. The guide offers everything you need to know about the variety of different fish found in New Zealand waters. That’s from how to make sure what you are buying is fresh through to the different sustainable methods used to catch it.

With over 95 per cent of New Zealand fish caught from stocks that are fished sustainably, according to Ministry for Primary Industries scientists, six of our fisheries have been given Marine Stewardship Council certification, the worldwide gold standard for healthy fishing.

The latest addition is orange roughy, which was given MSC’s sustainability eco-label in December last year. Receiving the tick of approval took two years of rigorous environmental and scientific assessment, ensuring there is a healthy fish stock, effective fishery management and protection of the marine ecosystem. Orange roughy joins hoki, hake, southern blue whiting, albacore tuna and ling as MSC certified sustainable, representing more than 70 per cent of deep water landings.

The guide allows you to branch out and try seafood other than the classic snapper or tarakihi, with a multitude of diverse options available. The guide has also pulled in some top chefs who have created recipes to help you out on the kitchen. Aaron Stott, owner and chef at Tinakori Bistro in Wellington, created this pan-fried kahawai dish with pickled heirloom peppers and red onions.

150-200g kahawai fillet

(skin on) per person ½ tsp salt per fillet 1 tsp sugar per fillet Tapioca flour Shallot oil, for frying (see

note) 250ml rice vinegar 2 Tbsp sugar 2 tsp salt 10g kombu (Japanese

1 2 3 4 Rub the kahawai with the dry brine — ½ tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar per fillet. Cover and refrigerate the fish for a few hours, preferably overnight. Bring the rice vinegar, sugar, salt and kombu to a boil and let cool. Add the sliced peppers, onion and chilli to this pickling base and refrigerate. Score the kahawai skin in a criss- cross pattern. Dredge the fillets in tapioca flour. Heat shallot oil in a pan and fry the fillets, skin side down on medium heat. Flip over and cook until done. Arrange the fillet on a plate, top with pickled peppers and onion, microgreens and a couple of chopped, smoked mussels. Drizzle the lot with good extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle over black sesame seeds.

You can make your own shallot oil by frying shallots in any bland, flavourless oil (like soybean oil). Remove the shallots after frying and reserve the oil, which can be used to add a smoky onion flavour to many preparations.