Alaska Seafood

So many options for great meals at home

We all know a lot of seafood comes from Alaska. In fact, about 60% of wild seafood harvested in the U.S. every year comes from Alaska. Plus there are many varieties to enjoy: salmon-Coho, king, keta, pink, sockeye; whitefish-pollock, cod, halibut, rockfish, sablefish, sole; shellfish-Dungeness crab, king, snow, and weathervane scallops.

Coho salmon

You can use several cooking techniques to create delicious meal in a very short amount of time (click here for their Easy Cooking Guide). On the Alaska Seafood website, they give tips on how to thaw seafood (but you don't need to, you can also cook from frozen) and how to fillet fish. You can grill, pan sear, pan steam, plank. At our Queen Anne and Broadview test kitchens, we've been experimenting more and more with sous vide. It's pretty fool proof which works well for us. One of the best parts about sous vide is that it holds food at the temperature you set, so once it reaches that temp, it doesn't continue to cook. It gives you some leeway if you get distracted by conversations, wine, kids, TV… There are now affordable sous vide home options, plus you can sous vide all types of things, not just seafood.

Besides wonderful flavors and being easy to cook, seafood is good for you. Omega 3s help your heart stay healthy. Eating fish twice per week reduces the risk of death from coronary heart disease and lower the risk of fatal heart attack. Omega 3 increases good cholesterol, decreases blood pressure, reduces side effects connected with strokes, and reduces inflammation. This last item is huge: inflammation is at the bottom of SO many problems. Reducing inflammation by eating a whole-food diet (i.e., real food) full of Omega 3 fatty acids can help. Another thing Omega 3 does in decrease the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease (even one serving of seafood a week helps). Think salmon, halibut, herring, sablefish.

Sous vide set up

But wait, there's more! Wild seafood brings vitamin D to your body. People with deficiencies in vitamin D may deal with depression (you know how we are when we don't see sun for a long time), anxiety, and other mental health disorders. Fish with high levels of vitamin D are salmon, halibut, rockfish, and sole. This is important because very few foods naturally contain vitamin D.

If you're not on the Omega 3 bandwagon yet, here's another reason. It's a great source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids that prevent bad organisms from growing and allow diversity and abundance of bacteria in your gut, helping you avoid leaky gut and inflammatory bowel disease. It can also help you reduce the chance of developing insulin resistance or diabetes.

Enough already, you get the point. To help you get started eating more seafood, check out the Easy Cooking Guide, plus we've pulled a few recipes from their website and one from Chef Maria Hines on Food&Wine to give you ideas.

Click on recipes below:

• IPA Poached Alaska Cod (very few ingredients, so easy)
• Alaska Salmon Pesto Pasta Salad (use fresh or canned salmon, buy pre-made pesto if you must, photo above)
• Sous Vide Salmon with Cucumbers (from Chef Maria Hines and Food&Wine)
• Pan-seared Alaska Halibut Steaks with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil (few ingredients, easy)

Enjoy good health just by eating!

www.alaskaseafood.org