SHAME on Top Chef

for using Monk Fish and Chilean Sea Bass on last night's episode. Those are two types of fish that we should avoid using because of overfishing and mercury contamination.

Not good news for salmon lovers...

Collapse of chinook season devastates salmon trollers. With the closing of the salmon season, Oregon's salmon trollers will lose their bread and butter. Their ranks have already dropped from nearly 4,000 permitted trollers in 1980 to fewer than 500 today. - Portland Oregonian

Salmon Season Called Off. Nothing says weekend like kicking back and throwing something on the grill. But if wild salmon is what you're hungry for, pull out your wallet and get ready for 35 bucks a pound. Fishermen here on the West Coast have voted to cancel the Chinook, or king, salmon season. - MarketPlace

End of coast's 150-year-old fishery looms. Changes in the food chain, global warming, mismanagement, overfishing, and environmental degradation have all been suggested as reasons why the West Coast salmon fishery has collapsed.- San Francisco Chronicle

What it will take to restore salmon. There is a paradox about salmon: We love them, but we are part of their problem. - Eureka Times-Standard

Green goes BAM!

Or is it that Emeril goes "green." Will he be kickin' sustainability up a notch?

Voluble TV chef Emeril Lagasse will kick it up a notch at Discovery Communications’ Planet Green, inking a deal to develop a new series for the eco-friendly startup.

Set to debut in July, the nightly Emeril Green will be shot on location at a Washington, D.C.-area Whole Foods Market, the national supermarket chain that specializes in organic and minimally-processed produce, meats, seafood and dairy products. - Media Week

Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, fresh off his media properties getting acquired by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, detailed plans for a new reality series, Emeril Green.

Emeril Green will air on Planet Green, the Discovery Communications-owned network set to launch this June, replacing Discovery Home Channel. - B&C

“Since my early days as a chef, I’ve always been passionate about using the freshest quality ingredients from farmers, fisherman and ranchers,” says Emeril Lagasse. “I try a little harder every day to think greener and be respectful of our environment and our resources. On ‘Emeril Green’ we’ll unearth how easy and fun it is to cook with what’s fresh, tasty and in-season and find smart ways to make each day a little greener for you and your family.” - Emerils.com

more at Ecorazzi and Slashfood.

Loved my little "holiday" in Cambria

Ventured up to San Simeon to see Hearst Castle. I knew they had zebra wandering around (no, really) I didn't know that their cattle were grass fed and "sustainable."

Welcome to the Hearst Ranch Store. Since 1865, the Hearst family has raised cattle on the rich sustainable native grasslands of the Central California coast. Hearst Cattle are grass-fed and grass-finished and humanely raised. Our animals are not given growth hormones or antibiotics, ever. The result is beef with extraordinary flavor that’s as memorable and natural as the surrounding landscape. - Hearst Ranch.

Guess I know where I'm going to buy my tri-tip, now. Wish I could only pick it up by hand everytime.


Hearst Castle
Originally uploaded by bnm_1972.

Sustainable Filet-o-Fish?

Interesting "nugget" of information from Gristmill

McDonald's fish sandwich is more sustainable than Nobu's menu (the restaurant for the stars), because it is sourced from an Alaskan fishery certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. McDonald's, though, does not advertise the MSC label because then it would have to pay a licensing fee.

Kudos Mickey D's! Who knew?

Google-ishious!

Google sustainability and you just might get it's new cafe, Cafe 150.

Lee Bassian, owner of Bassian Farms in San Jose, remembers delivering his naturally raised meats to Google back when the company still operated out of a garage.

"One time our truck got a ticket because it weighed too much for a residential street," Bassian recalled.

Google's now-famous philosophy of providing wholesome food at no charge to its employees dates from its inception, although the company took it to a new level last year when it opened Cafe 150, a restaurant at corporate headquarters in Mountain View that only serves produce and meats raised within a 150-mile radius. It's one of 15 restaurants at Google, with three more due to open this month.

There are some challenges....

...Tomatoes also posed a challenge, as Google employees wanted them even in the winter, when they're only available from warmer climates like Mexico.

To provide a substitute in sandwiches and salads, Keller salted and grilled persimmons, a deep orange fruit grown nearby that ripens in the winter.

"You couldn't tell the difference," he said. "In the summer, they began complaining when we didn't have grilled persimmons," Keller added. - Palo Alto Daily News

Sweet Potato & Jalapeno Bisque

Googlers favor this spicy, tart-sweet soup in the winter because it is chock full of nutrients. Created by chef Tony Castelucci.

INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds sweet potatoes
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1/2 pound shallots, minced (about 1 cup)
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
1/4 cup rum
3 to 4 cups vegetable stock + additional stock as needed
1/2 cup cooked white rice
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Topping:
1/2 cup creme fraiche
1/2 bunch cilantro (leaves and tender stems only), chopped
Zest and juice of 1 lime

INSTRUCTIONS:
Bake potatoes in a 400° oven until they are tender and can be easily pierced with a fork. Let cool.

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the shallots and saute until soft. Add the garlic and jalapenos and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the rum and cook for about 2 minutes, or until alcohol has evaporated. Add the stock and bring to simmer.

Cut the sweet potatoes in half and scrape out the flesh. Add to the stock, stirring, until the potatoes are broken up. Add the cooked rice. Remove from heat and, working in batches, puree in a blender until smooth.

Return the mixture to the pot, and place over low heat. Add stock as needed to adjust the consistency of the soup, then season with salt and pepper.

For the topping: Spoon the creme fraiche into a small bowl. Stir in the cilantro, lime zest and 1 teaspoon of the juice.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and top with a dollop of creme fraiche.

Serves 6 to 8

PER SERVING: 210 calories, 4 g protein, 26 g carbohydrate, 9 g fat (5 g saturated), 22 mg cholesterol, 490 mg sodium, 2 g fiber.

-SFGate