Pacific Seafood Recipes

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This page contains seafood recipes which utilize the types of fish found in the waters around Vancouver Island. Those of us who live on the coast are very lucky to have such a large selection of seafood available that we can catch ourselves or get fresh from the local seafood market.

Many of the recipes you'll see here have been taken from our local newspapers and magazines. A really great source of recipes that feature Pacific seafood is the Thrifty Foods flyer. You can find this flyer in just about any newspaper on Vancouver Island. Whenever possible I'll include the source of the recipe.

This scallop recipe came out of the Times Daily Colonist from December 4, 2002.

Prosciutto Wrapped Scallops with Pesto Mayonnaise

12 large scallops, each cut in half
12 paper-thin slices prosciutto, each cut in half
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup pesto, homemade or store-bought
salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste

Preheat oven to 425 deg. F. Wrap each half scallop with a half piece of prosciutto. Place on non-stick or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until just cooked though. Make mayonnaise by combining remaining listed ingredients in a bowl. Serve mayonnaise alongside scallops for dipping.
Makes 24 pieces.
Note: Ready to use pesto is available in most supermarkets.
Recipe otions: Scallops could be replaced with raw, peeled prawns with tail portion left intact. Cook for 6-8 minutes. Add a few crushed chillies to the mayonnaise if you would like to spice things up.

Here's a Thrifty Food's flyer recipe for crab. There's not much more you can get fresh this time of year around here other than crab.

Black Bean Crab Stir-fry

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: Abour 8 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion (halved and sliced)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1/2 cup black bean sauce
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
2 1 3/4 to 2 pounds cooked Dungeness crab (cleand and cut into pieces)
3 green onions (chopped)

Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the onion and ginger and cook 1-2 minutes. Add the black bean sauce and stock and bring to a boil. Add the crab and toss to coat in the black bean mixture. Cover and cook 5 minutes, or until the crab is just heated through. Spoon the crab on to a serving platter, sprinkle with green onions and serve.

Add your favorite vegetables and rice and it sounds pretty good to me.

I like to find seafood recipes from other parts of the world as well. This one for mussels comes from Carole & Jim Milne of Etobicoke, Ontario Canada. I've eaten mussels I picked off a rock in Kyuquot Sound and they weren't too bad, but that's the only time.

Uncle Cecil Saulnier's Appetizer

I prefer to use PEI mussels but New Zealand Green are also good. Because the PEI mussels are farmed, not wild, there is little cleaning required.

24 medium mussels
1/2cup virgin olive oil (extra virgin might overpower).
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, if using Balsamic reduce amount. Experiment with specialty vinegars.
1 teaspoon capers, chopped if large
1 tablespoon minced onions, not green scallions
1 tablespoon minced pimiento or roasted red pepper
1-2 tablespoon minced parsley
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
1 lemon in thin slice

Scrub mussels well and remove the beards. Discard any that do not close tightly, set aside.

Whisk the oil and vinegar together in a bowl, then add capers, onion, pimiento, parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

Place one cup water in a frypan with the 2-3lemon slices. Add the mussels and bring to a boil. Remove the mussels as they open; cool. Any that do not open discard.

Remove the mussel meat from the shells, reserving half the shells, and mix the meat into the vinegar mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Clean the reserved mussel shells well and place them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Before serving, replace the mussels in the shells and spoon a small amount of the vinegar mixture over.

Serving on a bed of crushed ice is nice. Enjoy! This seafood recipe makes 16 - 20 servings.

And here's a seafood recipe for tiger prawns that Cath sent from Australia.

Garlic Prawns

1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon, juiced
1 orange, juiced
1 teaspoon dried basil, or to taste
2 tablespoons white wine (optional)
30 tiger prawns, peeled and deveined

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a glass dish, mix together the olive oil, mustard, garlic, lemon juice, orange juice, basil and white wine. Add the prawns, and stir to coat. Cover, and let marinate for 1 hour.
2. Heat an outdoor grill to high heat.
3. Thread prawns onto skewers. Grill for 3 to 5 minutes, turning once, until pink.

This seafood recipe serves 6.

More seafood recipes will be added over time. If you have a favorite seafood recipe of your own, please send it to us and we'll include on the website. Please use the form below.