JUNE 2015 JUNE SEAFOOD HIGHLIGHTS By Tim Sughrue The value in seafood proteins this week is red snapper. We have domestic yellowtail snapper from Key Largo, Vermillion snapper (Panama City, FL, domestic Mutton snapper (Key Largo, FL), domestic Genuine American Red snapper (Dulac, LA) and Caribbean Red snapper (Trinidad). Caribbean Reds are a close cousin to the domestic American red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico. We have fillets off of 6 pound and up fish this week for the amazing low price of $9.95. This fish typically goes for $15 a pound all year long. Get them while they're hot, no pun intended. The second best value in the seafood business this week is Dayboat quality halibut. We have from both Alaska and Nova Scotia. Incredible quality and probably the least expensive prices of the year. Don't miss out on this great value. Mahi is a fish headed in the other direction. The local run is about over and Central American production is very poor. That means skyrocketing prices back over $10 and higher for this week. Soft crabs have not totally disappeared. Prices of pushed up to about four dollars apiece on jumbos but availability seems to be adequate. There is a peeler run in Jersey that is supplying most of the Crisfield shedding operations. Wild rockfish prices are high and show no signs of weakening. Small amounts of fish are being produced in Rhode Island in the Chesapeake Bay. We just got word that Massachusetts is opening their season 2 1/2 weeks earlier than normal. Their quota has been cut by 25% and based on the initial harvest regulations I don't see the season lasting more than three weeks. But we should have plenty of jumbo wild rockfish for the end of June and the first couple weeks of July. Live Canadian hard shell lobsters will be in good supply for Father's Day weekend. Market prices seem to have stabilized over the last couple of weeks. I do not expect an increase this week. The frozen lobster meat (CK) market is in extremely short supply. The delayed opening of the season contributed to the scarcity but the real culprit (besides poor landings) what is a change in the labor laws in Canada. They now have a 30% cap on foreign workers in the workplace. What that means is if a lobster processing facility has 100 employees only 30 people can be from out of the country. That has crippled frozen lobster meat production. The plants are trying to hire Canadian workers and train them at picking lobsters something very few Canadians have ever done for a living. We are starting to build some inventory of Downeast but it has been a struggle. Sword and tuna remain a great value this week, with some of our swords being landed as close as Virginia Beach, VA. The weather has finally calmed down and our local Ocean City scalloper, Derrick Hoy, is back to work catching his 600 pounds a day. It is an amazing product if you've never tried it. It puts all of the scallops to shame. Wild kings and wild sockeye's are plentiful at Congressional Seafood. The sockeyes are from the Copper River in Cordova, Alaska. The wild king salmon are from the Stikine River in Wrangell, Alaska. In addition to our standard fare of fish we have nice wahoo from the Gulf, California white Seabass, Snook, Corvina, and wild Chesapeake blue cats.
LOBSTER, CORN, AND POTATO SALAD WITH TARRAGON From David Fye Congressional Seafood Corporate Chef INGREDIENTS 4 (1 1/2-lb) live lobsters or 1 1/2 lb. cooked fresh lobster meat 1 lb small red potatoes 3 ears corn For vinaigrette: 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon 1/2 teaspoon each Dijon and whole grain mustard 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons mayonnaise 2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, halved 1 cup coarsely chopped frisée (French curly endive) 1/3 cup scallions PREPARATION Prepare lobster, potatoes, and corn: Plunge 2 live lobsters headfirst into an 8-quart pot of boiling salted water. Cover and cook lobsters over moderately high heat 9 minutes from time they enter water, then transfer with tongs to sink to cool. Return water to a boil and cook remaining 2 lobsters in same manner. Leave water boiling in pot. Simmer potatoes in lobster cooking water until just tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a colander, reserving boiling water in pot. Boil corn in same water until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes, then drain. When lobsters are cool, remove meat from claws, joints, and tails, reserving shells for another use. Cut meat into 1-inch pieces. Cut potatoes into 3/4-inch pieces, and cut corn from cobs. Make vinaigrette: Whisk together lemon juice, tarragon, both mustards, and salt until combined, then add oil in a thin stream, gently fold in mayonnaise. Assemble salad: Just before serving, toss together lobster meat, potatoes, corn, vinaigrette, tomatoes, frisée, and scallion in a large bowl and season with salt and PLENTY of freshly ground pepper.
Pacific Seafood is one of the lar gest seafood companies in Nor th America. The company launched in 1941 as a small, fresh seafood retail operation in Portland, Oregon. The family-owned business is a vertically integrated seafood processing and distributing company. The company's president and CEO, Frank Dulcich, is the grandson of the company's founder, also named Frank Dulcich. For more than 70 years, Pacific Seafood has served the oceans by harvesting, processing and distributing the highestquality and best tasting seafood to our loyal consumers. Pacific Seafood employs over 2,500 people at over 35 facilities, with processing and distribution facilities in seven states. Although the company has grown in size, it is still family-owned and family-focused while always being dedicated to delivering the best seafood products and the best customer service anywhere. The company is committed to authentic sustainability. All products come from only verifiable legally harvested species using ecologically and ethically sound choices, which conserve ocean resources and provide a sustainable and healthy food source for present and future generations.
JUNE 2015 National Oceans Month Father s Day Summer Solstice Sunday, June 21 Coming up in July: 4th of July Saturday, July 4 Name of Employee: Jon Pearlman Bastille Day Tuesday, July 14 Year of Hire: 2005 - Celebrating 10 Years! Role at Congressional: Vice President/Director of Operations Favorite fish and why: Prime Rib Just joking! I like most fish, not much beats a good piece of halibut though. Favorite sports team: All Things DC! Wizards, Nats, Caps & Skins Dream vacation: Quiet Beach with my wife, good music and of course, great food! FINvitational 2015 Monday, August 10 Sponsorship Opportunities Now Available Call for details! 1-800-991-8750
Look who was photographed wearing a 2012 FINvitational Hat at the Reston Farmers Market! Chef Craig McMullen Executive Sous Chef Ronald Reagan Building Albacore Tuna Amberjack Baramundi Black Bass, Mass Black Cod Black Drum Blue Catfish, VA Cobia, Carolina Cod, East Coast Crab, MD & VA Crab, Venezuela Escolar Fluke, Mass Tile Grouper, East Coast Grouper, Gulf of Mexico Halibut, East Coast Halibut, West Coast Hamachi Lobsters, Domestic Mahi, Domestic Monk Oysters, New England Pollock Razor Clams Ray Wings, Chesapeake Salmon, Canada Salmon, West Coast Sea Bass, Chilean Scallops Shrimp, Carolina Snapper Striped Bass (Rockfish) Sword, Domestic Sword, Canadian Tilapia Tuna (Yellowfin) Walleye
Congressional Field Trip to Barren Island Oysters Hooper s Island, MD June 2, 2015
CONGRESSIONAL SEAFOOD WAS A PROUD SPONSOR OF THE RAMMYS 2015! THANK YOU TO THE CULINARY TEAM AT THE WALTER E. WASHINGTON CONVENTION CENTER FOR THEIR DELICIOUS PRESENTATION OF OUR WILD BLUE CATFISH TACOS AND SLIDERS.