Dana's Traveling Shellfish Blog: The Homemade Bento Box

And the good ideas just keep rolling.....

Today, Sarah and I visited with Blaine and Ginny Olsen, the owners and operators of Oceanville Seafood, up in Stonington, and also the relatively-new owners of Long Cove Oysters, named after the body of water that's nearly right spang in their back yard. Blaine and Ginny had gotten some kelp lines from Paul and Tollef, and were game to join our project, so up we went, to check out their lines, and take some water quality samples. Like a dud, I forgot the temp logger in the truck - will have to send it up for them to deploy.

Needless to say, Long Cove is beautiful, even though we went there on a cold, overcast day. It was just about flat calm, and just a wonderful winter scene. Blaine, who's been clamming and fishing commercially in Stonington his entire life, narrated things about the place that made it all the more attractive: how, just near the head of the cove, there is 100 feet of water and many a halibut handlined out of there; how the packets used to come to the wharf at the head of the cove, freighted with steamer clams ready for pickling, or how the guy on the shore got caught with tons of marijuana a few years back - a boat was parking out front that just happened to be up from Colombia, and the people on the shore needed conveyer belts to move the stuff around. It's great to have a tour guide with that kind of historical knowledge.

Anyway, off we went, and we got our samples in the cold weather, and Blaine took us around the place a bit. I didn't get a great photo of him, but I think Sarah did, and I'll do my best to post it, but here's one of the two of them. One of the places of interest was a spot where the kelp grew well, and so Sarah just had to see all about it - she's a hardcore seaweed nut, that's for sure - and I mean that in the most complimentary sense. Boy, did she smile!


Blaine and Sarah checking out the local kelp crop

Clearly, this is a Kelp Enthusiast.

I've gotten a lot out of listening to people who know something about kelp, and this was no different; learning about the different tissue types, spawning process and seasons, etc. When the topic of taste came up, I took a couple of bites on the 'wing' of the kelp, and I found it to be pretty nice indeed! Very mild, crunchy, and would be great with all kinds of foods. so, I'm starting to feel like a real convert.

We got back to their shop, and Ginny informs us that they've been smoking mussels, and asks if we'd like to try some. Easiest question of the day, because I am a smoked seafood nut. As it turns out, and not unexpectedly, the mussels were delicious, so I'm betting that they've got a winner on their hands.

The unexpected part came later on when Sarah sends a few photos back, saying that she created essentially a little Bento box - sort of a Japanese lunch combo, on the fast-food-ish side - out of the kelp and the mussels. One part of the kelp she boiled, and one she just chopped up. The boiled kelp became this absolutely gorgeous bright green, and when set with the mussels and the brown kelp - WOW! I'm looking at the pictures drooling, and wishing I'd been there at suppertime. Bottom line being: here is a dish that features all products from the sea - essentially 'sea meat and sea vegetables' in a combination that is delicious and stunning. Our photographs are not professional, but I hope you get the idea. This is a dish ready to go, and I heartily encourage you all to try it. Who knows what other recipes and products will evolve in this area, but I'm already convinced, and looking forward to the next months and years in the aquaculture game - it's gonna be exciting.

The uncooked kelp on the left is just chopped up from the tender side pieces - the wings - and was added to miso soup. The kelp on the right was boiled for a minute or so, and became brilliant green.