Trevally with Rosemary and Chilli

You might be like me, and feel like you haven't been eating enough fish lately.


I was sitting outside the fish shop in the Mall today, and suddenly felt like cooking a fish dinner! I remembered that there's a sustainable fish guide that you can download. So I Googled "sustainable fish australia" and found the Australian Marine Conservation Society. They publish the Sustainable Seafood Guide. You can buy the full guide for $10, download a mini-guide in pdf form, or lookup individual species to see if they're good to buy. 


They make their recommendations based on research regarding fish stocks, fishing methods and farming methods. They have a simple traffic-light based system to help you decide. Red means that the species is over-fished, or uses fishing methods that are harmful to other species. Orange means you should think twice - this seems to apply to a lot of farmed fish, where there's concern about the impacts of the farming practices on the marine environment. Green means it's a species that you can buy because the animals are fished or grown in a sustainable fashion. They also give all the common names of fish and where they come from, so you can buy Australian fish. 


So I was able to download the mini guide onto my phone and it recommended Trevally as one of the species that was good to buy - and I happened to be staring at some whole trevally in the window. Better still, the fish shop had a free cleaning and filleting service. While I had to wait 10 minutes or so for the fish to be cleaned and cut, I was able to get 2 whole fish, including heads and bones for stock, for just $16.50 (it was $10.90 a kilo - bargain!). The guide also recommends calamari, blue swimmer crab, mussels and oysters!


I've never cooked with Trevally before. I'll confess that I've been lazy with seafood and tended to default to salmon or trout as my fish of choice. I found this recipe for Trevally with rosemary and chilli. Not that there's much of a recipe, but being an oily fish, trevally can be cooked with stronger flavours. There was a dark red line running down the middle of the fillets that seemed to hold all the bones. I just sliced down either side to get some lovely little fillets. I popped them in the fridge with the rosemary, garlic, pepper, chilli flakes and olive oil. Just before cooking I added the lemon and salt. The fish is served with some roasted chunks of sweet potato and grilled zucchini, with some grilled lemon to squeeze over. I use Jamie Oliver's advice for making roast root vegetables in a hurry - parboil, microwave or steam the vegies first, then finish in a hot oven with a drizzle of olive oil. You'll get crispy vegies with a soft centre in about 20 mins.