Homegrown, heirloom Stupice tomatoes with garden oregano. Grill the tomatoes then lay the oregano sprigs on top and cover until dinner's ready.

I couldn’t resist the Westport Aquaculture oysters in the seafood case at Whole Foods Market Fairfield yesterday. We’d stopped in on the way home from the beach and found some local corn from Mitchell Farms and Farmer’s Cow milk to help round out a veggie-heavy dinner to be made from our weekly CSA share from Sport Hill Farm. Our trip to the seafood counter was supposed to be for sea scallops only, from a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Certified fishery. But my husband was leaving for a 10-day business trip to California and I wanted to give him a special send off. Our half dozen Blue Point oyster order was neatly wrapped and labeled in a net and off we went to prepare the feast.

MSC-Certified scallops grilled on garden-fresh rosemary skewers.

Raw or cooked was the question on the way home in the car. I grew up near the waters of Long Island Sound and spent summers fishing and clamming with my family during the summer months. I remember cooking clams and oysters on the grill and how easy it was and wanted to relive that food memory. I did not, however, want to revisit the memory of my father drilling the right and wrong ways to shuck a bivalve into us, so I figured the best way was to steam them open. My husband, our grill master, liked that idea.

Grilled Sport Hill Farm cauliflower was tender, lightly golden and delicately sweet and flavorful.

We had lots of food to grill – summer squash, cauliflower florets, and sweet Cipollini onions from our CSA, heirloom Stupice tomatoes from the backyard garden, scallops skewered on rosemary stalks clipped from our raised herb bed, and halved and pitted peaches from Rose’s Berry Farm that we’d drizzled with Red Bee wildflower honey. The oysters would go on last so I had time to soak them. Bivalve mollusks benefit from sitting refrigerated in clean, cold water just before serving raw or cooking because they’ll filter out any sand. Just be sure to give them a good scrubbing first to remove any loose sand, barnacles and other sea life that might be attached to them. Discard any that are open, a sure sign they’re dead. And don’t let them soak too long or the fresh water cycling through them (they naturally do this as filter feeders) will dilute their flavor.

Lay the clean oysters on the grill trough side down to capture the flavorful juices.

Plucked from the grill with a pair of tongs, the oysters are ready to serve.

How to grill oysters: Lay them trough side down (the deep cupped part of the shell) on the grill in order to retain their juices. Shut the grill and lift after 5 or 6 minutes so see if any have popped open. The minute the first one opens, remove them all from the grill to a serving plate. Cooking times will vary according to the grill temperature and the size and temperature of the oysters. Remove cooked oysters carefully to prevent spilling their juices. If they’re too tippy, fill a bowl with kosher salt and snuggle them into it.

My husband pried the oysters open with his bare hands, sparing us the drama of shucking.

Topped with a little melted, organic butter, the oysters were "the best ever" according to my kids.

At the table, my husband wrestled the oysters open the rest of the way with his bare hands, detaching the upper from the lower shell at the hinge. I hadn’t gotten around to making the mignonette sauce, so warm butter had to do as a sauce, which of course pooled on top of the abundant natural juices. My husband and sons ate them with gusto, urging me on as they declared how delicious they were. I was too busy steaming corn and putting out the wine and missed them entirely. We’ll have to buy more next time.

Sunset Meadow Vineyard's Cayuga White was a perfect pairing with all the seafood and fresh vegetables.

To learn more about Westport Aquaculture and Whole Foods Markets’ commitment to sustainable seafood, please read our sustainable seafood post and watch the video below.

Sunday, March 14, 2010, 7:45 am

Analiese Paik of the Fairfield Green Food Guide discussed sustainable seafood with Matt Scott on Ch. 8′s Good Morning Connecticut Show

Click here to view the video  and post comments.

Why Sustainable Seafood?

Nearly 75% of the world’s fisheries are fished to capacity, or overfished. Our seafood choices have a direct impact on the health of our oceans. I recently became an advocate for Seafood Watch, a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium that helps consumers and businesses choose seafood that is fished or farmed in ways that don’t harm the environment or deplete stocks.  Their sustainable seafood recommendations come in handy pocket guides and mobile applications that indicate which seafood items are “Best Choices,” “Good Alternatives,” and which ones you should “Avoid.” These can be downloaded from their site, seafoodwatch.org.

Print and carry Seafood Watch's pocket guide to help you choose seafood that doesn't harm the environment or deplete stocks.

The Case for US Shrimp

Imported  wild shrimp is on the “avoid” list at Seafood Watch because shrimp trawl nets accidentally catch and kill more than 1.8 mm tons of marine life worldwide each year. Farmed shrimp is also on the “avoid” list because shrimp farms have destroyed millions of acres of coastal habitat worldwide. What shrimp should we eat? Seafood Watch recommends US shrimp instead because it is caught under tighter US environmental standards. Luckily we are close to Maine and can enjoy the Maine shrimp season, which is nearing its end.

A Seasonal Delicacy

Maine shrimp, a local and sustainable seasonal delicacy, is available at the Norwalk Indoor Farmers' Market from Pemaquid Lobster & Seafood

The supply of Northern or pink shrimp from the Gulf of Maine is so bountiful this year that the Maine State Department of Marine Resources has extended the season to May 1. I bought these yesterday from Pemaquid Seafood, a vendor at the Norwalk Indoor Winter Farmers’ Market at 61 Wall Street, and cooked them briefly in salted boiling water until they turned an opaque pink and the tails curled up. Aren’t they delicious? So sweet and flavorful and available with the head and tail on for maximum flavor, headless, or already peeled. All you need is some bread and a salad from these winter markets and you’ve got a local feast. Availability is subject to Wednesday’s catch so check this website for updates on the catch of the week. www.pemaquidlobster.com. Pemaquid is also in Naugatuck on Fridays at 786 Rubber Ave from 9:30am-5pm. Don’t forget to bring a cooler with ice.

Shop from Retailers Dedicated to Preserving Ocean Health

Target and Whole Foods Market are two retailers who sell sustainable seafood based in part on guidance from the Seafood Watch program. Target has eliminated all farmed salmon from its stores, citing guidance from the Seafood Watch program. This is a huge development from a major retailer, and it means that no farmed salmon will be sold as fresh, frozen or shelf items in any of its more than 1,700 popular stores. Most salmon are farmed in open net pens, and waste from these farms is released directly into the oceans, polluting waters and spreading disease. Seafood watch recommends wild -caught salmon or Artic char instead.

Whole Foods Markets was one of the first American companies to join the Marine Stewardship Council in 1999, a group committed to working together towards the common goal of rebuilding declining seafood populations. In keeping with Whole Foods Market’s continuous efforts towards having fully sustainable seafood for its customers nationwide, they began working with the Seafood Watch and the Blue Ocean Institute to offer consumers a new, progressive Wild-Caught Seafood Ranking System.

Equally importantly, they source their clams, oysters and lobsters from Westport Aquaculture, a 5th generation family-owned shellfish business with over 600 acres of beds in the Western Long Island Sound. You may have heard the term “stewards of the land” in reference to farmers who take good care of the land, well Captain Jeff Northrop in association with Norm Bloom & Sons and Tim Pramer are “Stewards of the Beds”. Instead of carting away the oceans, they are only harvesting what they sow. They seed the beds with baby clams and oysters they purchase, grow them to the size of a quarter in an upweller (ocean incubation tank), and then plant them in their beds to grow and spawn naturally. When they are mature, they are harvested using turn-of-the century refurbished boats in Norwalk and Westport.

Westport Aquaculture sells their catch to Whole Foods Markets in CT and NY plus high-end restaurants looking for super-fresh, sustainable seafood like The Dressing Room in Westport, Match restaurant in Norwalk, La Villa in Westport and Blue Hill and Stone Barns in New York. This is an excellent source for year-round local and sustainable shellfish. Lobsters are caught in traps by the two remaining lobster fishermen in Fairfield County and must adhere to very strict size restrictions. The catch is highly regulated and there is a healthy supply of lobsters . Visit Westport Aquaculture at the Westport and Ridgefield Summer Farmers’ Markets or online at www. Westportaquaculture.com. (Editors Note: The site is temporarily down while undergoing renovation.)