Small fish make a big splash in Newport’s sustainable food scene

Sustainable local seafood, including some species you may not have tried, is showing up on the menus of Newport County restaurants. It’s no fluke — although fluke is one of the fish that’s being embraced by chefs, thanks to education efforts by Eating with the Ecosystem, a Rhode Island nonprofit whose mission is to get people to eat fish that are abundant in local waters and support the fishing community that reels them in.

“We take a place-based approach to sustaining New England’s wild seafood, which is all about taking care of the ecosystems that produce our seafood and supporting the communities that help harvest it and get it to our plates,” says Executive Director Kate Masury.

You can taste the results of the group’s work at the just-opened Little Clam at The Wayfinder hotel in Newport, Newport Vineyards in Middletown, Salty in Jamestown, and the Portsmouth-based Little Fish food truck.

All images above courtesy of Little Clam

“Chef Antonio Wormley and I believe that food should reflect a sense of place, and that means telling the story of Narragansett Bay and the waters around us,” says Jake Rojas, consulting chef at Little Clam and the man behind Tallula’s Taqueria and the former Tallulah’s on Thames. “We’ve built relationships with local fishermen so we can bring in fish that are responsibly harvested and truly fresh.”

Signature dishes at Little Clam include whole black sea bass served with Korean-inspired banchan, pairing the chefs’ creativity and cultural influences with the kind of different flavor profile that “keeps things interesting for us in the kitchen,” Rojas says.

The Little Fish food truck draws its name from chef/owner Joshua Berman’s desire to help New England’s “little fish” populations.

“Some of my closest friends are commercial fishermen,” says Berman. “We have had countless conversations about using lesser-known or underappreciated species, which has fueled my interest in using them whenever possible.”

Black bass, fluke, and tautog, also known as blackfish, are among Berman’s favorites to work with, especially when preparing whole-fish dishes.

“We have been using other species like scup [also known as porgy] that are small but have a great, clean flavor that lend themselves well to many dishes where a large filet isn’t necessary, like ceviche or tacos,” he says. “I love to do whole black bass or fluke on the grill, stuffed with lemon and herbs and topped with a garlic sauce made with olive oil, tomato and oregano.”

Serving lesser-known fish also can have economic benefits for both restaurants and customers.

“Using black bass or fluke to make tacos can’t work at scale for my food truck because the tacos would be too expensive, and no one would buy a $10 taco,” says Berman. Scup, on the other hand, can be used to make a delicious, affordable taco, he says.

There are about 100 local seafood species that can be consumed sustainably, Masury says. They range from the familiar, like flounder, lobster, and squid, to the unexpected, like butterfish, skate (a type of ray with edible “wings”), and slipper limpets, a type of sea snail. Monkfish, sometimes called the “poor man’s lobster,” may even be found at area supermarkets as well as in local fish markets.

It’s not that people have never eaten these fish before, but large-scale commercial fishing tends to favor larger fish that yield bigger filets, like tuna and cod. Preparation of some alternative species may also pose a challenge: scup, for example, is a bony fish, while bluefish are oily and can have a strong “fishy” flavor (although there are ways to prepare them to yield a milder taste).

Bluefish traditionally were eaten by local Native American tribes. Other smaller fish are still sought and consumed by people from cultures where eating whole fish is still common, such as those from Latin America and Portugal and the Azores.

“It’s really not that hard to cook a whole fish,” says Dave Dadekian, creator of Eat Drink RI and president of Eating with the Ecosystem’s board of directors. “You just roast it and pull the meat off the bones. Almost anyone can do it.”

Scup yield a flaky, mild, white filet, Masury says, and the pinkish flesh — delicious uncooked — works well in ceviche. Green crabs, which are both invasive and abundant, can be eaten whole when they are small, or used as the base for a broth.

“Limpets can be made similar to how you would do mussels, in a nice, flavorful broth with wine and garlic and herbs,” she adds, “but also there’s a restaurant in Westerly called High Hope Tavern that serves them like you would a fried clam.”

For those who like to source their own food, fish like scup can be caught with a rod and reel right from the shore. Limpets and quahogs live in similar habitats, and green crabs can be captured in baited traps. Few commercial fishermen are actively seeking species like scup, but they often are a bycatch of the hunt for larger fish.

“If they’re out there for cod and catch themselves a decent amount of scup, they can make money off that instead of throwing it back or using it for bait, like they did in the old days,” says Dadekian. “Now, they actually have a market for it.”

For Chefs like Andy Teixeira at Newport Vineyards, Eating with the Ecosystem’s impact on the local seafood scene is significant.

“They’re educating people and changing the narrative around what’s ‘good’ to eat. That’s huge,” he says. “Their work helps fishermen, chefs, and eaters all pull in the same direction — toward a healthier ocean.”

Teixeira suggests making wood-fired monkfish tail, brushed with smoked butter and served with fire-roasted fennel and citrus. “It’s bold, elegant, and totally New England,” he says.

If ordering an unfamiliar fish for dinner on a night out or experimenting with whole fish at home seems like too big a leap of faith, Eating with the Ecosystem also hosts events serving samples of a variety of sustainable seafood.

Its annual Fishes at the Fort, a fundraising dinner and auction, will be held Sunday, Aug. 17, at Fort Getty in Jamestown. (The event previously was held at Fort Adams State Park in Newport.) It will feature dishes from Berman, Sky Haneul Kim of Providence’s Gift Horse, David Standridge from The Shipwright’s Daughter in Mystic, Conn., and Jason Timothy of Troop PVD.

Other events include restaurant dinners, a speaker series, online cooking classes, and free community education programs through the mobile Scales & Tales Food Boat.

“A lot of the fish we work with have always been here, but they’re underutilized,” says Rojas. “They’re just as delicious, and sometimes more so than what people are used to seeing on menus. By choosing what’s local and in season, we’re supporting our community and reducing our impact, and guests are getting something that’s truly of this place.”

RECIPES

GREEN CRAB CAESAR

Credit: Mary Parks | Green Crab (greencrab.org)
The Canadian cousin of the Bloody Mary typically includes clam nectar in addition to tomato juice, vodka, Worcestershire, and hot sauce. Our riff swaps clam nectar for green crab stock.

INGREDIENTS
1 lime wedge
1.5 oz vodka
ice
celery salt to garnish
2 dash Worcestershire sauce
hot sauce to taste
1 oz green crab stock
6-9 oz tomato juice cocktail
garnish with a green crab claw, pickle,
celery, or olives

INSTRUCTIONS
Rim the edge of a glass with lime juice then dip in celery salt
Pour Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, vodka, and green crab stock into a glass, stir with a bar spoon, add ice, then stir in tomato juice cocktail
Add garnish and serve!

CHICKEN FRIED SKATE

Credit: Dave Dadekian | Eat Drink RI

INGREDIENTS
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp hot sauce
1 skate wing fillet
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 tbsp Cajun spice blend
frying oil of your choice

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl or large zip top bag combine the buttermilk and hot sauce.
Add the skate and refrigerate for at least one hour.
In a deep plate or another large zip top bag combine the flour, cornmeal and spices.
Pour enough frying oil into a wide sauté pan to come about 3/4” up the side.
Set over medium heat, bringing the oil to approximately 350F, adjusting the heat as needed.
Dredge the skate evenly in the flour mix and place in the pan.
Cook for 5-6 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the skate, until each side is almost dark brown and crispy.
Move to a paper towel lined plate for a moment to drain, then eat, perhaps with a wedge of lemon squeezed over the top