Following our previous attendance of the Sustainable Seafood Festival press conference in April 2014, we are more conscious when it comes to grocery shopping and consistently makes a special effort to look out for sustainable seafood!

As we pursue our modern lifestyles, we are actually using 50% more natural resources than the sustainable levels of the environment. We are actually cutting trees faster than they can grow, putting waste into the environment quicker than they can recycle and we are emptying the seafood in the ocean waters quicker than they can reproduce.

We can however make a difference by embarking on sensible choices and start by choosing sustainable seafood in your grocery shopping! You may wish to download this printable guide or check out the online interactive guide which categorises the types of common seafood.

To coincide with the "World Oceans Day" on 8 June 2014, WWF-Singapore is partnering Marine Stewardship Council ("MSC") and Aquaculture Stewardship Council ("ASC") to launch the Sustainable Seafood Festival ("SSF"), a first of its kind in Singapore which runs for a week from 8 - 15 June 2014! The purpose of this campaign is to encourage people to eat seafood from the right sources. As such, SSF is having supermarkets and restaurants aboard. 

"Sustainability is not just boring, it can also be fun, useful, delicious and make less of a footprint on the planet!"

We were more than privileged to be invited to a cooking workshop where we learnt more about whipping up sumptuous dishes with sustainable seafood under the guidance of Chef Lucas Glanville, Executive Chef of Grand Hyatt Singapore. With more than 28 years of culinary experience, Lucas has been sharpening his knives at restaurants such as Mayfair's Le Gavroche in UK and The Point on Albert Park Lake in Australia.

Let us find out more as we embarked on our very first professional cooking class!

Group of food and lifestyle bloggers listening attentively to Chef Lucas on cooking instructions. Photo credit: WWF Singapore

We have always been huge fans of reality cooking TV shows such as Masterchef Australia among many others and we were really excited when we finally settled at our work station!

Preparing our tom yum broth!

Pan-frying the salmon steaks

Chef Lucas slicing the fennel with complete ease without even looking!

Newbie me having a go; despite my undivided attention, I din't quite manage to do a simple task well and ended up slicing my finger!

Staying focused and trying to keep up with Chef Lucas' instructions without the recipe

Finally....our end products!

Baked garlic and parsley mussels (four portions)

Ingredients:

24 half-shell green lip mussels
1 large peeled garlic clove
1 large peeled red shallot
Handful of Italian parsley leaves
Lemon zest (quarter)
100 gm unsalted butter, softened
75 gm white breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauce Tarator:

100 gm peeled red peppers
2 slices white bread without crust
80 ml milk
40 gm crushed walnuts
1 glove chopped garlic
Pinch of cayenne powder
Pinch of chilli flakes
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. To make the sauce tarator, combine all ingredients into a food processor and blend into a fine paste, season with salt and pepper and a few drops of lemon juice.
2. Refrigerate before serving.
3. To prepare the mussels, combine garlic, shallots, lemon zest and parsley into a food processor and blend into a fine paste.
4. Add the softened butter and pulse; once all ingredients are combined, add the breadcrumbs and season to taste with salt and freshly grounded black pepper.
5. Cover each mussel with some of the garlic and parsley butter.
6. Lay them on a baking tray and bake in an oven at 180 Celsius until crisp and golden brown.
7. Serve immediately with lemon and sauce tarator on side.

Tom Yam Pla (four portions)

Ingredients:

200 gm Basa fish
12 straw mushrooms
2 sticks of lemongrass
20 gm galanga
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 litre chicken stock
25 ml fish sauce
20 gm sugar
2 tablespoons Thai chilli paste
4 red and green chilli padi
40 gm coriander with root
100 gm Thai cherry tomatoes

Method:

1. In a pot, add chicken stock, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, galanga, coriander root, Thai cherry tomatoes and straw mushrooms and gently simmer for one hour.
2. Season with fish sauce, lime juice, chilli paste and then bring to a boil.
3. Taste and ensure that seasoning suits your palate.
4. Add Basa fish and cook for two minutes on a low heat.
5. Remove from heat, serve in a bowl and garnish with red, green chilli and coriander leaves.

Salmon pastrami, shaved fennel salad, radish, lemon and extra virgin olive oil (four portions)

Ingredients:

Salmon pastrami:

4 x 200 gm Salmon portions

Spice Rub:

25 gm salt
25 gm brown sugar
25 gm coarse black peppercorns
15 gm coriander seeds
10 gm juniper berries
5 gm chilli flakes

Shaved fennel salad:

2 fennel bulb
4 whole red radish
Picked dill leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. For the salmon pastrami, combine all ingredients together from the spice rub.
2. Dust the spice rub over the salmon and leave to season on the side.
3. Shave the fennel bulb and the radish with the mandoline into a bowl; add dill leaves, extra virgin olive oil and season with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
4. Heat a non-stick frying pan, add a little oil and gently cook the salmon for a minute on each side, depending on the thickness of the fish. 
5. Remove and place on a plate to rest.
6. Arrange the fennel salad next to the salmon pastrami and drizzle a little more olive oil over the salmon.