eatingclub vancouver: Broiled Sardines with Beet Greens and Beetroot; Wild BC Seafood Fest; Steveston Fish Market

[js]
TS had this Wild BC Seafood Fest pencilled into her calendar, and lacking anything better to do on a sunny Saturday afternoon in late August, we decided to head on over to Steveston (Richmond, BC) to partake.

The event starts at 11 in the morning and ends at 4 in the afternoon and we got there at around 3. Somehow, we dawdled and dawdled until it was almost too late. We got there too late to see the cooking expo being given by the Provence team. Still, we managed to score some tasty eats from some of the vendors there.

[js]
I don't think I had a proper lunch before going to the Fest, so I eagerly ordered a sockeye salmon burger from the Seaside Shack family. I was very pleased when I bit into the burger: although it was a tiny bit dry, it was very tasty, with a mouthful of salmon in every bite. This was pure salmon, no filler, and I love me my sockeye salmon.

[ts]
I wanted to order the tuna burger but they were sold out. No matter. I wasn't really hungry.

[js]
We also saw the [C] crew, headed by Chef Robert Clark, serving up some pink salmon tacos and we grabbed one to share.

[js]
It was served with a lime wedge which we promptly squeezed all over the taco. The shredded cabbage, which was pickled, went surprisingly well with the salmon.

[ts]
There were other booths/vendors, but no need for photos. We just so happened to buy a couple of bunches of beets from a vendor.

[js]
Then, we saw this sign.

[ts]
6 sardines for $5! We were quite happy to be scoring such a deal!

With some sardines in hand, we realized we had to leave pretty soon, seeing as they're perishable. However, since they were frozen, and since we were already in Steveston, and since we haven't been there for 10 years, let's say, and since it appeared that a lot has changed (a lot more shops), we decided to stay for a little while longer and get out of the fest environs to walk towards the fisherman's wharf.

Were we glad we did!

[ts]
That, my friends, is the fish market!

[ts]
As JS and I remarked, "So this is where they hide the fish!"

There were quite a number of shrimp vendors; there were snapper for sale, sole, etc. But, more importantly, there were halibut and tuna fishermen! We almost always never buy halibut and tuna because they are just too expensive. But, pricing here seemed to be very reasonable.

[ts]
There's tuna for sale. The catch was, of course, that one had to buy the whole fish. Tuna is big! But, now that we know a source for not-ghastly-expensive tuna, we can actually imagine making something-tuna at home.

The largest ship there.

[ts]
Ah yes, that above is the largest ship there. One might say, the rock star of the boats. They were completely sold out of their rock star item, black cod (also known as sablefish).

Oh, walking along the boats, we spotted one selling sardines. They were selling 8 fish for $5! That's 2 more fish than the vendor at the Wild BC Seafood Fest for the same price! Man! We had no choice, we had to get the 8 sardines.

So, we go home with our loot of 14 sardines and 2 bunches of beets. I thought that we should make a dish using both of the ingredients for a BC-tastic meal. ;)

Blurry photos for "sensitive" readers? Or perhaps I just couldn't take good photos? Hmm...

[ts]
First thing, cleaning the sardines.

[js]
Just thinking about having to gut and clean the sardines made me want to chuck the sardines altogether. However, I persevered, consoling myself with the fact that there are only 14 sardines to be gutted and cleaned. I put on the gloves and got to work.

[ts]
Second, prepping the beets.

[ts]
I used both the roots and the greens. I must say, they were the dirtiest greens I had ever come across.

[ts]
To cook, the beets went into water with a touch of vinegar. The beet greens were washed multiple times, then were finally wilted in a wok with some garlic.

[ts]
I decided to make a salad using the wilted greens and the cooked beets, so I diced some red onions (pinkish purple, like the beets!) and picked a few mint leaves for that purpose.

We had some not-too-sweet raspberry sauce we made a while back sitting in the refrigerator, lonely from being left alone all this time. In keeping with the red-pink-purple theme, I decided to use that to make raspberry vinaigrette. I simply mixed together the raspberry sauce, some vinegar and/or lemon juice, some olive oil, then seasoned with salt and pepper.

Beet Greens and Beetroot Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

[ts]
As for the sardines, we simply broiled them, like we do with our mackerel: a generous amount of salt, some oil, and then we wait until the skin blisters. Of course, if you have the grill ready, that would also be very nice indeed.

See:
Grilled Pike Mackerel and/or Broiled Pike Mackerel

[ts]
I guess you could say that that Saturday afternoon was well-spent after all.