Charter boat captain publishes Oregon Coast seafood recipe book

BROOKINGS, Ore, (Feb. 16, 2024) – Drawing from two decades experience as a full-time ocean charter boat captain and river guide, Capt. Andy Martin has published a recipe book featuring his favorite ways to prepare Oregon Coast seafood.

Order Online Now! $12.50 includes free shipping.

Captain’s Choice: Recipes from Brookings Fishing Charters is now available for purchase online or at Brookings Bait and Tackle at the Port of Brookings.

Captain’s Choice: Recipes From Brookings Fishing Charters is now available for purchase online and at the Brookings Fishing Charters office at the port of Brookings. The spiral-bound, full color recipe book features two dozen of Capt. Andy’s favorite seafood dishes, including Rockfish Chowder, Parmesan Rockfish, Rockfish Puttanesca, Teriyaki Grilled Albacore, Creamy Lingcod and Shrimp Pasta, Brown Sugar Cured Smoked Salmon, Salmon Chowder and Beer Battered Lingcod.

Capt. Andy Martin, owner of Brookings Fishing Charters, is the author of the new Oregon Coast seafood recipe book.

Almost daily on his fishing charters, customers would ask Capt. Andy about the best way to prepare their catch of the day. He’d email recipes from the Brookings Fishing Charters web site, or jot down basic chowder and fish taco recipes. The cookbook is a collection of several of his favorite rockfish, lingcod, salmon and halibut recipes.

The recipe book is spiral bound and includes nearly two dozen Oregon Coast seafood recipes.
Each recipe includes color photos, ingredients, and cooking instructions.

Early in his Alaska river guide career, Capt. Andy would use the first salmon of the day to prepare salmon chowder with a propane stove on the bow of his boat. He and other charter boat captains often spent evenings after trips creating dishes with halibut or salmon. Capt. Andy also spent the early part of his career working at world-class fishing lodges in Alaska, and had the chance to sample some of the best seafood dishes, and add his own twist to them.

Each recipe includes color photos, ingredients, cooking instructions, and description of the recipe. Most recipes can be made with the fillets of just a couple of rockfish, or a single lingcod fillet. With tighter catch limits in Alaska, Oregon and California, the recipe book allows anglers to make several meals from a daily limit of rockfish, lingcod or halibut. All of the recipes can be cooked up using fresh or frozen fish fillets.

The contents of Captain’s Choice: Recipes from Brookings Fishing Charters.

To order a recipe book online, visit Home | Brookings Fishing Charters LLC (square.site). The cost includes free shipping. Recipes books can also be purchased at the Brookings Fishing Charters and Brookings Bait and Tackle office at 16399 Lower Harbor Road at the Port of Brookings.

The Brookings Fishing Charters crew is working on a second recipe book, featuring favorite smoked fish recipes from each captain, and favorite wild game jerky recipes.

Easy, delicious rockfish chowder recipe

By far, our most requested recipe has been rockfish chowder. Our customers love it, and almost everyone who tries it says it one of their favorite ways to prepare their catch. Perfect for rockfish, lingcod or halibut, this recipe will have you coming back for seconds. Here’s a look back at Capt. Andy’s rockfish chowder recipe. This is our best Rockfish Chowder Recipe.

(Originally published March 26, 2020) Rockfish chowder is great way to enjoy fresh or frozen Oregon Coast rockfish, especially on a cold, rainy or foggy day. The fillets from a couple of rockfish will yield enough chowder for your entire family, or for a feast to enjoy with friends and neighbors, double the recipe.

Rockfish chowder is delicious and easy to make. Just a couple of rockfish fillets is enough to make a pot of chowder.

Here is Capt. Andy’s favorite rockfish chowder recipe, which yields 8 servings or 2 quarts. Halibut, lingcod or even salmon can be substituted for rockfish. This dish is quick and easy to prepare.

Rockfish Chowder

4 strips bacon (reserve a small portion of the bacon grease)

1 cup finely sliced carrots
1 bunch green onions, sliced (1/2 cup yellow onion may be substituted)

1 cup diced potatoes (optional)
2 tablespoons butter
1 minced garlic clove
1 package cream cheese (8 oz.), cut into small cubes
2 cans (10.5 oz. cans) cream of potato soup, condensed
1 can (10.5 oz.) cream of mushroom soup, condensed
2 cups 2% milk, half-and-half or heavy cream
1 to 2 pounds rockfish, cut into small pieces
1 cup frozen corn, or 1 can corn (drained)
Salt, pepper and lemon pepper to taste

Parsley to garnish

In a large pot, sauté the thinly chopped carrots, onion and potatoes in butter. Cook until the onion and carrots are tender.

Add the soup (undiluted), milk and cream cheese. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the cream cheese is melted. (Cutting the cream cheese into small cubes will allow it to melt much faster than a whole block). Add crumbled cooked bacon and small amount of bacon grease.

Add the soup (undiluted), milk and cream cheese. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the cream cheese is melted.
Add the raw rockfish fillets, cut into small pieces. Bring to a boil, constantly stirring, and then simmer for 10 minutes. The rockfish will quickly cook.
Add crumbled bacon and some of the reserved bacon grease.

Add the corn, stir, and prepare to serve.

Serve with a dash of Tabasco, or cayenne pepper, and a dab of butter.

To make a seafood chowder, add cooked crab meat and/or cooked shrimp.

Rockfish chowder makes a hearty meal. Serve with warm break, and a dab of butter and few drops of Tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper.
Rockfish chowder made by Brookings Fishing Charters customer Neil Anderson.

To catch a limit of rockfish and lingcod to enjoy with this recipe, check out www.brookingsfishing.com. Capt. Andy learned about this recipe while working on halibut charter boats in remote Southeast Alaska, where charter operators living in the bush ate fish several times a weeks.

A few rockfish yield enough fillets for a large pot of rockfish chowder.

Rockfish Puttanesca

By Capt. Andy Martin – One of the perks of running a charter boat on the Oregon Coast is an ample supply of rockfish and lingcod fillets to enjoy with our families and try new recipes with. One of the captains who runs out of the Brookings Fishing Charters office, Capt. Rich Signorello, says his favorite way to enjoy rockfish is Rockfish Puttanesca, a delicious twist to a classic Italian dish that will have you coming back for seconds.

Start by finely chopping garlic and parsley.

Pasta Puttanesca is a simple, tasty alternative to traditional spaghetti with meatballs. Adding rockfish fillets makes the dish burst with flavor and appear much more elaborate, worthy of a spot on the menu of an expensive seafood or Italian restaurant. The recipe is actually quite simple, and costs less than $15 to make a meal for the entire family.

Capt. Rich says Rockfish Puttanesca is his favorite way to enjoy rockfish.

When Rich described his homespun recipe for Rockfish Puttanesca I was intrigued, and after experimenting a little, came up with this version. It is worth trying, and may become one of your favorite recipes for enjoying Oregon Coast rockfish.

Rockfish Puttanesca

2 to 6 rockfish fillets. Smaller fillets work best.

1/3 cup olive oil

5-6 cloves minced garlic

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 flat anchovy fillets (2 ounces)

2 14.5-ounce cans crushed tomatoes (finely diced tomatoes will can be substituted)

1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted

1/4 cup capers

1 bunch chopped parsley

salt, garlic salt and pepper to taste

1 package (14-16 ounces) spaghetti

Parmesan cheese

Finley chop the garlic and parsley and set aside. Rinse rockfish fillets.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook garlic for 1 minute, then add crushed red pepper and anchovy fillets. The anchovy fillets will break up. Cook for 1 more minute, and add olives, capers, parsley and crushed tomatoes. Add salt, pepper and garlic salt to taste. Bring to a boil, add rockfish fillets, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Just after adding rockfish fillets and covering, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook spaghetti for 9-10 minutes. By the time the spaghetti is cooked and drained, the sauce will be finished. Removed cooked rockfish from sauce and place on a separate dish, then combine sauce and spaghetti and mix well.

Add a rockfish fillet to each serving of the puttanesca. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Saute the anchovy fillets, crushed red pepper flakes and garlic.
Add olives, parsley and capers.
Add two cans crushed tomatoes. Stir well.
After bringing sauce to a boil, add rockfish fillets. Cover, lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
The rockfish fillets will cook in the sauce.
Once the rockfish is cooked, remove from sauce and set aside.
Toss pasta and sauce.
Serve a rockfish fillet with each portion of puttanesca.

To catch a limit of rockfish to make Rockfish Puttanesca and other tasty seafood recipes, book a trip with any of the Brookings Fishing Charters charter boats. Learn more at www.brookingsfishing.com.

Rockfish and Sausage Stew

While fish tacos and fish and chips have long been a favorite way to enjoy the tasty rockfish caught aboard our fishing charters, Rockfish and Sausage Stew is a delicious meal that is great any time of the year. This recipe is easy, quick, and will leave your family or guests wanting a second helping. It also is friendly to low-carb and keto diets.

Rockfish and Sausage Stew can be prepared from fresh or frozen rockfish. Other white-fleshed fish fillets, including lingcod, halibut or Pacific cod can be used. Great on a cold, stormy winter day with fish from the freezer, or on those cool, foggy Oregon Coast summer evenings.

Rockfish and Sausage Stew is a delicious way to enjoy Oregon Coast rockfish.

Ingredients

2 tbsp. butter or olive oil

6 oz. cooked andouille sausage, sliced

2 small leeks, white and light green portions, sliced

1 fennel bulb, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tbsp. parsley, chopped

2 bay leaves

1/3 cup white wine

1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes

2 bottles (8 oz, each) clam juice

3 cups water

1 lb. rockfish fillets, boneless and skinless, cut into small pieces

1/2 lb. Oregon pink shrimp meat, or peeled and deveined medium shrimp

salt and pepper to taste

Cut a pound of rockfish fillets into small pieces, about 1 square inch each. The fillets of two or three rockfish is all that is needed for this recipe.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil or butter, and add sliced sausage, leeks and fennel. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add garlic and bay leaves. Add white wine and cook for 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes and increase heat to medium high. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add clam juice and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, and add pieces of rockfish. Cook 4 minutes. Add shrimp meat.

Cook for 2 to 3 more minutes, discard bay leaf, stir in parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

The finished stew will have you coming back for seconds.

To catch a limit of rockfish to make Rockfish and Sausage Stew, or any of our other great seafood recipes, book a Brookings fishing charter at www.brookingsfishing.com

Panko breaded fish easy and delicious

One of the easier and quicker ways to prepare rockfish or lingcod fillets is coating them with panko bread crumbs and frying with a small amount of oil. Delicious, with a crunchy coating, this is a standby recipe for many Oregon Coast anglers.

Panko breaded fish fillets make delicious fish and chips.

Pour enough oil into a skillet to completely cover the bottom. Heat over medium heat to 300 to 350 degrees. Panko can burn at hjgher temperatures, or when deep fried. Cut the rockfish or lingcod fillets into small pieces. One rockfish fillet will yield two to four pieces. Combine a cup of flour, salt, pepper and other seasonings (Johnny’s, Old Bay, creole, lemon pepper, etc.) in a gallon-size bag.

For best results, cut rockfish fillets into smaller pieces.

In a bowl, beat two or three eggs. Add panko bread crumbs to another bowl. Completely cover the small pieces of fish by shaking them in the bag of flour, then dip the fish into the egg wash. Coat both sides of the fish in the panko bread crumbs.

Coat the fish fillets in seasoned flour by placing them in a plastic bag and shaking.
After dipping the flour-coated fish in egg wash, cover both sides in Panko bread crumbs.

The fish will cook quickly in the hot oil. Cook one side of the fish for 1 to 2 minutes, then turn. Cook until golden brown.

A small amount of oil is used to cook each side of the fish until it turns golden brown.

The small pieces of fish will cook quickly. Place on a paper towel to drain excess oil.

Drain fish pieces on a paper towel and salt to taste.

Panko-breaded fish is especially tasty with a squeeze of lemon juice, and dipped in cocktail or tarter sauce.

Make tarter sauce by combining chopped onion, chopped dill pickle, mayonnaise, a small amount of lemon juice, salt, pepper and dill weed.
Cocktail sauce is a simple combination of ketchup, lemon juice and horseradish.

To catch a limit of rockfish or lingcod to make your own panko-breaded fish, book a charter with www.brookingsfishing.com.

Here are some of our other favorite fish recipes:

http://brookingsfishing.blogspot.com/2016/03/easydelicious-beer-battered-fish-and.html