Last year, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration launched an “Eat Lionfish” ad campaign.
Here’s why: Lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean and Red Sea, are rapidly breeding, formidable predators that have invaded areas of the Atlantic, especially off the coasts of Florida and the Caribbean islands.
The red- and white-striped fish have voracious appetites that threaten struggling native fish populations. Their dorsal and pectoral spines are venomous and can deliver a painful sting—and since lionfish tend to hang around reefs and shallow water, that’s menacing news for us humans.
Efforts to stem what some observers have called an “infestation” include lionfish fishing derbies and private hunting expeditions, but why not also encourage people to eat lionfish? Their flesh isn’t poisonous and it’s said to be delicious.
Just ask Chef Michelle Bernstein, whose South Florida restaurants include an eponymous one at Palm Beach’s Omphoy Ocean Resort. Bernstein’s scheduled to appear at around 7:30 a.m. (EST) tomorrow during a special Good Morning America (ABC Television) report on Florida’s lionfish problem.
The report is slated to include a lionfish cooking segment with Bernstein, who recently cleaned the fish for cameras before seasoning a fillet with salt and pepper, pan-cooking it with a dab of butter and topping it with a Vietnamese-style sauce of mangos and chiles.
Says Bernstein, “As it turns out, it’s a super flaky, delicious fish that isn’t the least bit oily. It’s a beautiful fish that feels like fluke and would be great raw or cooked simply in a pan and drizzled with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.”
