Farmers MAI-Kit
Dive into our interactive, live-streamed cooking classes featuring Maine chefs, farmers, and aquaculture products!MAIC, with support from NAAEE eeBlue, developed a series of live-streamed cooking webinars in collaboration with local chefs and aquaculture farmers to increase aquaculture literacy.
Each episode in the series focuses on a different Maine-grown aquaculture product (oysters, mussels, kelp, salmon) and shows the chef making an original recipe alongside MAIC’s Associate Director Emily Whitmore, and a partner farmer. As the chef cooks, Emily and the farmer discuss where the product was grown, its environmental impacts, and the experience of being an aquaculture farmer and why this career was a good fit for them.
Read on to find links to each episode and recipe – and if you end up cooking one of these yourself, be sure to reach out and let us know your thoughts!
Previous Episodes & Recipes
Farmers MAI-kit, Episode 1: Eastern Oyster
Do you love oysters but aren’t sure how to prepare them at home? Join us for the recording of this webinar live-streamed on September 19th at the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Kitchen featuring oyster farmer Smokey McKeen and chef Kayli McKeen as they prepare three dishes made with oysters from their own farm! Starting with a basic shucking demo, Kayli will lead us through preparing a mignonette, an oyster flan, and an oyster ceviche. Cook along with us (ingredient list at the link below) or just watch and learn!
Farmers MAI-kit, Episode 2: Blue Mussels
Do you love to eat mussels but aren’t sure how to prepare them at home? Join us for the recording of this webinar live-streamed on December 7th at the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Kitchen featuring mussel farmer Matt Moretti of Bangs Island Mussels and chef Rob Dumas of the University of Maine. Rob is going to walk us through making mussels gratin with mussels sustainably grown on Matt’s farm in Casco Bay. Cook along with us (ingredient list at the link below) or just watch and learn!
Farmers MAI-kit, Episode 3: Kelp
Have you tried kelp, the ocean’s superfood, yet? Not sure where to start, or want some ideas of how to cook with it at home? Join us for a live-streamed webinar at the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Kitchen featuring chef Matt Haight of Atlantic Sea Farms and kelp farmer Ken Sparta of Spartan Sea Farms. Matt is going to walk us through making kelp puttanesca with kelp sustainably grown by Maine sea farmers. Cook along with us (ingredient list below) or just watch and learn!
Farmers MAI-kit, Episode 4: Atlantic Salmon
For our next installment of Farmers MAI-Kit, we’re excited to be moving up the food chain and cooking with Maine-grown Atlantic salmon! Chef Chris Bell of Harbor Fish will walk us through a delicious salmon fritter recipe, and we’ll take a trip out to Cooke Aquaculture’s salmon net pens to see where these fish are grown. Cook along with us (ingredient list below) or just watch and learn!
Check out some photos from the oyster episode!
Thank you Smokey and Kayli McKeen! Photo credit Logan Willans.
