Colin Moody stood on a remote beach in Big Sur, chef’s knife in hand, not knowing what was coming. When a spear fisherman came ashore, Moody made magic happen.

Colin Moody’s seaside magic. Photo by Fin + Forage

He boiled a box crab, then quickly dismantled it and popped it in a pan for a gentle sauté. He picked up a huge limpet, sliced it thin, and seared it in brown butter. He popped scallops from their shells and laid a few next to the limpet.

He cleaned and de-gilled a large blue rock cod, then foraged mussels and kelp as the tide rose. Then he added some of the fish and the mussels to a rich seafood soup.

Soon he’d serve it with a cod-scallop ceviche, crispy fish skin, and sea lettuce chicharron.

The spontaneous handiwork was stunning—though it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Moody’s been crafting five-star seafood from local fishermen’s catch of the day for decades.

But his cheffing show has been happening out of sight, so that contributes to some surprise. While he’s a standout at occasional food festivals like fall’s Big Sur Food & Wine, he has long served as executive chef for private clubs like Monterey Peninsula Country Club (and his current outpost The Club at Pasadera), so he’s not exactly mainstream.

A quick peek at his Instagram reflects how much he’s loved in the chef world, and the sophistication he brings to the plate: Plan to eat before looking at his photos of truffle scallop panini, banana leaf-wrapped Mahi with coconut, lime, miso and ginger, and an ahi tuna-avocado roulade with a wonton cashew crumble.

All this furnished inspiration to check in with Moody to see what tricks and tips he had for working with some of Monterey Bay’s most popular and tasty seafood staples.

Here, we share five of Moody’s tips for working with local seafood that don’t take a lot of time, but generate a lot of inspiration.

King Salmon

Maybe you’re not great with knife skills but love some salmon skin cracklins or are simply ready to celebrate King salmon season. Fear not. In five words, Moody has a plan: “Put your tea kettle on!”

After bringing the water to a simmer, lay your salmon skin side up. Gently pour the hot water over the skin, moving the pour sideways, going back and forth. After the hot water treatment, the skin will peel right off.

Bonus salmon coaching for a quick and easy dish with chef-level flavor: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and preheat the grill or flat top to medium-hot. Sprinkle the non-skin side with sea salt, white pepper, chives, and lemon zest. Grill or sear the seasoned side for 3 minutes. Remove, and turn over onto a sheet pan, skin down. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until 135 degrees in the middle. Brush with teriyaki and orange zest. “Mmmmm,” Moody says.

Halibut

A sneaky little secret about locally served halibut…

Many chefs opt to use Alaskan halibut, even if they can get fantastic—and fresher—local California halibut. (Reminder! It’s always good to ask where your seafood is coming from, and always ask for local!) That’s because it’s a bit trickier to prep thinner California halibut without drying it out. Here’s how Moody avoids that without stressing.

Prepare sea salt, white pepper, and rice flour, along with the following items:

A sprig of thyme

1 smashed garlic clove

1 tbsp European style butter

1 shallot, minced

1 diced ripe tomato

1 tbsp capers (or to taste)

1/2 cup buttery Chardonnay

1/2 Meyer lemon

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Get a cast-iron or other oven-ready pan on the stove over medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Lightly dust your halibut fillet with sea salt, white pepper, and rice flour. When oil is hot in the cast iron, gently place the fillet to sear. Throw in the thyme sprig and crushed garlic. Let it sear for 1 and 1/2 minutes. Turn over. Throw in butter, shallot, tomato, and capers. Stir. Pour in wine and squeeze of half lemon. Put in the oven for 5 minutes.

Remove from oven. Place the halibut on the plate and pour the rest of the ingredients in the pan over the top. A final key step, Moody hastens to include: “Enjoy with the remainder of the Chardonnay!”

Rockfish

There are so many different types of rockfish along the West Coast that CSU Monterey Bay marine science professors use them to study how habitat affects evolution. No matter which type of rockfish, Moody says, “Local rockfish here are delicious fried whole!” He describes this preparation as “easy money.”

Here’s the plan: Have the fishmonger gut, scale, and gill it, or do it yourself. Get your fryer up to 350 degrees—or fill a deep pan with enough oil to fry the whole fish at that same temperature.

With a sharp knife, cut vertically from the tail—and from the top (or back)—down to the belly, making sure to hit the vertebrae in the middle. (That’s where the sharp knife comes in.) Cutting about an inch and a half deep, move all the way from the tail to the head.

Sprinkle sea salt and lemon zest all over and inside the fish. Mix some Old Bay seasoning and garlic salt with rice flour and lightly dredge the fish in it. Carefully drop the fish into the oil and fry until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.

Then grab your favorite hot sauce, chili sauce, or teriyaki sauce and have at it. “It’s time for a good ol’ fashioned fish pickin,’” Moody says.

Sand Dabs

Two words, according to chef: “Taco time!”

The approach here is almost as simple as that rallying cry: Do a light toss in panko and Mexican-style tajín spices. Sear your sand dabs in a sauté pan with rice bran oil or avocado oil, for 2 minutes per side. Warm some tortillas, prep some lime cabbage slaw, charred jalapeño, pico de gallo, and sliced avocado, and you’re in delicious territory.

Dungeness Crab

The crab plan is to use nature’s guide and be nice to the crustacean for its sacrifice.

To mimic the salinity of ocean water and get the perfect salt level in your sweet local Dungeness crab, chef advises measuring out one cup of either sea salt or kosher salt per gallon of water and then get a big pot of your “seawater” boiling. While it’s coming to boil, he adds, be kind and put your crabs in the freezer to go to sleep. Once the water is boiling, plunge your snoozing crabs headfirst into the water. For average crabs 1-1/2 to 2 1/2 pounds in size, it takes about 15 minutes. In the meantime, get an ice bath ready and submerge them in ice after their salty hot tub.

“The way the Portuguese fisherman told me to check if they’re done,” he says, “is after 1 minute in the ice bath…you pull them out and squeeze down on the top of the shell. The water coming out from inside should be warm on your wrist. If it still cold, they go back in the boiling water for another couple minutes.”

Once they have chilled down in the ice bath, pull them out. Pop the top shell off (look for a tutorial on that coming soon, too!), but be careful not to lose all that crab butter—the yellowy insides—then clean the gills and crack it in half.

Then mince garlic and sauté it in butter. Add some Chardonnay and a little more butter, and some lemon zest if you like. Whisk in the reserved “crab butter” from the shell—“If you want some real ‘seamami’ flavor, chef says—then grab some crusty French bread.

“Start cracking and dipping,” Moody advises.

Article by Mark C. Anderson

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