2017 Abalone Report Card 1-6 - A Sea Ranch Sojourn

By Wednesday I was convinced. Conditions were looking good for the weekend. We'd have an early minus tide Saturday through Tuesday...

...and it looked like swells would be relatively benign over the same period.

Last year I only went diving once. Got my limit of 3 abalone, but that was it for the year.  I had not been in the water yet this shortened season, and the July closure for the first half of the season was only a week away. Local rumors were flying that CA Fish & Wildlife might close the second half of the season.  It was now or never.

Reached out to the usual suspects looking for a dive buddy. No joy, but was determined to get in the water if conditions permitted. Sigrid joined me for the ride north on Saturday. Whether I got in the water or not we would enjoy the food, friends, and vistas in one of the best places on the planet.

Stayed at a friend's place at Sea Ranch - was very impressed with the new security layer on his gate keypad.

It was a weekend to get reacquainted with the locale and friends. We were invited to a wonderful dinner with Summit neighbors Peter and Bonnie, now living at the Ranch, and also invited for wine and cheese with Charlie and Kathye on their spectacular deck overlooking my favorite cove.

In the year since my last visit, there have been some changes in the area. Two Fish Baking, our favorite source for breakfast pastries relocated from Sea Ranch to Stewart's Point - which is actually more convenient. The sticky buns are just as good, but you still have to get there early before they're gone. My go-to location to get my fishing license - Baker Brothers Hardware & dive shop - closed up operations. The good news was that I was delighted to find my occasional dive buddy Jeff had taken over the Gualala Sport and Dive Rentals with his wife Kelli.  A definite upgrade over Baker Bros,and a great spot to get outfitted for a dive. MW Recommended. The bad news is that Jeff is now so busy he didn't have to time to dive.  Which brings me to the point of the post. Time to get in the water.

If I was to get any abalone this trip, it would be a solo dive. Fortunately, with benign conditions and a minus tide, it was feasible. I spent a lot of time looking over my favorite Mendocino County cove.

It looked safe enough, but visibility was poor. Without a dive buddy, I decided to go with an alternative site.

Our new Sea Ranch friend Frances offered up her private stairwell access to a neighboring Sea Ranch cove. Convenient and (relatively) easy.  Had to check the regs - the cove is within the Stewart's Point Marine Conservation Area.  No problem - regs state that "The following may be taken recreationally from shore only: marine aquatic plants other than sea palm, marine invertebrates, finfish by hook-and-line..."  blah... blah... blah.... Abalone is a marine invertebrate. We're good.

Net net - two dives over three days, a three ab limit each dive, and one happy abalone diver. Some pics from my first Sonoma County ab dive:

Load up the gear

Early start to catch low tide.

Walk down the stairs to the beach ( heh.. heh...  too cool) 

Minus tide meant navigating a field of mussel. 

Not my best look.

Minus tide entry

Diving solo in a new locale, I wasn't inclined to do any trophy hunting. Got my limit and got out as the flood tide brought a little more swell than I was comfortable with.  Two good days.

Dive day 1 - one 8 and a couple 9's

Dive day 2 - one 7, one 8, one 9

<SOAPBOX> Six abs in two dives over three days. With all the talk of a "distressed" "starving" abalone fishery, it's worth pointing out that I went 6 for 6 in an unfamiliar Sonoma cove with fat healthy abs on my first dives in a year and without a lot of effort. I did see a lot of urchins, and also plenty of abalone that were easy to spot from the surface in about 4 foot of visibility. There was a lot of kelp in the shallows. Mid-cove the kelp was sparser and seemed a little chewed up. This was my first time in this cove, so I can't compare current conditions to prior years. So there's that. </SOAPBOX>.

In between dives Bonnie and Peter joined us for an abalone feast. Of course. Tried to get Frances to enjoy the fruits of her cove, but was disappointed she would only stay for a glass of wine and some conversation.

Bonnie helps out with the piccata sauce

Good company, good food, good fun. Somehow I managed to neglect getting a group shot. I know. Hard to believe.

After our second dive we drove home to EssEff with abs in the cooler. Stopped at Washoe House for buffalo burger on the way back.  They're under new management since being purchased by the Petaluma Creamery.  I always thought the food was good but inconsistent. Now they're better. A similar menu but everything from the service to the food is better than before. A definite upgrade.

Cleaned and sliced the three abalone I picked this morning on getting home. Finished the day with my favorite treat after a successful ab hunt.

Fresh abalone sashimi

Life is good. Hopefully we'll have a second season so I can complete my report card.

Creamed Paua a la Gualala

Creamed Paua a la Gualala 

Background
Last year my moribund little Facebook Abalone Page was discovered by the NZ and Tasmania Maori community. As I said then:

"I have this little FB page that I set up 2-3 years ago to post occasional pictures, videos and links about a favorite hobby - abalone diving. It's really just for the benefit of my dive buddies, friends and family. I've always had about 30-40 "likes", picking up another every now and then... Last week this happened. The page goes from 44 likes to 1,700 likes and from 6 impressions to 50,000 in one week thanks to an influx of visitors from down under! Not sure what to make of this. But now I am feeling like I need to entertain you all in some way. I won't be diving again for a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll post some recipes or something."

The common thread - we love picking and eating paua (aka abalone). Especially eating. Among the comments left by my new FB friends, I found many references to Creamed Paua as a favorite dish. Here's a sample suggestion from one visitor:

"Creamed paua (black foot abalone) picked from Ruapuke New Zealand cooked two ways. Savoury - fried with onions add full cream and flour and water to thicken. Sweet (my favorite) same recipe as savoury adding in a can of pineapple chunks. How do you eat yours?" - Rine Riney Meany

This was a new discovery. I'm always looking for new preparations for my favorite sea slug, and determined to give it a try.

Last weekend my brother and I picked our limit from a cove near Gualala, California:

 

 No time like the present to try out a new recipe.

Recipe
First step, clean up the catch. After popping from the shells, the abs are sliced into larger steaks and smaller pieces trimmed for sashimi and ceviche'.

In the past, we discarded the trimmed pieces of black lip and darker meat around the foot. There is nothing wrong with that meat. it's just less aesthetically pleasing than the sliced and trimmed white meat steaks. I always thought throwing those scraps away to be wasteful, but didn't know what to do with them.  This time they're going into the creamed paua.

Next, research a range of recipe sources for this dish. We checked out Puna's Nannys, Cooks Classic, Nik's Kitchen, Uncle Jay, and, of course, our FB commenters.

Let's roll.

Basic ingredients are butter, onion, garlic, milk, salt, pepper, corn starch or flour for thickening and, of course, paua. I'm adding ginger, coconut milk, dry sherry, and fresh cilantro. Just because.

Every recipe starts with onions sauteed in butter. I added minced garlic and ginger. Ignore that lemon. I didn't use it. 

Some recipes say to caramelize the onions. Some not. I decided "not" and added dry sherry to keep the the onions white and soft.

These paua trimmings and scraps were likely to be tough. Some of the recipes recommended "mincing" the paua. I don't have a mincer but do have a food processor, so in it went...

I ground the paua at a somewhat coarse texture.

Then into the sauteed onions and butter...

Sauteed the paua with onions garlic and sherry for a while...

At this stage, some recipes call for adding milk, some for cream, some for coconut milk. I opted for all three:

While reducing the creamed paua mix over low heat (about an hour), I prepared a pot of white rice. The traditional creamed paua presentation is served with fried bread, but I didn't feel like adding any additional experiments so just went with the rice.

As the cream reduced, I added a little flour to thicken the gravy, but not sure it was needed. The sauce had already reduced nicely. As a last step, I added some chopped fresh cilantro for color and a note of flavor.

Review
Served over a bed of rice, accompanied by a side of abalone ceviche' and nice California chardonnay.

The picture really does not do this dish justice. I probably made enough for 2 to 3 servings, but ate it all myself in one sitting (my wife wasn't interested - her loss). It was really f*****g great.  Make no mistake. It's rich. With butter, cream, and abalone, what's not to like? Just don't forget to take your Lipitor for dessert.

Fresh abalone has a subtle flavor. I was afraid it might be overwhelmed by the coconut milk and cream, but the flavors balanced nicely. In some ways the abalone flavor comes through better than the traditional NorCal breaded and fried steaks.  The coconut and cilantro introduced a hint of sweetness and a Thai-like flavor to the dish that I really enjoyed. I resisted adding any hot chili sauce or peppers but the dish could probably stand up to them if administered with a light hand.

This is Tasmanian / Maori comfort food - filling, satisfying, delicious. To my taste, the texture and presentation invoked a Southern US staple - Biscuits & Gravy.  In fact, if served with traditional fried bread instead of rice, the comparison is even more apt. The flavor is distinctly different of course, but, like Biscuits & Gravy, I could see how growing up on Creamed Paua you would crave eating it your whole life.

Hey...  I had it for the first time a couple days ago and I am craving it again right now.

2016 Abalone Report Card Nos. 1,2,3 + Food Fest in Napa Valley

Low tide was at 7:45AM. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife rules say no abalone diving before 8:30. Conditions were more inviting than yesterday, so ...

... we went in as soon as it was legal.

Swells were better, but visibility was poor. I was only shooting with Olympus Stylus Tough (the GoPro having suffered an ignominious end last year), so...  not much in the way of underwater photography this outing.

With flood tide, the breakers started to build again,  so we just picked our limit and got out of the water.

I didn't quite get into position before the self-timer went off

Nothing of size - all between 8" - 9"

For our first outing this year, we were happy.

Beer is always better apres' dive

Abalone diving is exhausting

Usually we're ready for a nap after a dive, beer, and cleaning up.  Not this trip.  A colleague of Harlan noticed on FB that he was in California, pinged him, and arranged for us to join him at "Cochran's Heritage Fire" event:

Two hours later, we're in Napa Valley at the Charles Krug Winery:

Abalone diving in Mendocino County in the morning. Feasting on gourmet grilled meat in Napa County that afternoon.

California living at its finest.