Fish the Dish

High-energy chef and seafood expert Spencer Watts shows how crusts and coatings add tantalizing texture to rich tuna and fresh, tangy oysters.

Chef Spencer Watts loves a good surprise so he is adding some of his favourite "hidden" seafood recipes to his cookbook. Sea perch is that brilliant and beautiful red fish you see on display at the fish monger. Its delicate white meat is sweet and flakey - perfect in a tamale with a vibrant corn salsa on the side. Perch, or any other mild white fish, is incredibly moist and delicious in Spencer's fish and golden caramelized onion dumplings. Crab is a favourite for many because of its sweet and slightly salty taste. Spencer combines crab meat with soft artichokes and an explosive roasted red pepper sauce in a crispy pastry strudel that makes for a perfect appetizer. Then, inspired by game day, who doesn't love a jalapeno popper à la Spencer Watts? He stuffs spicy jalapenos with sweet crab meat and cream cheese, then wraps it all up in bacon.

High-energy chef and seafood expert Spencer Watts loves cooking with seafood, which is why he's making a cookbook featuring delicious sustainable seafood recipes. Today he reveals how the many faces of salt, like soya and miso, add incredible flavor to cod and prawns. Spencer starts with sweet, sustainable Pacific Coast black cod, which is also known as butterfish because it melts in the mouth. First, he brines the cod in maple and soy, then he caramelizes it in sizzling butter, and finally he rests it on top of a creamy butternut squash puree. Next he transforms Atlantic salt cod into decadent fluffy-on-the inside, crispy-on-the-outside salt cod potato cakes. In act three he makes sweet, succulent prawn dumplings and introduces them to his favorite miso soup. He finishes by showing how to cook prawns with a light salt crust and a decadent béarnaise sauce perfect for dunking.

Chef Spencer Watts shows how the burst of acidity from lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit adds enticing flavor to mild mahi-mahi and sweet scallops.

Seafood loving chef Spencer Watts gets casual and formal with monkfish and clam recipes that feature some of his favorite libations - beer and wine.

Chef Spencer Watts is a seafood loving nut. Here he embraces his nuttiness and is bringing some of his favourite nuts and favourite fish together. He begins with a simple, colourful, mouthwatering recipe for buttery macadamia nut coated swordfish and a bright mango salsa on the side. Next, he grills up a sustainable swordfish steak and lets sweet orange herbed almond butter melt into a pool over the fish and beautifully roasted yam coins. For his next dish, Spencer introduces pan seared, buttery scallops to his go-to peanut sauce over a bed of soba noodles. Last, he gets nutty with a pine nut and basil pesto sauce bed for some golden pan-seared scallops topped with a tart apple and celery slaw.