Tuesday 22 January 2008

Thou shalt have a fishy

When you rear your own sheep and pigs and have access to neighbour's beef you can overdose on red meat. Lamb on Monday, gammon on Tuesday, pork chops on Wednesday, mutton stew on Thursday, steak on Friday....you get the picture. Free game is plentiful in the winter, and then there is duck, chicken and goose.
But woman wasn't bred to live on meat alone. No matter what mountainous platter of leafy green veg is served alongside, you know that variety should be spicing your life, and as I don't do red wine (and so don't benefit from its antioxidant effects) I need to be conscious of ringing the protein changes.
Tuesday is market day. Dan the fish man is always there with his quips, his flirt mode turned on high, and a grin for all. His traditional multicoloured painted signs are things of beauty and utility. Every last fish, crustacean and mollusc is caught in the South West. Today's crop of lovelies included plaice, sprats, mackerel, lemon sole, grey mullet, conger eel, prawns, mussels and skate wings.
Brain food on Tuesdays then, served with the first of this year's purple sprouting.

6 comments:

Eurodog said...

There is a fishmonger on our local market with fish from the North Sea and more exotic places like Scotland and Scandinavia. However the best fish is at a fishmongers in a rather unfashionable area of Brussels held by Morocans. People come from afar and the fish and assorted species are really fresh.

tim relf said...

How was it?

Mopsa said...

I remember the fish restaurants in Brussels with salivation at full steam - fantastic stuff.

Tim, my skate was wonderful.

Whispering Walls said...

I love skate. Did you make a sauce for it? Never cooked eel but I sometimes see carpaccio of smoked eel on menus. Do you have any good eel recipes?

Mopsa said...

Trad skate recipe - brown butter and capers. Simply fry it naked as the day in a good nut of butter so the edges go all crpsy as the thick part cooks through, flip and repeat, put on hot plate. Handful of fat capers chucked in the butter at the end and poured over the fish.
Eel is something I haven't had for years; I bet Hugh FW's new fish book could help out.

Mutterings and Meanderings said...

Yum. I love fish