Sea Bream with peperonata
I thought I’d write a bit about the region of southern France in which we have spent so much time these past 14 years – not enough time, never enough. We’ve recently returned from our home there and through the medium of food I shall attempt to share a sense of the place we so love, through a series of posts. Continue reading Postcards from the Pyrenees
We had some lovely farmed sea bream and decided to marinade it in some rose harissa, lemon, olive oil and Paprika. We slashed the fish, rubbed it in the marinade and popped some limes into the belly, and put it in the fridge for an hour or two, before grilling it on the barbecue.
We made a Greek style salad. I saw Jamie Oliver on the telly ages ago, saying how it looks nice if you randomly chop things like tomatoes for salads to cut them into all sorts of shapes rather than ending with uniform quarters or eighths. He is a clever fellow, and I think it looks much nicer.
So having randomly chopped some really ripe tomatoes and some cucumber, pink onions, peppers, and a little avocado (just because we had it in the fridge) we threw in a handful of black olives. Next we added salt and black pepper, lemon juice and olive oil, along with a little crumbled Feta cheese. We turned the veg through the dressing and placed in a serving bowl adding some more feta to the top, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of dried oregano.
The day before we had saffron potatoes (basically just potatoes peeled and boiled in water with a little salt and saffron) they are really nice. There were a few left over so we used them as a side, it’s quite naughty but they are delicious done this way – we clarified half a packet of butter (125g) then added a quarter tsp of hot chilli powder (more if you want a bigger kick). Next we poured the butter onto a hot roasting tray then coated the chilled potatoes in the butter mix and roasted on a high heat until golden and crispy.
I try really hard with sustainability of seafood and using seasonal local produce, I have a lot more success with the seasonal and local than with the ethics of fish.
The problem is it does change, so mantras from a few years back are not necessarily in line with current thinking. This is partly due to the success of the sustainable lobby, the Marine Stewardship Council not to mention Hugh’s fish fight and so on, so it’s not all bad news. Now some farmed fish is a good option in terms of sustaining stocks, but it must be from reputable sources. If you buy your fish in a supermarket then forget that, it might say the country but it rarely states the location or details of the farm. Let’s face it we haven’t all got a decent fishmonger on our doorstep – OH WHY HAVENT I MANAGED TO GET MY SEAFOOD DELI OPEN YET! Continue reading Good Fish, Bad Fish?
In Search of the Catfish Café... 