FISH & SELLFISH
Many cooks
today neglect fish because they don’t quite understand what to with it. Too
often they egg and breadcrumb it and fry it until it is hard, dry and
tasteless; or they boil it until it disintegrates into o soft, flavorless mush.
Reasonable
Canned sardines and anchovies – Serve on buttered fingers of toast
or black bread, garnished with sieved hard-boiled egg yolk and squeeze of
lemon.
Canned tuna and salmon –
Mix with a little finely chopped onion and freshly ground black pepper and
dress with olive oil or lemon juice to taste.
Smoked salmon –
Buy in pepper-thin slices professionally cut across the grain. Serve on lightly
oiled plates, accompanied by thin slices of brown bread and butter, and wedges
of lemon to squeeze over the top. Have a coarse-grinding mill of black pepper
at hand.
Smoked trout – Skin and fillet smoked trout. Serve
fillets on an oiled platter with lemon wedges (or whipped cream flavored with
grated horseradish) and thin slices of brown bread and butter.
Sausages –
Salami, Cervelat, Mortadella etc. Should be thinly sliced. If you are slicing
them yourself remove the outer skin first. You’ll find it comes off much more neatly
this way. When the buying any types of sausages, be sure you get the real continental
import. Home-produced imitations don’t compare. I’m afraid.
French Turbot Salad
IMPERIAL
• 1 lb. turbot salt
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 8 oz. new potatoes
• 3-4 large fresh button mushrooms
• 6-8 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped spring onion
• Freshly ground pepper.
METRIC
• 450 g. turbot salt
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 8 oz. new potatoes
• 3-4 large fresh button mushrooms
• 6-8 tablespoons olive oil
•3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped spring onion
• Freshly ground pepper.
- Cut turbot into slices about ½ inches. (1 cm) thick.
- Bring a print of salted
water to the boil in a saucepan. Add milk (to keep turbot white) and the slices
of turbot. Reduce heat so that water barely bubbles and simmer turbot until it
is cooked but still very firm, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Scrub potatoes clean but do
not peel them; boil them in salted water, then drain; plunge into cold water
and peel off skins as soon as potatoes can be handled.
- When turbot is cooked,
drain it, and while still warm. Remove skin and bones. Cut turbot into 1-inch
(2½ cm) cubes. Cut potatoes into ¼ inch (½ cm) cubes.
- Trim mushroom stems and
wipe clean with a damp cloth. Peel mushrooms only if necessary and slice them
thinly.
- Combine warm turbot and
potatoes with thinly sliced mushroom in a large bowl. Toss with olive oil,
lemon juice, finely chopped parsley and chopped spring onion, taking care not
to break pieces of fish. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black
pepper, and allow to cool.
- Just before serving,
correct seasoning and more olive oil and lemon juice if necessary. Serve cold.
Serves 3-4
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