Tales from the Sea - Part 3

Grilled bonito with stir fried vegetables

Fish, Fish ♪ 
♪ Glorious Fish

There's nothing quite like it to ♪
make a yum dish
so follow me follow me ♪
down to the hollow
and there we will wallow in
Glorious FISH ♪
(Very free translation of the hippopotamus song)


I am going to be honest with you, I just DON'T get how people can classify ALL fish into one ridiculous statement, "I HATE fish". My question to them is always, "WHICH fish do you mean?" There are SO many and they all taste SO different ( am clutching my hair in frustration at this point usually). For when we think of meat, we put it into so many different categories like beef, pork, mutton, venison, boar etc so why not with fish? How can you compare a steaky tuna to a flakey cod or a firm fleshed monkfish? Or an oily sardine to a rainbow trout which keeps repeating throughout the day? Burp!

Salmon tataki with salad and black olive tapenade

And do you mean fish which is raw? cooked? smoked? semi-cooked like a quick seared tataki? marinated? dried? WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU IGNORAMUS!" Huff, puff, Grrrrrrrrr.... Take the above, a lovely salmon sirloin absolutely oozing Omega 3s, which has been pan seared and then cut into thin slices and served under a salad. Will you honestly say it is the same as the below? 

Grilled hake with mashed potatoes and a demi-glace sauce

Here you have a wonderfully firm but flakey, white fleshed hake which has been pan fried to perfection, lying on a beautifully mashed bed of potatoes and with a wonderful demi-glace sauce poured over. Sluuuurp. There is NO comparison! Each fish has its own taste and firmness. Here is a wonderful pdf which shows you the categories of fish - basically round, flat and others including crustaceans, shellfish, squid and octopus. 

Cod ravioli, Can Ros, Barelona

Here above is a ravioli made of cod - would you seriously say you hate 'Fish' if you got faced with one of these? 

Braised plae with lobster sauce, Café Duus, Keflavik, Iceland

One of my abiding memories of Iceland, apart from the awe-inspiring landscape, is the great fish you get there. The chef who made the above, obviously knew how to make the fish just right, he must have added some mild 'garam massala' to the flour before pan frying it. The lobster sauce was yummy and I made sure to dip my delicious bacon tossed baby potatoes in it.

Grilled scallops in Seagriffin, Reykjavik, Iceland

And then there is the 'Saegriffin' in Reykjavik where you chose your fish/seafood and they grilled it to perfection and served it to you. Awesomeness itself!

Steinbitur

The Icelanders also eat something I found a bit odd but had a very mild and more-ish taste, dried Catfish! A great source of protein plus a handy snack as long as you don't mind its fishy smell! 

Malaysian snack, ikan bilis

South East Asians are great dried fish lovers - they use em for a variety of amazing dishes and here, while wandering in Malacca in Malaysia, we had some 'ikan bilis' or dried anchovies which were a salty snack - keep a bottle of water handy, though!

Salmon tartare Thai style, Bamboo rice, Le Blanc, France

Here is another versatile way to make fish - raw and in a tartare. Chop your fish up and add chopped onions, capers, herbs.. Here is a yummy and easy peasy recipe. The above was made in a Thai resto and had corander, lemongrass, onions, chilli and soya sauce and was HEAVEN. 

Cod confit with stuffed cabbage and grapes, Coure, Barcelona

Then you have something called a confit which is basically cooking a meat like duck, in its own fat at very low temperature and over a long period and then preserving it. Cod doesn't come with blubber but this confit had been slow cooked in olive oil and just melted in your mouth. 

Stuffed smoked salmon

I LOVE smoked salmon and usually have some in my fridge. It's a great way to eat fish without ANY cooking and very versatile. The above dish is REE-AH-LEEEE simple:

Serves 1
Ingredients:
100 gms of smoked salmon
Half a courgette grated
Tartare sauce
Chives
That's it!
Method:
Grate the courgette
Add as much or little of a good tartare sauce you like
Add a heaped tablespoon in the centre of 1 salmon sheet and roll. Repeat with the others
Sprinkle chives on top
Voilá

Steamed sea bass with ginger and onion, Shanghai 1930, Barcelona

Mmmm, steamed fish. I wont say more....