Tuesdays and Fridays are for no ordinary fish – Fish Recipes

“I love the way the colour lavender smells, and the way the colour salmon tastes. And if there were a colour called “fur”, I’d like the way it feels!” – Jarod Kintz, This Book is Not FOR SALE.

Painting of Fishmonger at Fish market: Bartolomeo Passarotti - The fish stall

If you’re a fisherman and you happen to be on a boat in Kleinbaai on the 6th of January, you’re sure to catch the queen of fish, the Cape salmon. They run at that time of year, though I don’t know exactly how long. What I do know is that they’re delicious. Cape salmon, or Geelbek, is easily identified by its unique colouring; the inside of its mouth is bright yellow.

On Saturday morning, we went salmon hunting and came home with a fresh Norwegian salmon instead. “Why?” you ask. We’ve run out of fish. The Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Australians haven’t; each day, millions of fish are caught and sold at markets all over the globe. Sadly, in Hermanus, our beautiful seaside village, they’re hard to find unless you’d like Kingklip, stockfish, and occasionally Snoek or Cob. In the old days, fish, abalone, and crayfish were freely available to sports fishermen; now we’re all PC and into “sustainable” fishing, poaching, aquaculture, and the illegal trade in our precious abalone is booming. We weren’t surprised to see that the fishmonger Lusitania, an institution in the harbour, was closed.

These are some of the names we grew up with: Blou Hotnotjie, Galjoen, Harder, Janbruin, and Kolstert. Words that remind us of Gansbaai, Laaiplek, and Tietiesbaai. Those were the days, with hot summers, cool chicks, hot surfers, suntans, and something free from the sea every day.

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My Absolutely Perfect Black Mussel Soup

METHOD:

1.     In a large saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic in butter until the onion is translucent; add parsley and stir-fry for 1 minute.

2.     Add the cake flour and chicken stock powder.

3.     Remove the saucepan from the heat, gradually add milk, water, Mussel stock and wine.

4.     Return to the heat. Stir until the soup has thickened and all the lumps are smooth.

5.     Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6.     Simmer for 10 minutes

7.     Add the mussels just before serving. Heat through.

8.     Serve with crusty sourdough bread or a deliciously decadent garlic loaf.

A few Saffron threads soaked in warm water for 5 minutes may be added for added deliciousness.

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FRESH NORWEGIAN SALMON ON THE BARBEQUE OR IN THE OVEN

This is a crowd pleaser! Serves at least 10 people, making it the perfect Summer Dinner Party

dish!

1.     Keep the fish very cold until just before cooking (not frozen).

2.     Wipe the skin with a damp cloth.

3.     Season the fish with Maldon salt on the inside.

4.      A little salt may be rubbed on the skin, too.

5.     Make a fire and sustain the heat for at least an hour by making another fire on the side.

6.     Keep the fish closed. Place on the grill rack and position the fish on the very highest level, away from the fire.

7.     Barbecue the fish for 45-60 minutes, turning frequently.

NOTE: the skin is very oily, so it’s not necessary to baste the skin at all.
Should you wish to bake the fish in the oven, do so in a preheated oven at 180°C on the middle oven rack for 20 minutes per 500g of fish (3kg = 60 minutes). The head and tail may be wrapped in tin foil, shiny side out; this prevents them from becoming overcooked and dry.

Serve with my fabulous Potato Tarte Tatin and a salad which I’ll share with you tomorrow!

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FISH AND CHIPS THE ORDINARY WAY

This is for young, inexperienced cooks!

METHOD

1.     Season the flour with the salt and pepper.

2.     Decant the flour into a Ziploc bag (makes the dusting easier and not messy at all)

3.     Dust fish with the cake flour

4.     Dip into the egg mixture and coat on all sides

5.     Dust once again with the cake flour

6.     Place portions carefully on a plate or wooden board

7.     Rest the fish while the oil heats up

8.     Heat 250ml Canola oil and 125ml Butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once the oil starts bubbling, carefully add the fish portions and fry over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Turn over onto the other side and repeat.

9.     Fish must not be overcooked. Test by piercing the flesh with a knitting needle (I have a “culinary” knitting needle in the drawer which I use for testing

10.  Once the fish is crispy and golden, remove it from the pan and drain on a kitchen towel.

11.  Serve with a fresh garden salad, tartare sauce or wasabi mayonnaise and lemon wedges.

Remember, warm lemon wedges are juicier.  Wrap the fish in paper, sit outside on the lawn, put your face up to the sun, and relish your harvest from the sea.

Bon appétit

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Whole Fresh Norwegian Salmon

SCANZA TRADING: 021 5511448

Checkers in Hermanus

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Catch of the day!

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KLEINBAAI - A sleepy hollow near Gansbaai (Overberg) that initially attracted farmers (stock and wheat) from Caledon, Napier, Robertson (wine and soft fruit), and the environs, as they could keep an eye on their farms while also enjoying excellent fishing, Abalone diving, and crayfish fishing.  Fifteen years ago, shark fever took over as it’s near Deyer Island, the local great white shark Mecca.   Kleinbaai has transformed and reinvented itself, and now it’s the hotspot for shark cage diving.  Dive operators have sprung up like mushrooms, and it’s a “must-do” for tourists, eco-tourists, filmmakers, documentary filmmakers, explorers, scientists, and everyone in between.  An experience not to be missed. 

The photograph above was taken on the 6th of January 2015, a good catch of Cape Salmon (Geelbek) by a happy captain and his crew.

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No Ordinary Fish (Events Organiser)

Candice Barrett

+27 82 5502604

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