A fishy eye eye

Food by Lois

We rarely had fish and chips when I was a child; sometimes we would have smoked haddock which we ate with a knob of butter, or kippers – which my sister wouldn’t eat because of the bones, and fresh herring which she wouldn’t eat because of the bones. Sometimes, very occasionally we would have dabs and I have just discovered that they belong to the fish family Pleuronectidae. These are flat fish, with both eyes on one side of their head. Dabs have little red spots on them, which must be for camouflage as they lie on the bottom of the sea or ocean looking like the sandy, stony surface they are lying on. I knew they were flat with both eyes on the same side of their heads, but I now know they are born with normally positioned eyes and as they grow up their eyes move – migrate to the one side… Fancy that!

I came across an old recipe for flounders which I think is probably an all-purpose word for various flat fish with eyes on one side of their head. Although it’s from the last part of the nineteenth century, this recipe serving the fish en papillotte sounds very tasty:

FLOUNDERS AND SWEET HERBS

  • 2 flounders
  • 1 tsp finely chopped parsley
  • 1 tsp finely chopped sweet herbs
  • ½ gill of sherry wine
  • ½ gill of stock
  1. .fillet the fish
  2. lightly butter a baking sheet and sprinkle with half the herbs and parsley
  3. place the fish on the paper
  4. sprinkle over the rest of the herbs and parsley
  5. pour round the fish the wine and stock
  6. cover over with buttered paper
  7. bake far about 20 minutes
  8. when dishing the fillets pour around them the liquor In which they were cooked

I’m not sure fish pudding which I mentioned yesterday sounds as enticing; I know my sister would not touch it with a barge pole – or any other sort of pole!

FISH PUDDING

  1. 1 bream
  2. 2 oz of bread crumbs
  3. 1 tsp parsley
  4. ½ pint of melted butter sauce
  5. 2 eggs
  6. pepper, and salt
  • cook the fish, remove the skin and bones carefully, break up Into flaky pieces
  • mix with  the crumbs, sauce, eggs, and parsley
  • pour into a buttered mould
  • steam for ¾  hour
  • turn out, and serve with melted butter sauce

Maybe with less cooking time it might be nice – but cooked twice?

 

20 Comments

  1. trekking cottage apartment
    Reply

    Hello lois. When I used to live in England I only ate fish with fish and chips or like you the occasional haddock with a knob of butter, but since moving to Sardinia I now eat fish of all shapes and sizes 2 to 3 times a week. It’s just the fact a different culture I think.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. trekking cottage apartment

        I should eat more, but if its fresh from the sea wild it can get expensive. If reared in pens in the open sea costs much less. I only eat the wild type. Bass is probably my favorite.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Lois

        Wild fish is much more tasty… trout for example, rainbow is pretty tasteless compared to brown… I guess you don’t get sea-trout in the Med? I think they may be Atlantic fish!

        Like

      3. trekking cottage apartment

        You are right Lois. There are no trout here, but we have something i love…. Fresh Tuna and Swordfish and very cheap in season 12 € a kilo.

        Liked by 1 person

      12. trekking cottage apartment

        Sorry it went of to soon i was going to say on a BBQ then poor a little oil, garlic and parsley on top. Plus i nice glass of wine

        Like

      14. trekking cottage apartment

        So do i but with some toasted crusty bread, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and cheese. Here its normal to drink half a litre a day of red wine a day. And i do.

        Liked by 1 person

      16. trekking cottage apartment

        I love it here and most of all the food. Tonight a mozzarella cheese and Salad plus half a litre of wine. Zzzzzzzzz

        Like

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