“I do not know that cocktail” was the reaction of a contact in New York after he heard of my plan to have a “cool John Dory with lime” after a late afternoon (for me) conversation. It is a fish. There are many competing explanations on why the fish is called that way in English – either from Golden Yellow (Jaune Dorée in French, but […]
I love fried small fish. We often go to a restaurant on the Dordogne river that serves “friture de poisson” and they are great. Just small river fish and garlic in hot oil. Civelles is also very nice but I tend to avoid that dish as the small eels will never get big and eels risk to become extinct. Small fish like smelt, éperlan, never […]
Sole is a very nice and also fragile flat fish. One of the best ways to prepare it is to poach the filets shortly before serving. I bought mine on the market and the fishmonger offered to clean it for me but I also wanted the rests for a stock and I like to try out the filleting myself.
I was reading some Chinese cookery books I had bought in Beijing a few years back. I had to smile about the clumsy English but then, I could not read the characters in the original version so the translator helped me a lot. There are a lot of vegetables and herbs the Chinese use in their cooking that are difficult to find here and not […]
Another simple Summer recipe with fish. I bought a sea bass from the fishmonger’s. Usually they come in various sizes with different prices for farmed fish, fish caught with nets or with lines. The last are the best and most expensive. I only needed one fish for two people and the line-fish were too large. The fishmonger wanted to clean the fish but I declined. […]
For me, Summer time is about light meals with fresh ingredients. About barbecues and plancha’s where you do not need to cook with fat, and the only olive oil you use goes over a salad. It also reminds me of great days spent along the Mediterranean coast, eating grilled fish at restaurants. I often went to Cannes, not for the film festival but a multi […]
I love tuna. I like the red meat, the tough structure, the salty taste, the low-fat and calories. I eat it cooked, raw and tinned. However, tuna fish is suffering from my, and a billion other consumers’, appetite and the species is endangered. That is why I do not often eat tuna. I try to buy fish that has been caught in the Atlantic ocean […]
Cod used to be a staple in Europe, fresh, salted or cured. There was an abundant stock in the ocean and the large fish was very handy to detail in smaller portions. From baccalau to fish fingers, from stokvis to fish and chips, cod ruled the waves. Alas, the stocks are dwindling and Greenpeace has put cod on its red list. Cod has a flaky, […]
This weekend we made another visit to Dieppe at the Normandy coast. It is not a very big town but it has a long history and interesting city centre, as well as a wide gravel beach, cliffs and a fortress. It was our intention to arrive before midday so that we could buy fish from the small stalls tended by the fishermen themselves, but alas […]
We went to the market in Dieppe where you can buy fish almost straight from the boats. The scallop season is in full swing and we decided to buy a few kilos, as well as a halibut that looked nice. The prices in Dieppe are two-thirds of what we pay in our town, but it is a bit of a journey just for some fish. […]