At a market nearby I found a man selling fresh fish from his small fish farm in the mountains, using clean spring water, as many fish would prefer. He used a net to catch the fish from plastic containers on the back of his car.
I prepared the fish in the simplest possible fashion to appreciate the taste and presented it on a bed of green cabbage, leek and a carrot because they happened to be waiting for use in the kitchen.
Perhaps it is because I was born in a flat country that I love the wild sea and mountains. I liked my years in Switzerland and I am fond of the Alps but I really am a big fan of the Pyrenees in the south of France and north of Spain.
I go there relatively often, having an old aunt living in a tiny village at the foot of the mountains, and we have crossed the region from coast to coast, taking in the French Catalan area from Collioure, the Béarn and the Basque regions to Biarritz.
So when I found a stall selling trout from the Pyrenees – vacuum sealed – it did not take long to decide to buy some for the freezer.