As we say goodbye to the wild game for another year and hello to the slightly warmer temperatures of spring, I’ve started to look towards more fish on the menu in Aniar.
While we always carry a number of shellfish dishes during the winter months, availability of fresh fish during the bad weather of winter is spotted to say the least. We would be as well to just accept it rather than seeking to import farmed fish from the farthest European shores.
We might not think of spring as a warm time in Ireland but if you pay attention to all things green that grow around us, you’ll notice little buds and shoots popping up everywhere. Just yesterday, we had a delivery of vetch (part of the pea family) from our forager Brian. Vetch grows abundantly on hedge banks and meadows. The shoots of common vetch can be used in salads or for garnish for fish.
In medieval times varieties of vetch were used to make bread, though contemporary accounts of the period state the bread was only good in cases of starvation or famine. One monk wrote, it was “of such miserable quality” that he lamented each time he had to eat it. Thankfully, we no longer have to endure this. Today, I like just to use the shoots fresh for their taste, texture and beautiful tendril appearance.
One nice combination of these wild pea tendrils is with briefly charred mackerel. We don’t appreciate the quality of fish we get in Ireland, particularly in its raw state. Raw mackerel is beautiful with a little apple balsamic or bonito vinegar. I always urge the students of our cookery classes to at least taste the fish raw: it won’t kill you!
Cod is another fish that is suited to a raw or lightly cooked state. There is a particular type of vetch that grows in shingle beaches called the “sea pea”. When young, the peas have a beautiful saline quality.
Dress with a little oil and vinegar and serve with the charred mackerel. If you can’t find any sea peas, the garden variety will do! But please, keep the mackerel mostly raw.
