It's a strange dilemma we have in Ireland with seafood. We have access to some of the best in Europe but many of us don't cook it at home. Perhaps some see it as best enjoyed, served up without the hassle, in a restaurant. Often, it's the smell, or the bones, that are cited as reasons that might put you off tackling a fillet of mackerel or frying up some sole in your kitchen. It could also be put down a traditional view of fish as an ingredient to be used in place of meat on Fridays. Whatever the cause, with the wide variety of seafood available to us and its versatile culinary options, we should be cooking and eating more.
I've been home in Howth for the past few weeks and head back to California in a few days. While I've been here, eating fish and shellfish has been high on my agenda. Despite growing up here, and my mother making some failed attempts to convert me with seriously good fish pies and other fish dishes, I was not a fan, for all the reasons outlined above.
It wasn’t until I started spending the summers with my granddad fishing for mackerel off the back of Ireland’s Eye that it all changed. He taught us how to catch them, clean them and gut them. Often we would end up with buckets heavy with silver- and blue-skinned fish destined to be stuffed with lemon, wrapped in tin foil and cooked over a BBQ on the beach. Even the most precious child like me, with my feet deep in the sand, couldn’t resist picking at warm, smoky mackerel flesh.
The recipes here are some of my favourite ways to enjoy cooking with seafood. Sole fillets pan fried in nutty butter spiked with the sharpness of lemon juice and the salty bite of capers, a clatter of shellfish simply tossed in butter and chilli and baked until sweet and tender or mackerel fillets pan fried until the skin goes crisp, served with boxty and simply dressed salad leaves.
All easy to make and ideal recipes to convert any non-fish fans you might have in your life.
