One of the secrets about cooking summer-time fish is to arm yourself with foolproof techniques which will work for you time and time again. You need to know how to poach, grill and boil - and, once you have these tricks under your belt, cooking fish until it is at its best is a simple matter.
As my colleague, Mary Dowey, mentions, poached salmon is one of the glories of the summer table, so dust off that fish kettle you were given as a wedding/house-warming/ happy-divorce present and just follow this very simple recipe, which I was given many years ago by Belinda Hill, a friend who now lives in Hollywood, Co Down. This technique produces a beautifully moist fish without the palaver of making elaborate bouillon's and whatnot. As you don't have to spend much time on the technique; you will have lots of time to find a good, wild salmon to poach.
Poached salmon
Put the cleaned salmon (or salmon trout) in a fish kettle and almost cover it with cold water. Add a handful of salt, about 12 black peppercorns, a few leaves of lemonbalm (if you have it), and a handful of parsley, and then either five fluid ounces of white wine or a lemon - half of its juice squeezed out into the water and two-quarters in with the fish.
Bring gently to a good simmer, then count to 30. Slam the lid on tightly, remove from the heat, and leave overnight to cool in the poaching liquid. ("If the salmon was a big one," says Belinda, "I would count to 40.")
Next day, remove the salmon from the liquid, remove the skin and garnish. Belinda serves it with a home-made lemon mayonnaise.
Barbecuing fish leads to more disasters than anything else in the summer repertoire. Many imagine that you can just slap a fish on the barbie, flip it over, and, hey presto, lunch.
It doesn't work like that. Many fish are too delicate to be grilled without being wrapped in vine leaves or other protection. Fish will often expel too much moisture while they cook, which means they will stick to the barbecue, especially thinly-sliced fillets, which stick to the grill and then fall apart at the touch of the tongs.
The types of fish which can take direct heat are the firmer, more muscular fish, such as monkfish, salmon, tuna and swordfish. Part of their suitability is the fact that they can be cut into thick steaks - they work over the coals because they behave like meat. Tuna needs to be cut thickly for another vital reason: it must be cooked rare - in fact, preferably very rare indeed. The centre should still be translucent; otherwise the fish will be as dry as dust and quite inedible.
There is a super reliable recipe from Schlesinger and Willoughby's Thrill of the Grill for grilled tuna steak with nectarine-red onion relish.
Grilled Tuna Steak
Four 8-10oz boneless tuna steaks, 1 inch thick 4 tablespoons salad oil salt and freshly ground pepper (white is best) to taste
Lightly rub the tuna steaks with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the tuna steaks four to five minutes per side over a medium-hot fire, being careful not to overcook them. Check for doneness by bending a steak gently and peering inside it, looking for a slight translucence in the centre. Remove the steaks from the grill and place them on top of the relish.
Nectarine-Red Onion Relish
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
6 ripe but firm nectarines, peeled and cut into 8 slices each
1 medium red onion, sliced into long, thin pieces
1 teaspoon minced garlic
quarter cup julienned fresh basil
quarter cup red wine vinegar
quarter cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons lime juice (about 1 lime)
quarter cup virgin olive oil
salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, and toss them gently. It works best if you use a stainless steel bowl much larger than you would think you need for this recipe, so you get some real mixing action as you toss. This will be a slightly runny relish, as the solids and liquids mix but do not combine. Keep chilled until ready to serve. This will keep, covered and refrigerated, up to two weeks.
If grilling fish terrifies most folk, then the thought of cooking lobster makes their blood run cold. We have all had disasters - expensive disasters - with lobster, my own being a very large crayfish, bought at the pier in Killala, which I attempted to cook in a too small pot on a deeply inadequate old stove. I'm still not sure that my wife has ever fully recovered from the experience, even though it was more than a decade ago.
But good lobster is one of the most sublime treats of summer - when it's also affordable. To get it right, the rules are simple: use the biggest pot you can get your hands on - the lobsters must be able to go into lots and lots of boiling water or bouillon. The water or bouillon must be boiling rapidly when the shellfish are dropped in, and there must be enough of it to ensure that when the fish plunges in, the temperature doesn't drop.
The for-God's-sake-don't-overcook-it rule applies, too
Here is a good, simple recipe to get you started, an old favourite from the Parisian restaurant, Lucas-Carton, for boiled lobsters with savoury butter sauce.
Boiled Lobsters Four 500-600g live lobsters Court-bouillon: 2 each carrots and onions sliced 4 shallots sliced 1 small garlic clove 1 sprig thyme half a bayleaf 60g parsley sprigs salt and pepper 425ml white wine/200ml water quarter bulb fennel, finely sliced
Savoury Butter Sauce
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots 150ml white wine vinegar 300ml white wine salt and pepper 100g very cold butter, diced
Mix all the court-bouillon ingredients in a large pan and boil for 5 minutes, adding more water if necessary.
Plunge the lobsters into the pan and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make the savoury butter sauce. Put the chopped shallots into a stainless steel or enamelled pan with the vinegar and half the wine. Season with salt and pepper and reduce until the liquid is thick and syrupy. Add the remaining wine, and return to the boil.
Vigorously whisk in the butter until the sauce is thick and creamy. It's important to remove the pan from the heat before the last piece of butter is absorbed into the sauce.
Drain the lobsters and arrange them in a warmed serving dish. Serve the sauce separately in a warmed sauceboat.