A week in Portugal was a glorious end to summer – Cascais is a lovely little beach town, cobblestone alleys, nice buildings, a good food market, safe beaches with clean water and great simple food….. I lived on fish and salads for the week as well as sampled lots of the local pastries… in the name of research.
Even the tinned fish come in cute boxes….
Baggage Weight restrictions make it difficult to choose when it comes to olive oils…
Some of the ‘research’ I conducted….
The local markets have colourful characters on the stalls, as well as great selection of fruit and veg…
Even the plates celebrate fish..
Returning home I still had a yen for fish..so I walked in to my fishmongers dreaming of sea bass or sea bream like on holidays, my dreams were brought swiftly down to earth looking at the prices, so I came out out with 4 pieces of mackerel as the only choice which cost under a fiver. Don’t get me started how as an Island nation with a fishing industry we have fish at those prices.
This is an old recipe but a goodie, cut this out of a newspaper about 15 years ago and stuck it into my notebook so i have no idea where it came from, try it though , it’s full of tasty flavours and the health benefits of oily fish are well documented.
Mackerel Rillettes
200 mls court bouillon or fish stock
500 gr fresh mackerel
2 onions chopped finely
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
3tbsp creme fraiche or natural yoghurt
3 tbsp chopped chervil or Dill and some sprigs reserved.
Salt and pepper
Heat stock or court bouillon in large pan on low heat.
Clean mackerel and plunge into the liquid and cook for about 5 minutes
Remove with slotted spoon and leave to cool slightly
Remove skin and all bones, loosely breakup the flesh and set aside.
Sweat the onion and garlic in some oil and when soft add mackerel. Season really well, add creme fraiche or yoghurt and cook over a very low heat for about 3 minutes
Leave to cool completely, mash and add the chopped herbs and stir to combine.
Fill small ramekins with the mixture and place into the fridge for 24 hours. Serve with crusty bread, crudites or crackers as preferred. Delicious and easy to prepare.
oliveoilandlemon 
Lovely post. Our fish costs so much because we do manage to export most of it at good prices to our European ‘partners’. However, when we did the original deals around fishing access / agriculture grants, we gave away the crown jewels and hung on to the politically expedient ‘pay them for doing nothing’ that has mared our agriculture for decades. That and deplorable mismanagement of our fish stocks / breeding grounds lead to the current prices. Apologies for the rant.
Best,
Conor
Such a shame isn’t it…I even saw ad in times recently from an islandic fish co looking for a wholesale agent here so more foreign fish must be on the way….wonder will that help our prices…sadly probably not.
Thanks for dropping in. G.