It's #FishyFriday and you've just bought some fresh monkfish fillets for the first time! Why Lotte Armoricane of course!

Lotte Armoricaine

There are dozens of subtle and not so subtle variations on this classic Breton fish dish -  the name, depending on which story you believe is derived from the northern coast of Brittany, Cote d'Armoricaine or Ar Morig which means "the little sea" in Breton. This is the story of how it became the first fish recipe learned from other French, or rather Breton, fishermen with whom I made friends with over those periods of time when they were stormbound in Newlyn during severe winter weather.

As a then young crewman sailing on the (new to Newlyn) ex-French trawler, Keriolet from Lorient we and the boat were the subject of much interest from...

some of those visiting trawlers that moored alongside us after running for Newlyn in bad weather...

very often the Breton boats arrived a full 24 hours after the entire Newlyn fleet including the big beam trawlers had headed back to port - in this instance, as any Newlyner will have spotted, the interest of one Billy Stevenson had been aroused - seen here at the end of the North quay in his trusty Triumph Dolomite no doubt taking photographs of the Kristel Vihan as she rolls her way to the gaps in a particularly ferocious southerly storm.

My first visit to a Breton port was aboard the Gallilean with Mervyn Mountjoy where, co-incidentally she was built, back in 1958 - in the picture above you can see her against the quay in St Guenole sporting 'new', as Mervyn would have it, winch, the boat was built for skipper Alain Bougeon and at the time and named Bajymar and it was from this Alain that Mervyn passed on the recipe for Lotte Armoricane...

Alain, retired at 55, as French fishermen must do but often helped out with the odd trip on one of St Guenole's sardine boats seen landing here to the market late in the evening evening - while we were in the port for a week (which included myself and Roger Coutsubus paying a visit to Douarnenez for the Mardi Gras) Mervyn met and got to know his boats previous skipper and was also introduced to another Alain, Alain Jegou...

skipper and owner of the Riquita seen here landing at St Guenole later that same week with a full 14 day trip of langoustine on board - Alain's son Bernard Jegou is Editor of Le Marin...

Ingredients for two:

Monkfish - be guided by people's appetites but generally be generous with monk fillets which if given whole need to be taken off the bone - that's the easy bit as there is only one central bone! - the hard bit is removing the sheath-like membrane from around much of the tail - if you have a decent fish-knife then use the same technique as you would to skin a flatfish starting with a little of the sinew and  the knife pressed firmly flat on your board and slice away from your fingers! If in doubt our good friend Duncan from the Fish Shop shows us how!

Slice the monk into big bite-sized chunks, roll in well seasoned flour and set aside.

To cook: 

In a thick frying pan, heat olive oil with a good knob (think Floyd) of butter and when the butter crackles, brown the fish evenly - then the fun bit - add a small shot of brandy and set light to it - as in flambé - once the flames have died down stop and reserve the fish on the side, covered with foil.

In the same pan, add an onion, at least 2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced ​​and brown then sprinkle with flour, gently adding a glass of St Emillion - Mervyn told us they insisted it had to be St Emillion, but if you haven't any, any dry white will do!

Add the tomato puree, and the chopped mushrooms to the fish to the sauce and cook until soft, at least 10 minutes then add back the fish to heat right through.

Often eaten with rice or your choice of favourite vegetables - that's your lotte!

Great British chefs say - eat hake!

Image courtesy of Great British Chefs

Wit the Ajax landing fish on Newlyn and Brixham fish markets this morning - here's a cahnce to indulge in a dish using the fish with a real hint of Spain in the ingredients - chorizo! Cannned chickpeas are OK to use too!


Celebrate great British food like hake along with all the other home-grown delights that are now in season by visiting the Great British Chefs web site for more recipes and ideas from great British Chefs and restaurants. There's even an app for your mobile phone too to help keep in touch with what our top chefs and other fish fanatics are up to around the UK.


The salt of the chorizo perfectly balances the earthy chickpeas and fresh coriander in this delicious fish dish from Geoffrey Smeddle. You'll need to soak your chickpeas overnight for this recipe so make sure you plan ahead - alternatively you can buy tinned, cooked chickpeas and save yourself some prep time.


Ingredients: (for four big British appetites!)


4 lemons, three cut into wedges and one for juicing 
1 carrot, peeled and halved lengthways 
1 slice of bacon 150g of chorizo sausage 
1 onion, peeled and cut into wedges 
150ml of double cream salt pepper olive oil 
1 bunch of coriander, leaves chopped 
500g of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water 
2kg of fillet of hake, scaled and pin boned

1.

Soak the chickpeas in cold water, ensuring there is twice the volume of water to chickpeas

2.

Once soaked, strain off the water, place the chickpeas in a colander and rinse well under cold running water

3.

Transfer them to a large pan and add the carrot, onion, bacon and a good glug of olive oil

4.

Add enough water to rise at least a couple of inches above the chickpeas, then simmer until very tender, keeping an eye on the water in case it needs topping up

5.

Once the chickpeas are cooked, let them cool in the liquor, removing the veg and bacon

6.

Once cool, take about a fifth of the chickpeas out of the liquid, place in the jug of a blender with the cream and, if needed, a little cooking liquid, then process to a coarse purée . Store in a tub until needed

7.

Place the chorizo in a pan of cold water, bring to a simmer and then strain immediately. Once cool enough to handle, peel off the skin, cut the meat into 1cm dice and place in a pan large enough to hold the chickpeas too

8.

Cook on a moderate heat until the chorizo is gently sizzling, add the rest of the chickpeas and enough cooking liquid so the pan is moist

9.

When hot, add the chickpea puree, taste for seasoning and keep warm while cooking the hake

10.

Heat a large non-stick pan and add a generous amount of oil. Season the skin of the hake with salt and place in the pan skin side down, frying each piece for about 4 minutes until the skin crisps

11.

Turn the fish over and remove the pan from the heat. Add a good squeeze of lemon juice to the pan, spooning the juices over the fish as it frys

12.

Add the coriander to the chickpeas, taste for seasoning then arrange on a platter. Place the fillets of hake on top, spoon on the pan juices and serve

It was cold, wet and miserable outside.....

 So, out with Keith Floyd's must have, Floyd on Fish.......

substitute haddock for the brill and creme fraiche for the cream and voila!, comfort food in a jiffy!

Fishy Friday, and it's Escabeche for tomorrow's big Porthleven wedding.

 De-scale, fillet and skin the fish.......

 in this case haddock......

 skinning starts from the tail end.......

 with the knife held flat against the work top.......

 prepare the lime juice - not forgetting to get the halved limes in the juicer the right way round......

 at two limes per pound of fish......

 brushed into the fillets.......and left for 15 minutes to 'cook'.......

 back at the stove fry in olly oil the garlic, ground cumin and and a dozen black pepper corns......

 adding a bay leaf per half pound of fillets........

 the fillets are now lime juice 'cooked'........

 add sliced onion, one per two pounds of fillet.......

 and heat through for 4 minutes before adding white wine vinegar.......

 quickly brown one side of the fillets, both if bigger fillets.......

 add the olly oil to the sauce and pour over the fillets while still hot......

 once, cooled, keep the trays of marinade covered fillets in the fridge till needed, in this case the wedding reception in Porthleven tomorrow afternoon. There are dozens of variations on Escabeche recipes.

The best in Cornish beaches and a BBQ.

 Keeping an eye on things, one of Culdrose's SAR helicopters traverses Porthchapel beach......

 looking back at the beach from the west, not a beach for people who don't appreciate the power of the sea as it is susceptible to a big shore break which will easily sweep an adult off their feet.......

 next beach along heading towards Land's End at Porthgwara with crystal clear water......

 PZ1218 heads back to Newlyn, only these high speed punts have the speed to make working off Land's End viable from the port........

 they just can't resist......

 back in the kitchen its time to repare a BBQ dish......

 headed and scored in readiness for a curry spice.......

 rubbed into the inside and out of the fish......

 a great device makes cooking fish an easier task.......

 a touch of the med........

 before the onion based sauce that goes with the curried mackerel........

 stating the blindingly obvious........

 get those fish on quick........

though, of course, this is a house with one of those girl's type gas affair!

Monday's mackerel day - in protest.

Pin boned mackerle fillets in olly oil........

on a high heat.........

served with fried bread Mediterranean style (in oil not dripping) and caulflower couscous with a lemon puree sauce - a Cornish variation using locally caught Cornish mackerel (in protest to Iceland's unilateral decision to set its own mackerel quota and ignore the current stock ICES stock estimates) to the cod used by the guest Icelandic chef, Agi Sverisson on last Saturday's Saturday Kitchen - the Best Bites.

Fishy Friday II - very much in season from Cornish beaches - Grey Mullet and ratatouille.

This time of year is good for grey mullet - especially those caught off the Scillies or Sennen beach as they are less 'muddy' than those fish that frequent estuaries......

if you are going to prepare the fish yourself rather than have the fishmonger do it for you, don't forget to remove the mullet's big scales - used a zester in this instance!......

the gut cavity should be clean and seasoned with salt and pepper......

select the veg to go with the dish.......

stone the black olives.......

prep the veg........

put half the chopped shallot and garlic and a piece of fennel in the gut cavity.......

cover with the sliced toms, olives and anchovies.......

wrap tightly with foil and bake for around 40 minutes at 170º.........

in this case a surfeit of veg meant that a tatty-rats was on the cards.......

plenty of olly oil.........

and voila!