Jane Grigson's Fish Book - Jane Grigson [182]
BARBECUED SHARK
This is a dish that makes a lively family meal.
Serves 4
750 g (1½ lb) shark
salt, pepper
juice of 2 lemons (see recipe)
8 tablespoons olive oil (see recipe)
6 rashers bacon, smoked or green, or both
250 g (8 oz) mushrooms, halved
4 large bay leaves, each cut into 4 pieces
olive oil or melted butter for basting
Skin and cut the shark into a number of similar sized chunks, divisible by four. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Marinade them, if there is time, with the juice of 2 lemons and about 8 tablespoons olive oil.
Preheat the grill to maximum.
Cut the rind from the bacon and cut it into the same number of pieces as there are chunks of shark, plus four.
Lay out the shark and bacon, alternating in four rows on a board, fitting pieces of mushroom and bay leaf in between in an equitable manner. Now it is an easy matter to thread the skewers. Brush with oil or butter and grill, turning at least once, until the edges are nicely caught and the fish turns just opaque at the centre. Serve with rice, and melted butter, plenty of pepper and lemon quarters.
SPICED PORBEAGLE
All the sharks take very well to spices. Try this recipe, too, with monkfish and halibut.
Serves 6
6 steaks
4 dry red chillis
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
3 teaspoons cumin seeds
¾ teaspoon ground tumeric
2 teaspoons tamarind paste or pulp
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1½ teaspoons salt
clarified butter or sunflower oil
Put the steaks on a dish in a single layer. Reduce the spices, garlic, tamarind, sugar and salt to a paste in a mortar and spread over the fish on both sides. Leave for at least 4 hours.
Brush a non-stick frying pan over with butter or oil and cook the steaks in it, adding extra butter or oil if necessary when turning them. Serve with a cucumber raita (p. 183) and rice.
TOPE EN BROCHETTE
The diameter of the steaks we bought was about 15 cm (6 inches). I found that five of them gave enough for six people. Marinading them for several hours, even overnight, improves their flavour: remove the skin and cut each piece into six chunks. Put them into a dish and pour over equal quantities of olive oil and lemon juice, with seasoning and, if you like, chopped garlic. You will also need:
Serves 6
6 long thin rashers green streaky bacon, each cut into 5 pieces
6 long thin rashers smoked streaky bacon, each cut into 5 pieces
12 or 18 small mushrooms
6 large bay leaves, each cut into 4 pieces
salt, pepper
Drain and arrange the chunks of fish into 6 lines, and fit the rest of the ingredients equitably between them, including the bay leaves. It is an easy matter to thread and season the skewers. Grill until the fish is opaque to the centre, turning regularly and brushing with the remaining marinade. Serve with rice.
SHRIMPS see PRAWNS
SILVER HAKE see HAKE
SILVERSIDE see A FEW WORDS ABOUT… SMELT
SKATE see A FEW WORDS ABOUT… SKATE
SMELT see A FEW WORDS ABOUT… SMELT
SOLE, DAB & PLAICE
It must be confessed that the life history of the sole is not entertaining, delicious though it may taste. Mostly it lies supine on the bed of the sea, dark side up, attracting as little attention as possible. Its name means ‘flat’, like the sole of the foot. The most dramatic episode of its life – to the outside observer – is when the left eye of the perfectly normal, fish-shaped larva moves up and over the head to the right side, as the sole flattens into its characteristic shape. But then, this happens to the humblest of the flatfish, one way or the other (sometimes the right eye moves to the left side, as with the turbot). The sole also shares the chameleon quality of other flatfish, though not with such enthusiasm as the plaice, whose rust-coloured spots change to white when it lies on a pebbly patch of the sea-bed.
But why should we expect the sole to astonish or entertain us, to provide us with the pleasures of intellectual excitement? Such expectations