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TRUITE DU GAVE

This is one of the best trout recipes; it comes from the Pyrenees where the fish are taken from the gaves or mountain torrents. Measure out the pastis carefully – a lavish hand can sometimes be the cook’s undoing.

For each trout allow:

seasoned flour

2 tablespoons clarified butter*

90 g (3 oz) ceps or sliced mushrooms

½ clove garlic, crushed

salt, pepper

1 teaspoon pastis Ricard

2 tablespoons crème fraîche or double cream

Turn the trout in seasoned flour, shaking off the surplus. Fry in butter over a moderate heat, allowing 5 minutes a side. Remove to a serving dish and keep warm. Cook the mushrooms in the pan juices, together with the garlic. Season well. Stir in the pastis; let it bubble hard for a moment or two, then add the cream and stir everything well together until the sauce is amalgamated. Correct seasoning, adding extra pastis if you like. Pour round the trout and serve at once.

MRS NIXON’S POTTED CHAR

The recipe can be used for all the fish in this section, and for salmon trout.

Serves 6–8

6 char, each weighing 175 g (6 oz)

about 300 ml (10 fl oz) dry white wine

1 bay leaf, 2 sprigs of parsley, 1 curl of lemon peel

¼ teaspoon powdered ginger

¼ teaspoon powdered mace

250 g (8 oz) unsalted butter

150 ml (5 fl oz) double cream

lemon juice, salt, pepper

clarified butter* to cover

Put the fish into an ovenproof dish that fits them closely. Pour enough wine over them to cover – the quantity you need will depend on the tightness of the fit. Put in a bay leaf, parsley and lemon, with the spices, and some of the butter dotted over the top.

Bake in the oven preheated to gas 2, 150°C (300°F) until just cooked – 30 minutes or so.

Remove the fish, raise the fillets, discarding skin, bone and head, and flake them into a processor or blender. Strain the cooking juice into a shallow pan and boil it down to a syrupy essence, then beat in the butter, bit by bit, off the heat, until it melts. Pour on to the fish, add the cream and whizz to a paste. Check for seasoning and add lemon, salt and pepper as required.

Put into one shallow pot, or six to eight small pots and chill. When firm, pour on a layer of melted clarified butter. Chill again and cover with cling film. Store in the refrigerator for 24–36 hours. Serve with brown bread and butter.

GRILLED GRAYLING WITH FENNEL

Brush scaled grayling with clarified butter*, and sand them generously with freshly ground black pepper. Grill them in the usual way.

Serve them on a bed of Florentine fennel and onion – see recipe on p. 294 for Grilled red mullet with fennel – cooked in butter. Serve with pats of tarragon butter and lemon quarters, with a sprinkling of chopped green fennel leaves.

WHITEFISH (OR GRAYLING) WITH MORELS

The flavour of morels is so exceptional that it is worth buying a small packet of dried ones to make this dish, if you aren’t lucky enough to find your own. This recipe is also suitable for perch and pike, and sole.

Serves 6

1–1½ kg (2–3 lb) whitefish fillets

salt, pepper, pinch of paprika

500 g (1 lb) fresh morels or 45–60 g (1½–2 oz) packet dried morels

1 shallot, chopped

175 g (6 oz) butter

125 ml (4 fl oz) dry white wine

1 tablespoon beurre manié*

juice of 1 lemon

125 ml (4 fl oz) crème fraîche or double cream

seasoned flour

2 eggs, beaten

slices of lemon

chopped parsley and chives

Season the fish, and leave in a cool place while you prepare the sauce.

Wash the morels carefully and slice them up (or soak the dried ones according to instructions on the packet). Put into a pan with the shallot, 2 tablespoons of butter, and the wine. Simmer for 20 minutes. Thicken with the beurre manié, and add lemon juice, seasoning and cream. Keep just under the boil for a few moments. Pour on to a serving dish and keep warm.

Dip the fish into flour, then egg, and fry in 4 tablespoons of the butter until golden brown. Place