• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 885 0

with lemon quarters, or with a yoghurt sauce of the kind given below. If you baste the fish as it cooks, with wine or citrus juice or a flavoured oil, the juices may well be sauce enough.

You can have a great deal of experimental fun with herrings. They are even now not too expensive. They are robust enough to stand up to lively flavours, and do not trail the aura of sole or turbot which demand to be treated with a certain reverence. With herrings you have the relaxation of feeding family and close friends, you can risk a jeu d’esprit.

All quantities below are for 6 herrings

WITH CUCUMBER

STUFFING

125 g (4 oz) soft white breadcrumbs

8-cm (3-inch) piece cucumber, peeled, diced small

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 teaspoon thyme

½ teaspoon chopped sage

3 shallots or 1 small onion, chopped

4 tablespoons butter

juice and grated peel of 1 lime

1 egg

salt, pepper

Mix the crumbs, cucumber and herbs. Soften the shallot or onion in the butter, and add to the crumbs with the lime juice, peel, egg and seasoning. Serve with:

SAUCE

250 ml (8 fl oz) Greek yoghurt

3–4 tablespoons double cream

10-cm (4-inch) piece of cucumber, peeled, diced small

2 tablespoons parsley

1 tablespoon lime juice

salt, pepper

Mix the ingredients together in the order given, flavouring finally to taste with lime juice, salt and pepper.

NOTE This dish can be prepared with bluefish, p. 59.

WITH APPLE AND BEETROOT

STUFFING

125 g (4 oz) soft breadcrumbs

1 sharp eating apple

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon caster sugar

3 shallots or 1 small onion, chopped

4 tablespoons butter

1 egg

salt, pepper

about 2 tablespoons chopped celery or walnut (optional)

Put the crumbs in a basin. Peel, core and dice the apple, mixing it in with the crumbs as you go. Add cinnamon and caster sugar. Meanwhile, soften the shallot or onion in the butter. Add it to the crumbs with egg and seasoning. Finally, mix in the celery or walnut, if you like. Serve with:

SAUCE

250 ml (8 fl oz) Greek yoghurt

3–4 tablespoons double cream

2 small beetroot, golf-ball sized, boiled or lightly pickled, peeled, chopped

1 small eating apple, peeled, cored, diced

lemon juice

salt, pepper, sugar

horseradish

Mix all the ingredients together, seasoning with lemon, salt, pepper and sugar to taste. The beetroot will turn the sauce rather a lurid pink – use horseradish to give a counter-balancing edge of flavour.

WITH MUSHROOMS

STUFFING

125 g (4 oz) soft breadcrumbs

3 shallots or 1 small onion, chopped

4 tablespoons butter

125–175 g (4–6 oz) mushrooms, finely chopped

2 tablespoons parsley

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

good pinch of oregano or marjoram

salt, pepper

lemon juice

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Put the crumbs in a bowl. Soften the shallot or onion in the butter, add the mushrooms, parsley and garlic, raising the heat as the mushroom juices run. Mix in the oregano or marjoram, seasoning and lemon juice to taste. If you would like an extra piquancy, add the cheese.

I prefer this dish without a sauce, though a glass of white wine poured over the herring does not come amiss. Lemon wedges and small new potatoes go with it well. Should you have the luck to pick girolles or other woodland mushrooms, or some good field mushrooms, this dish will be even more successful.

WITH GOOSEBERRIES Instead of mushrooms in the recipe above, use small green gooseberries with some sugar. Omit the garlic and use a little thyme rather than oregano or marjoram. Serve the fish on its own, or with one of the gooseberry sauces* – but keep the quantity small or the herring will be overwhelmed.

WITH SOFT ROE STUFFING See the mackerel recipe on p. 190.

DEVILLED HERRINGS

Like mackerel and sprats, herring are an ideal fish for grilling because they are so rich in oil. If you have a charcoal fire burning out of doors in the summer, cook herrings on it so that their skins