Something Fishy with Simon Rhodes of the Lobster Pot Fishmongers, Wood Street Food Hall, Swindon
LOOKING around my garden the other day I noticed that the herb section is becoming a bit overgrown with all the sun and rain we’ve been getting.
This got me thinking how different herbs go better with certain foods. For example, Rosemary and mint are synonymous with lamb; tarragon and thyme go well with chicken, and sage with pork. So, what about fish? What herbs go with fish? Well, as fish has a delicate taste it demands a more subtle flavour so as not to overpower it.
Dill is a classic choice, say, with salmon and trout as well as with fishcakes. Parsley is always a favourite and goes with most fish dishes either with a butter or a white sauce, and is superb with poached haddock or baked cod.
If you’re thinking of making a Mediterranean tomato-based sauce to accompany a nice piece of roasted fish like monkfish then it has to be fresh basil or maybe oregano.
Spicy fish dishes require a sweeter flavour, such as coriander, marjoram or curry leaves. Fennel is another herb which is underused and works well with turbot or sea bass.
Why not try a combination of a few herbs blended together with a little olive oil, garlic, breadcrumbs, and sea salt and pepper and placed on top of a piece of cod and roasted in the oven so it forms a crust on top of the fish?
A Béarnaise sauce is made with clarified butter, white wine vinegar, shallots, egg yolks, lemon juice and classically tarragon but most herbs will make a great Béarnaise sauce. This works especially well with a good meaty fish like halibut. To make, whisk in a couple of egg yolks into a bowl containing a splash of white wine vinegar and finely chopped shallots, over a pan of boiling water (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Then add warm clarified butter slowly to make an emulsified sauce, carefully making sure the eggs don’t curdle. Add the chopped herbs and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Herbs can transform and lift a dish to another level. A good guide on how to use them is always to put fresh soft herbs in at the end of a dish and dried, hard herbs in during the start of the cooking to infuse.
Always season well and remember an old chef’s adage stolen from a child’s maths book ‘you can always add but you can’t take away!’
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