Issue 3 Cooking the Catch from the Archives of the London Diver Magazine

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Thursday 20 November 2008

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	ISSUE 3 ARCHIVE - COOKING THE CATCH Andrew Maxwell Monkfish with Minted Pea Puree, Crispy Pancetta and Balsamic Syrup So, climbing back onto my soap box that I so gracefully stepped off during my last article, I want to introduce you to the idea of sustainable fishing! When I first started diving, back in 1997, one of the PADI specialties was the Underwater Hunter spec. Yes, as a PADI diver you could learn to use a spear gun. When PADI started pushing the Project Aware campaign, they removed it, understandably. In February 2007 I spent a weekend at the SETT Tank in Portsmouth doing a free diving course with the guys at Deeper Blue. Emma Farrell, one of the UK's top female free divers, whilst running a fabulous course, at one point during the weekend, posed a very interesting point about spear fishing. Take the humanity issue to one side – I'm not going to get into that debate here – people who hunt fish using spear guns, are effectively removing from the oceans, only what they can eat. There is no mass elimination of an entire school of tuna and whatever else may be in the area at the time. There is no dredging of the sea bed in search of scallops whilst destroying everything else that is growing there. There is a diver, with a spear gun, trying to catch fish who are far more agile then the diver! The odds of survival are heavily stacked in favour of the fishes and the diver can only carry a limited number of fish. In fact, the diver can only eat a limited number of fish too. The point of this is that there is no favourable argument for fishing on the scale promoted by certain countries, to simply meet the demands of the international market. Sustainable fishing is a REAL option. It is here, and is here to stay. And must be promoted. Even if that means promoting the individual who goes out with a fishing rod, wades into a river and spends 5 hours trying to catch one Salmon.
	In addition, I think if I were a fish, I'd much rather eat a fly and suddenly be dragged out of a river, than caught in a net, dragged through the ocean for hundreds of metres, struggling to get free, then piled into a container with hundreds of other flapping, suffocating fish... Almost certainly to then be thrown back into the water dead as I was not the right species for that day's fishing! On the subject of sustainable fishing, I touched on the subject of fish farms in the last issue. Sustainable? Yes. Good fish? For the most part... No! My family live on an island on the west coast of Scotland. The water is some of the purest in the world. It actually tastes of water – not just that chlorinated stuff we get from the tap here in London!
In spite of its purity, my family are still required to have their drinking water tested for safety. (Thank you very much to those highly intelligent people who run the HSE. We all love you. SO MUCH) Moving swiftly away from that sarcastic note, they were recently told that their drinking water was undrinkable, due to unusually high levels of various chemicals in the water. Where was this coming from? The fish farm in the loch at the top of the hill. Un-natural substances in the feed were causing the water to be unsuitable for human consumption. And yet they let us eat the fish??? Random fact. Genetically modified tomatoes have been developed with added genes from fish. Why? Well fish that live in cold water have genes that enable them to survive and grow in cold conditions. Remove this gene from a fish and put it into a tomato and you have a tomato that can grow in England in January. Of course it does not taste like a tomato. In fact, being pale pink, it does not really even look like one. But there's nothing to stop you calling it one and charging people for it! Tomatoes with added fish genes. The implications of this CANNOT be good?? As I explained in the last issue, there are methods of farming fish that are organic, humane and have no detrimental effect on the environment or on the consumer. By supporting these methods we can all help to eliminate the sort of pictures we saw on the news recently of fisherman throwing up to 80% of their daily catches back into the water, (dead) because the quota for, say cod, has already been reached this year, and they were actually fishing for haddock... (fishing nets have a tendency not to discriminate between the two!). And so to this months recipe – Monkfish with Minted Pea Puree, Crispy Parma Ham and Balsamic Syrup. As monkfish are slow to reproduce it's important not buy small monkfish tails – if a large one is too big, ask the fish monger to cut a piece off. Avoid stocks from Spain, Portugal or Scotland, as these are in short supply. The big supermarkets are generally not bad places to buy fish from, (from a sustainability point of view) since they are so concerned about their images, that they all have policies regarding the sourcing of sustainable fish – Tescos sources it's monkfish from the south west. It is worth noting monkfish stocks are generally not considered to be dangerously low – they are just low in certain areas. It is vital then, that the public is aware that it is OK to eat monkfish, just as long as they source it well! Try to buy line caught monkfish.
Ingredients To feed 4: 4 slices of Prosciutto (Parma Ham) 4 monkfish steaks (about 150g each) 60g butter 1 clove of garlic – bashed with the palm of your hand to semi crush it 1 sprig of thyme 800g frozen peas 150 ml balsamic vinegar 2 sprigs of mint (about 10 leaves) chopped Juice of ½ a lemon Method: Have a large pan of salted water coming to the boil for the peas. Meanwhile heat a large frying pan with a splash of olive oil, (about 2 tablespoons.) Slice the Parma ham into small strips and fry in the oil until they become crispy – set aside on kitchen paper to drain. In the same oil, sear the lightly seasoned monkfish until it is golden brown on all sides, then turning the temperature down a little, add the butter, the whole clove of garlic and the thyme. As the butter melts, using a tablespoon, baste the fish with the butter. It will start foaming and will absorb the flavour of the garlic and thyme. Continue to baste the fish, turning occasionally, until it feels firm and is just cooked through – if you are unsure, cut it open and check – Monkfish should be just a little on the rare side. When cooked, remove to a plate and pour over all of the butter, with the thyme and garlic. Rest it like this while you boil the peas and make the balsamic reduction. Boil the balsamic rapidly until it has reduced by half and is syrupy. As soon as the peas are cooked, drain and add the chopped mint and lemon juice and mash roughly with a fork or potato masher to form a chunky pea puree.
Slice the monkfish into steaks and serve on a bed of the minted mushy peas, with Parma ham crisps sprinkled over the top. Spoon the balsamic syrup around the plate and over the fish. This dish is delicious served with a portion of chunky potato wedges – roasted in olive oil in a hot oven – about 230oC for 20 mins... Fish and chips with mushy peas! What could be better!
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