The fishing industry in England used to be much larger than it is now. For the South Coast tourism took over, and once a railway line was laid to Newhaven it became a major ferry port to Dieppe and Calais. However, where there's sea, there's fishing, and the fishing fleet of Newhaven supply to my local fishmonger. It makes sense to me that if you want the freshest fish going you need to head to the source.
West Quay Fisheries is where it's at. I'm telling you now that this is the freshest trading point for Newhaven fish with the widest selection, at least that I know of.
It's hard to know where to start. This is a temple go Channel Island fish right here.
I settled for a mackerel, some skate and some scallops. The fish is top quality, the eyes are black and clear, there's no smell of fish and some mackerel are still stiff fresh.
I started with the mackerel, this is my favourite fish from the British Isles. Just look at this beautiful fish.
So to gut it take a sharp filleting knife and slice from under the head back to the anus. Make a shallow cut and try not to damage the organs. Once you have it opened up slice off the intestinal tract at its end and cut away the rest at the head end. Be gentle so you don't actually burst anything inside the fish. Fish guts make good compost, that's where these have gone.
Now slice down the back, cutting just to the left of the spine and make a cut as close as you can to the head to remove the fillet.
Cut off the head and the tail and you will be able to lift out the spine along with most of the other bones.
Now grab a pair of tweezers and pin bone the fillets. Once that's done all that remains is to neatly trim the fillets.
Sorry, I would have done a lovely complex recipe for these but they were so fresh and so good I really couldn't wait. I simply fried them in butter and ate them straight away.
Now it's the scallops turn. Just down the coast at rye you get some of the best scallops in England. Do them a favour, leave the roe on, it's just as tasty as the rest of the scallop.
I'm cooking mine in the pan and I need...
Scallops
1/2 clove garlic
2 knobs of butter
50ml sherry
150ml double cream
1 rasher pancetta or bacon
Mince the garlic and fry in half the butter. Then add the scallops and fry until they're firm when you gently squeeze them.
Remove the scallops from the pan and add the sherry. Stand back as it's going to catch fire! Once the sherry has burnt all its booze off throw in the rest of the butter and stir with a whisk until shiny and smooth. The butter you fried the scallops in should have burned slightly and given it a deep brown colour.
Now add the cream bit by bit, whisking in fast as you go. Whisk until smooth and bring the whole lot up to temperature so it's gently simmering. Something that goes stupidly well with scallops is bacon, it's a match made in heaven, you'd think pigs were aquatic. So grill a rasher of pancetta until crispy to put on top. Plate the scallops, the sauce and finish with the bacon. Amazing.
Last up is the skate.
To prepare the skate you need your knife and a pair of pliers (it's fine if you ask your fishmonger to to this bit, it's hassle). Make a small slit under the skin at the body end of the wing and use the pliers to rip the skin off.
Turn over and do the other side.
Now to cook it I suggest the classic way is the best. That is you slowly poach it in court bouillon. To make the court bouillon use 1.5 litres of water, 100 ml of lemon juice (about 1 lemon), a carrot, half an onion, 1/2 tsp parsley, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 clove and a bay leaf. Bring that to the boil then turn down and put in the skate.
When it's done it flakes away beautifully. Gently lift it out the pan and onto a hot plate. Finish with a beurre noisette (that is butter thats been burnt on the stove until it turns a nut brown colour) and some capers.
Obviously the best way to ensure you've got the freshesh fish available is to catch it yourself, and living by the sea thats something I can do, but I'll be leaving it till a little later in the year when the weather improves and the season starts. In the meantime I'm happy to leave it to the pros in Newhaven.
So I’ve chosen perhaps a slightly different producer to write about first, not a greengrocers or a butchers, but a bee farm. Paynes Bee Farm is tucked right out the way down a secret path off Hassocks Road, in Hassocks. Blink and you’d miss it, but look out for the white sign (on the left if you’re coming from Hurstpierpoint and on the right if you’re driving from Hassocks). If you are without car then train to Hassocks station and walk West for about 20 mins or so.
Paynes was started by Fred Payne in 1922 and operate lots of hives all over Sussex. They're suppliers of bee keeping equipment, helping out beekeepers from all over. It's not uncommon to see someone from out of town in the shop picking up their beekeeping essentials, last time I was there it was a couple from Birmingham. But I'm there of course for their great honey, and so many varieties to choose from:
Heather honey (so distinctive and great tasting)
Hungarian acacia honey
Greek honey - the best simply drizzled over strawberries and greek yoghurt
Mexican honey
and Manuka honey, famous the world over for its antibacterial properties
Second, where can you buy this much honey in one go! 3lbs of blossom honey (which admittedly is an imported variety and not their own) is £5.80. It’s still a perfectly good honey though.
Having visited Paynes, seen the hives and bought my locally produced honey, made from the bees and flowers of Sussex I’m back home and ready to make something with this great tasting product, provided I haven’t drunk half the jar like Winnie the Pooh fresh out of rehab.
I thought long and hard about what to make to show off the honey, I thought it might get a bit lost in a cake and it's not really the time of year for a salad, so I ended up doing baklava. First time making it, but it was so easy it won't be the last. If you flood your house with nuts over Chistmas then this could be a good way to use up any leftover.
The ingredients for this recipe are:
200g pistachio nuts
200g walnuts
Filo pastry
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Butter
and one jar of lovely honey
Most baklava recipes I found used syrup instead of honey, it was a struggle to find one with honey in, let alone one that used it in any reasonable amount. So I just ditched all the sugar from a basic recipe and replaced with honey.
I started by preparing the nuts. I'd never realised how colourful pistachios are. I took out a handful and chopped them by hand, so there's a bit of texture in there. The rest I put in a blender which ground them a bit finer.
Into the nut mix I put a teaspoon of cinnamon. Here's the time to be a bit more creative if you'd like. A couple of recipes I saw mentioned putting ground cloves in there, and I would imagine a little cardamon would make a nice addition.
Next I got to work on the filo pastry. Cut it to the size of the baking tin you're using and cover it with cling film to stop it drying out while you're working.
Now the fun part. Melt a bit of butter and brush it all over the bottom of your baking tin. Then take 2 sheets of filo and lay it on top. Brush again, layer another 2, repeat another 2 times so you have a bottom layer of 8 sheets of filo pastry. Then brush the top of that with more butter. Now take some of your nut mix and sprinkle it evenly over the pastry. When it's all over drizzle honey evenly all over.
Keep doing this to get as many layers as you can out of your mix. I managed 4, but traditionally I think it's about 8.
When you're done cut the baklava. Cut diagonally first, then lengthways so you get little diamonds.
Bake in the middle of a preheated over at 160degC for about an hour, but check it to make sure it doesn't burn.
When it's done take it out, cool it a little and remove the finished baklava from the tin. Drizzle a little more honey on top and add a pinch of ground pistachio. Done.
If somehow you don't eat them all immediately it'll keep in airtight containers for a few days.
