Dear Seafoodies

The month of April, in which my birthday falls, has seen some lovely bright and dry weather, a welcome uplift from everything that this particular winter has had for us to endure, though the lack of rain may pose something of a hurdle to getting my balcony herb garden back up to speed.  I was delighted to celebrate my birthday with a host of friends (via Zoom for the second year running!) in a seafood cookalong followed, who would have thought, by some suitably silly games.  Four-legged sous chef unfortunately didn't get a particularly long walk the following day!

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Following on from my previous newsletter "Broadening Horizons", there are a couple of other additions to the scope of UK seafood on the Bute Street Seafoodie radar.  In no particular order, the first of these is King prawns which are now very successfully cultivated in the UK.  Two things to acknowledge are that first, most prawns we buy are farmed somewhere and second, that many overseas farms are shrouded in controversy over the ethics and cleanliness of their practices.  FloGro Fresh (Lincolnshire) and Great British Prawns (Stirlingshire) are two UK producers who make sure their operations are ethical and sustainable and FloGro Fresh have even been accredited by the Marine Conservation Society for production methods and sustainability.

Such is the popularity of their product that, at the time of writing, both operations are currently closed to orders as they prepare themselves to meet the impending demand.  There is little to choose between the two producers and having bought from both I have been enjoying a variety of prawn recipes.  So, as a couple of suggestions, with images from left to right:

• Prawn Molee: An authentic Keralan dish of prawns with curry leaves and coconut milk.  It is about the easiest curry you will ever make and is also fantastic with firm white fish instead.
• Prawn Creole: an old-school (the recipe came from an old school friend) and terribly simple dish of prawns in what is most easily described as a "Bloody Mary" sauce.

Second, the new(ish) farmers' market at High Street Kensington has introduced smoked fish from two local producers to the Bute Street Seafoodie repertoire.  First of these is the smoke house run by Martin Yorwarth, from which smoked mackerel, haddock, sprats, cod's roes, whiting (when in season), kippers and more, are available on his stall.  

At the same market there is also Charlie's Trout whose fish are raised in the Wiltshire Avon and smoked over green Wiltshire oak.  The first pack of cold-smoked trout I bought from them got eaten neat (and quickly), but I've since been rather more creative and, in many cases, just adapted ideas that would typically feature smoked salmon.

So for the smoked fish collection we have, images from left to right:

• Jugged Kipper, Poached Eggs: an absolutely classic way to enjoy kippers!
• Courgetti with Pistachio Pesto and Smoked Trout: a dish that underwent quite a journey to become what it is, but a journey that was truly worthwhile. 

Meanwhile, in the Bute Street farmers' market there is a rejuvenated push to try to get UK spider crab on more UK plates.  I've highlighted in previous posts and newsletters the enormous gulf between the appreciation of this seafood at home as compared with foreign consumers, so I shan't repeat it here.  But being a fan of eating these abundant critters and somewhat baffled by the hesitancy we have in the UK to enjoy them I have got my thinking cap firmly on to see what ideas there might be underneath that cap that may raise their appeal.  I offer one such idea in a moment.  I do think that, for a broader audience, it helps if they can be bought already cooked, but that is exactly what Dorset Fish are currently bringing to the market just now, at a price of only £4-5/kg (same thing was €35/kg in a mid-priced Spanish restaurant this time last year)!

At the same time we are in a period when the Dorset clam fishery is closed (January to May) to allow stocks to regenerate.  Such a measure must certainly be at least one reason why this particular clam fishery is accredited by the Marine Stewardship Council for responsible practices.  This closure tends to prompt me to be on the look out for recipes for cockles (like my Baked Brill on the Bone with Cockles and Wild Garlic) and I recently happened upon an outstanding recipe by Bradley's Fish, who have been supplying my parents for as long as I can remember, which is now easily one of my favourite cockle dishes.  So, images from left to right, we have:

• Spider Crab Bisque with "Crabaïoli" Croûtes: a simple recipe based on one by Michelin-starred Tom Kitchin which requires only the claws of the (cock) crab to be picked while the rest of the beast goes into the making of a luxurious soup.
• Cockles with Leeks, Pernod, Dill and Cream: exactly what its title says and essential to enjoy with bread and butter.

There are now more than 150 recipes on the Bute Street Seafoodie website and the inventory of works-in-progress remains well-stocked.  All of these recipes feature native UK fish and shellfish, responsibly-sourced by small-scale UK operations even if some of the recipes themselves come from far beyond our shores.

As ever, please do forward this message on to your friends and fellow seafoodies and invite them to get in touch or subscribe or to follow @butestseafoodie on Instagram, and Facebook (becoming a 2021 Twit is starting to look more like a 2022 ambition!). 

Happy spring everyone and, if I give myself a bit of a nudge, I should be in touch again quite soon with some very seasonal favourites... Watch this space...

Best fishes

Bute Street Seafoodie

butestseafoodie@gmail.com

www.butestseafoodie.com