Mark Hix feeds 10 with a single trout after coming up short in the river
Mark Hix continues his fishy adventures in Ireland…
(For pt.1 click here)
Well, I’m sure you were looking forward to reading how many salmon we managed to land on the river bank on day two of my Galway salmon fishing trip? Well I’m going to disappoint you: between you and I, it was zero.
Both Peter and Andre managed to hook a couple of fish but sadly lost them. As usual on these salmon adventures, you have to book well in advance: with us foodie types all having busy schedules, that often means the fishing itself is pot-luck. Too often you hear the most miserable sentence known to man: “You should have been here last week!”. Of course, that’s not much help when your rod’s in the water and you haven’t felt so much as a wiggle in two days. But that’s fishing, I’m afraid.
I did, however, manage to land one decent sized brown trout on Lough Corrib. Although it wasn’t necessarily the species I was targeting, I guess beggars can’t be choosers. So dinner that night was like Jesus with the loaves and fishes, attempting to feed ten people with one little trout.
The finished broth
I decided to rustle up an Asian style crispy trout broth with a spiced clear stock, made from the head and bones, garnished with crispy pieces of deep fried flesh, coriander and wild garlic leaves, with ginger and chilli.
Even though the catch was extremely modest, it just about stretched to make 10 bowls of tasty broth (with the help of a slightly larger fish I found in the fridge). We also had more of the Glenarm Estate beef and lamb I mentioned last week, which I turned into various Chinese-style dishes made using the carrier bag of wild garlic leaves, flowers and bulbs I picked in the nearby woods.
When I cook at home or I’m entertaining, I tend to go with Asian flavours as it’s a tad removed from what I serve in the restaurants and you can create all sorts of dishes with a few simple ingredients (ginger, chilli, coriander etc). Here's how you can make your own fish stock:
HOW-TO: TROUT STOCK
• Serves 4-6
• You will need:
The bones from a couple white fish, washed
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 small leek, peeled and roughly chopped
10 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/2 lemon
10 fennel seeds
• Put all of the ingredients into a saucepan and just cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes then strain through a sieve