Gringo Fish

It was hot as I walked through the park and the heat brought back good memories of a garden party in the North Country the previous Saturday, while today's trip to the park helped create some more important and exciting pointers to a new direction.

There was a slight breeze too and this took the edge off the heat. Nevertheless when I got home the house was warm. Then following a telephone conversation with a very good friend, who was calling from the Eurostar en-route to his latest trailblazing adventure, I decided to make my tea.

A conversation on a recent road trip about  a holiday to Mexico had provided me with a detailed knowledge of Mexican Cuisine. The main finding was that what we think of in this country as true Mexican Food is in fact more like "Tex-Mex" food. The reality is that true Mexican Cuisine is something completely different.

A dish I had been recommended was something called Ceviche. It is a dish that uses white fish herbs, spices, coconut and limes. Typically I decided to turn my own idiosyncratic style to the dish with a view to creating something that was distinctly my own. The ingredients were as follows:

1 Cod Fillet.
1 diced White Onion.
1 teaspoon of dried Mint.
1 teaspoon of Chili Powder.
1 teaspoon of dried Coriander.
The juice of half a Lemon.

The great thing about a white fish dish like this is that it is filling but light and so it is perfect for a warm summer evening.

On the player was another obscure Fleetwood Mac record. In this case their 1995 effort "Time". This record is a one off in that it features for the only time ex-Traffic guitarist and songwriter Dave Mason and singer-songwriter Bekka Bramlett. Mason manages two sturdy rockers while Bramlett is largely invisible. Like its predecessor the album is saved from oblivion largely by Christine McVie's songs especially Hollywood (Some other kind of town) and Nights in Estoril which winds up being one of her best songs; period. The album closer These Strange Times meanwhile sees Mick Fleetwood offer up a haunting spoken lead vocal. The lyrics he recites do sum up well the fate of their original front man and are backed by a reflective arrangement.

I laid the  Cod out on baking tray that I'd covered in foil. I covered it evenly with the Mint, Chili Powder and Coriander. Then I sprayed the Lemon juice over it. I put some of the Onion on the fish too and spread the rest evenly by the side of it.

I cooked it in the oven at Gas Mark four for twenty-five minutes and this allowed the herbs, spices and Lemon Juice to soak into the fish. After the Cod was cooked I added it to my dinner plate with a side of fresh Broad Beans that I'd steamed with some Cress. When I cook Cod I'm normally quite conservative, with a small "c" I must hastily add, and just have it with traditional English vegetables and don't do much to flavour it. However adding these ingredients that were inspired by the Mexican recipe I had been given opened up many new and exciting avenues for cooking with Cod.

Freshly cooked white fish ready to eat as my dog looks on