Recipes

Chosen from Fish by Mitch Tonks, he writes "Chunks of coley, potato and sweet roasted peppers make a very rich and satisfying stew and the use of red mullet here adds an extra depth of flavour. This amazing little fish is probably the tastiest in the sea and certainly the most beautiful. In this recipe the coley is salted overnight to alter the texture and add that real Mediterranean flavour of salt fish to the dish."

Serves 2

    2 x 200g coley fillets, skinned
    200g rock salt
    1 red pepper
    1 green pepper
    2 tbsp olive oil
    2 onions, finely sliced
    2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
    1 tbsp tomato puree
    125ml dry white wine
    Pinch saffron strands
    2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
    1 fresh thyme sprig
    2 bay leaves
    2 small red mullet, filleted and pin-boned
    1 x 400g can good quality Italian plum tomatoes
    1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
    6 or 7 black olives, pitted
    Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

The day before, place the coley on a large plate or in a shallow dish and cover the fish in salt. Leave to chill in the refrigerator overnight then wash the salt off and leave to soak in a bowl of cold water for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Place the peppers in a roasting pan and cook in the oven for 10-15 minutes until blackened. Remove and place the peppers in a plastic bag, then seal the top and leave to cool for a few hours. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins, remove the seeds and roughly chop the flesh.

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy based frying pan, add the onions and garlic and fry very gently for 10 minutes, adding a little water just to soften them. Add the tomato puree and cook for a further minute, then pour in the wine and boil for a minute. Add the saffron, chopped peppers, potatoes, thyme, bay leaves, mullet fillets and tomatoes and stir together. It doesn't matter if the mullet fillets break up, this is what you want.

Add the coley and add just enough water, about 1 tbsp,  to cover the fish. Cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Taste and season with salt and pepper, then stir in the parsley and olives.

Remove the bay leaves and thyme and serve with crusty bread.

NB: If you love chilli, a dried bird-s-eye chilli crumbled in during cooking is a wonderful addition.