Today I spent a lot of time gardening ! But you don’t have a garden I hear you cry. You are correct, but I do have a large terrace, which gets sorted basically two times a year. With garden centres being closed there was a dilemma, what was I going to do?

Along with Covent Garden merchants delivering Fruit and Vegetables ( and eggs and milk and cheese and biscuits), many fish merchants and fishermen ( including the one I use ISH FISH), small restaurants as well as some chains there is an absolute plethora of enterprising individuals out there who are determined that their businesses will not go bust during this quarantine. I came across one such company “Love Gardeng Direct or Smartplantapp, ( I think they are the same but not 100% sure on that) . Anyway, currently they have saved 20,000 plants from being ditched and 10% of each sale goes to the NHS, so it is very much a win win. Hence the reason I was doing gardening. By the way, my plants arrived in a great box, packaged so as not to damage them and all were in perfect condition.

The other reason I was in the garden was, it was HIS day to do the cooking. He had grand plans, “Do we have Squid”? “NO”, OK, do we have Skate Wings”? NO, “OK do we have Scallops”?, NO again, OK, Do we have Mussels, I really fancy Mussels,”? once again, No was the answer. Normally he would have trotted down the road to Selfridges Food Hall and bought either Oysters or Mussels, but it is CLOSED ! Next question,” Fish, what do we have in the way of fish”?, Well. said, I, Salmon, Cod, Haddock, Halibut, Mackerel, Sea Bass,  Tilapia, Large Shrimp, some frozen Oysters, one Dover Sole and some Crab meat! Not a bad choice really. So He settled on Salmon ( again) and then wondered what he was going to do with it.

Very simply, it could be either baked or pan fried with the most important part being the sauce. Over Breakfast this morning we reflected on the fish, which was delicious ( if you like fish) but Himself was marginally disappointed  that the sauce had not penetrated the fish and so it was concluded that another time, the fish would be firstly marinated in the sauce and then either baked or fried in the sauce, either way would work

For the sauce

• 2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
• grated zest and juice of 2 limes
• 4 tbsp olive oil, plus 1 of sesame oil ( use all olive oil if you do not have sesame)
• 2 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 tsp of honey
• 2 seeded and chopped red chillies ( more if you want it more spicy)
• chopped coriander some in the sauce and some to serve

Simply place the fish in a dish and leave to soak up the sauce for an hour or so, ( in the refrigerator),  the fish  takes about 15-20 minutes, depending on size, we had a filet that weighed 700 grms, to cook, again either in the oven or pan. Baste with the sauce whilst cooking. When ready serve with your vegetable of choice ( we used asparagus) with  the remaining sauce poured over.