FOOD Spanish ceviche sea bass

For the love of food

Food and wine

Redmond Cabot

Is food love? Is love food? What is in this complex relationship? Nigella Lawson, Sophie Dahl and our own Rachel Allen are not averse to mixing their recipes with hints of love, even lust. Certainly the media play it up, but what do we as consumers and practitioners believe?

Are you one to lie down these summer days and twirl your ice cream around your finger before licking it slowly ad steadily around your succulent lips, turning to look your loved one in the eye? Do you slowly and delicately enter fresh, firm peas into your mouth before holding them against the top of your mouth while slowly circling them around only to gently exert more power and push until – pop! – the pea wall erupting and spurting out, oozing around the insides of your melting mouth? Be wary of the food industry, which often exploits the notion of food and love when what it really wants is not your love, but your money!

The family table is surely the best table to eat at, grumpy people and all. Sourcing and cooking products that you can trace a direct line from field to fork. Pure natural goodness. How do you explain the food relationship better than that? No need for sexiness, bells or whistles…

If someone asks about love and food, one could say ‘food is also life, and how do anyone of us explain that?’ – You just get on with it as best you can and try to look after your loved ones. Be wary of big food companies who want your money. Keep it local, keep your food as natural and seasonal as possible, and keep it real … under and over the sheets…

Seasonal treats

• Fresh, green rosemary shoots Cooked with potato wedges on the oven tray. Or why not try poached pears with rosemary syrup?
• Wonderful Irish spinach served barely cooked or wilted as an accompaniment to fish, meats and veggie delights. Spinach and cheese pies, served with free-range eggs as eggs Florentine.
• Watercress in soups, salads, or with fish plates.
• Nettles I had my first nettle soup of the year last week on Iniskea islands while ringing Barnacle Geese, and the brown, iron-ness of it felt excellent.

Spanish ceviche sea bass

Serves 4 (starter)

In case you don’t know, I love fish! It is a mega food when fresh. In the old days people tended to cook it too much because, in fairness, the freshness was not guaranteed.

Even recently I brought a bag of crab meat on special offer and when I opened it was not rotten, it was technically OK, but the smell and taste was bad. It ruined my Linguine pasta with Clusheens and crabmeat. The moral of the story? Know your fishmonger or seller.

We also like to try new things here, so please bear with me and try this starter dish; you’ll get nowhere if you don’t take steps into the unknown. Trust me, the fish actually cooks in the marinade – it is not raw! We ate this last week when a friend gave me some sea bass fillets they didn’t need. The sceptics were converted and the entire starter was finished by all.

Ingredients

• 2 sea bass fillets
• 3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 long red fresh chillies thinly chopped
• 1 big lemon half or 2 smalls
• 2 chives very thinly sliced
• Seasoning

If your sea bass fillets have skin on, hold down the tail end and slide a sharp knife upwards between skin and flesh to take off skin. Chop into Dairymilk chocolate-chunk sizes and place in a bowl.

Pour over oil, add the garlic and chillies, season, squeeze in the lemon juice, add a small dash of wine if you have an open bottle and mix well. Sprinkle chives on top.

Leave in the fridge for an hour. Serve cold on a plate or platter with brown bread laid around the dish.

Some wine with that?

’Tis the season for whites – fresh, crisp, cleansing acidity making the insides of your mouth drool. Try this French Bordeaux, a Sauvignon/Semillon blend on special now at Super Valu: Chateau Manon, La Lagune (€6.99).