Fish Starters

For us, one of the great pleasures of the Mediterranean is that wherever you go you are never far away from some of the best fish markets in the world. Spain in particular benefits from being surrounded by water – the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay – and because of this, and the Spaniards’ passion for seafood, it is easy to eat fish of unparalleled freshness and variety. We had one very memorable meal when we drove to Sanlúcar de Barrameda on the Atlantic coast of Andalucía. It was a Sunday, three o’clock in the afternoon and our restaurant, Casa Bigote, was buzzing, for Sunday lunch is one of the busiest times of the week. We sat down and ordered a half bottle of manzanilla, the sherry of the town, and a few things to eat. ‘Gambas a la plancha’ came first, pale pink prawns lightly grilled with rock salt, and were some of the sweetest, juiciest prawns we have ever tasted – every mouthful sent shivers of pleasure down our spines. After further plates of ‘pijotas’, deep-fried baby hakes, and some ‘chipirones’, baby squid – and more sherry – we left reeling from that rare and heady experience of all-consuming pleasure. Hand in hand with such a variety of seafood come so many recipes, so many ways of preparing, cooking and eating fish, that we could fill a whole book with what we have tasted, but below are some of our favourite dishes.