Cooking inWild is best, but farmed fish is an acceptable, and sustainable, alternative
Pearly white flakes of moist, succulent fish eaten with a slick of salsa verde is hard to beat on a warm summer's day. So, too, is a pink salmon steak, grilled so the outside is ever-so-slightly charred, the interior moist.
Fish, like so much in the food world, seems to be changing at such speed. Organic farmed salmon is something we do rather well, and the fish coming from Clare Island is now widely available. Farmed cod will be heading your way from the west of Ireland by the end of this year.
Farmed fish has something of an unfortunate stigma attached, but it is the only way we can go, as far as I can see. The real challenge is to farm fish well. Arctic Charr is an endangered species in the wild, but has been successfully farmed in Iceland and we should be seeing a supply from the west of Ireland coming through in the next few months.This fish makes fine eating. It has succulent, chewy flesh that works as well poached or grilled. What could be better on a summer's evening than steaks of hake, salmon, cod or Arctic Charr for that matter.
For my money, farmed fish needs a sauce of some kind. Occasionally it comes from a jar in the fridge, but more usually it is chopped herbs, maybe with an anchovy or two, or some capers and a slick of olive oil. Sometimes it includes some roasted red peppers, or maybe even some grilled courgettes.