Yesterday morning was a glorious spring morning although dull it was 
calm and at 11°C it was considerably warmer than it had been for months. I picked up my camera and went for a long walk on a beach at a local coastal town to help blow the winter cobwebs away. I was lucky to be there when the cobles (small fishing boats) came 
in. This usually happens around 11am most days as, long as the weather permits. The fishermen sell there catch from their boats at the top of the slipways, you can’t get fresher fish than that unless you cook it on the boats themselves.
The fish is all line caught and the fishermen aren’t looking to turn a large profit. They are looking to cover the cost of their fuel and maybe a little for their time, so the cost of the fish depends on the size of the catch. It is a practice that has been going on for as long as there has been a settlement there. So very traditional, green minded, fresher and cheaper by far than the local supermarket or 
fishmonger.
I hadn’t remembered about the boats and had left my purse and handbag behind. I had £2.50 in my pocket so managed to pick up a large Pollock from one of them for £2.00 not only a bargain but then he filleted it for me too. No cleaning needed, no fish heads, bones or guts to smell out my bin for a week.
I took home my prize and after my walk along the beach the sea air and the exercise told me I had deserved this fish battered. If you buy fish and chips from a chip shop, unless it states it is Cod or Haddock etc it is usually Pollock and most people are happy to hand over at least £3.50 for 1 piece. When I got home I weighed the fillets and they were just over a Kilo and from the size of these fillets on the chopping board and decided I would get 4 good sized fillets to batter and the other 2 smaller pieces I cut into 3 each to make what I intended to be fish fingers. Once I’d got these ‘fingers’ coated and cooked were really just smaller battered fillets, far too large to call fingers. I’ll just have to remember that they need to be cut smaller next time I really could have halved them again.
So out of 1 £2 fish I got 4 large battered fish fillets and ½ a dozen giant fish fingers not bad. Although I didn’t want all the fish in one go I battered and cooked it all and once cooled froze the extra portions. When I want them I’ll probably defrost them (at least partially and cook oven chips and reheat them in the oven while cooking the chips. The hot oven will warm the fish right through and make the batter crispy and a little browner.
