Fillets of Sea Bream on a bed of samphire

Samphire is a sea vegetable that grows abundantly on muddy shorelines, marshy shallows and on salty mudflats. It has a crisp texture, salty flavour and tastes of the sea. This delicious tidal sea plant grows in a limited number of places around the British coastline. This native is not cultivated as a gourmet delicacy and supplies are seasonal. The true British asparagus season is very short, lasting for about six weeks from mid-April to mid-June. Imports often come from parts of the coast of France and more recently, The Persian Gulf. Coastline effluent controls in the Middle East have less stringent standards than the EEC requirement and European samphire is a much safer bet. If you are tempted to gather your own – have a mind on ecologically sound principles. Keep your mind on sustainable management -- which probably means that if you snip a few bunches with a pair of scissors, not uprooting it, for your own tasty meal in the way your ancestors have traditionally done since time immemorial thus avoiding a huge fine for harming the flora in a SSSI (Sites of Special Scientific Interest).
Here stir-frying with oriental flavourings is recommended, but do not overcook your samphire – it should retain it’s crunch. Any firm-fleshed fish will set off this taste-bud treat, it could be expensive sea bass, a more prosaic flat fish, like brill or the ugly but tasty gurnard, a favourite choice in the county. In this case, the market that day supplied sea bream, which does the job nicely.

I hope that you understand my passion for our coastline. The fishing industry in places like the south coast is slowly in decline and it is difficult to know whether you should be eating fish from the boats or not, given the dwindling state of the fish stocks. Obviously, some species are in greater difficulties than others and I will avoid, for example, recipes that use cod. I would rather be catching and cooking the fish myself, but if you are buying species like mackerel - still reasonably plentiful - straight from the sea and cooking at home, or eating fresh fish in a local restaurant, this is better than paying through the nose for an emaciated, disappointing farmed bass in a swanky city restaurant. 



 Ingredients (serves 2)
4 smallish or 2 medium fillets sea bream (say, 6oz/180g total weight per serving)
Sea salt (Maldon)/white pepper seasoned plain flour (with a heaped dessertspoonful of medium ground polenta mixed in)*
4 tbsp olive oil 360g samphire, cleaned and picked through
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced 1 small red chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
1 x 2cm piece root ginger, peeled, grated fine a few drops sesame oil 1 tbsp soy sauce (light preferred) a small knob of unsalted butter fresh ground black pepper (to serve)
*the addition of some cornmeal polenta to the dusting mix gives a texture with more ‘bite’.

Method
Bone out the two fillets, removing the skin, (or ask your fishmonger** to do it for you) and dust them with the seasoned flour. Heat frying pan with the oil on a medium – hot flame and then pan-fry each fillet for about 1-2 minutes on each side (don’t overcook), drain dry on kitchen paper and keep warm while cooking the samphire. Into a wok (on a high flame) with 1 tsp oil stir-fry samphire in it’s own moisture with garlic and ginger until heated through. Add sesame oil and soy sauce. Continue to stir-fry for another couple of minutes tossing continuously. Finish off by adding the butter and taking off the heat. Swirl butter around to give it a shine, place portions on a warmed plate and arrange fish neatly on top.

*My recommendation for a good fresh white fish supplier is from MacSorsen’s trailer stall in Bridport’s street market on Saturdays (usually on the north side, near The Post Office). The humble kiosk always has good crab meat, smoked un-dyed haddock, and a reasonably wide selection of white fish, reasonably priced. You have to get there early to ensure getting some – it’s very popular!