• 2 herring fillets each
  • 2 oz/50 gm apple per person, possibly peeled, cored and chopped up.
  • ½ tsp horseradish per person – or to taste.
  • Olive oil
  • Celtic type sea salt and black pepper.
  • Seasoned gram flour.  (Also called Chickpea flour – other gluten free flours could be used, but this recipe works well with the heavy nuttiness of gram flour.)
  1. Warm the olive oil in a saucepan and add the apple.
  2. Cook gently for about 10 minutes until the apple is soft.
  3. Mash to a purée, stir in the horseradish, add the salt and pepper and keep warm.
  4. Coat the herrings in the flour and gently fry for about 5 mins each side or until cooked through.
  5. Serve with the apple sauce and plentiful green vegetables, broccoli for preference.

I just love this simple recipe.  The hotness of the horseradish along with the sharpness of cooking apples is completely wonderful with an oily fish like herring.  Of course, the recipe could also be made with mackerel or sardines.  Since I would usually eat this at lunchtime, I don’t always flour the fish, but it is better floured.

Now the horseradish I use is made by English Provender Co and stocked by Waitrose.  It is just horseradish, bit of vegetable oil and sulphites – no added dairy or sugar or wheat – amazing.  When the jar is first opened, the horseradish is unbelievably hot.  But this heat dies down with time, even though I keep it in the fridge.  So the amount of horseradish needed does vary.  If you can get hold of it, the recipe would be even better using freshly grated horseradish – goggles and rubber gloves advisable in grating it!

Herrings tick so many boxes: cheap, extremely nutritious and, cooked like this, tasty.  Of course, there is the problem of the bones, which are still about even after filleting. But at least this makes us eat more slowly – always a good thing.  Herrings are a very good source of omega 3.  Since the fish is small, it is not heavily laden with heavy metals, unlike Tuna or Swordfish, both of which are best avoided.

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