… or rather Jamie Morton-Clarke, our fishmonger, does – and plenty of it!  At this time of year the waters off the south-west coast are simply teeming with these superbly flavoured flat fish.

I find that sometimes people are a bit fazed by the prospect of cooking fish, but lemon sole really is so easy to prepare – take Jamie’s own favourite method, for example.  He says “the simpler you do it, the better it tastes; I have it simply grilled for a few minutes and served with butter and lemon.”  I told Jamie I’d probably have to add a bit of salt and pepper and parsley to impress my wife but he told me I must be under the thumb.

Jamie’s obviously a bit of a free spirit; he went on to tell me about the time he bought a Land Rover and drove all the way from London to Australia (not sure how he navigated the Pacific though)!  Happily for us he’s been settled in Cornwall for a while now – in fact he reminded me that he’s been supplying Abel & Cole for more than six years, pointing out that I was probably still in nappies when he first sent his catch of the day up to Abel & Cole HQ.  Ok, I am young – but not that young!

I was reading Harold McGee’s tome McGee on Food & Cooking in bed last night (it’s a cracking book about all things foody and has become my gastronomic bible) and was struck by this comment in the fish section: “It takes some effort these days to find and choose fish and shellfish that have been produced in environmentally responsible, sustainable ways.”

So what are we doing to make sure we source our fish in a responsible way?  The majority of our fish is from Looe in Cornwall where Jamie unabashedly claims the best fish in England can be found.  What’s more, all of this fish is caught by day boats, meaning fresh fish landed every day and no trawling with huge nets scraping the ocean floor.  Once the fish gets back to Jamie’s shop – within hours of having been caught – it is then prepared, by hand, by a small team of expert fishmongers.  This way we are able to offer our customers some of the freshest, most sustainably caught, and tastiest fish around.

We’re working in partnership with Jamie to celebrate the quality of British seafood by bringing you a fantastic range of seasonal fish.  Check out the current offering here.  You’ll notice that lemon sole is on special offer right now, so why not try Jamie’s recipe?  We also have whiting on offer – a superb alternative to cod, it is delicious battered.

If you have any questions about our fish, or you want to know Jamie’s favourite way to cook John Dory, or you need to know how to flog a Land Rover in Southern India in short order, then post your questions below and Jamie will get back to you.  I might do the typing though as I don’t want him getting fish scales all over my keyboard!

André – the Fish Buyer