If you want a change from salads and chilled soups, but prefer not to spend much time in a hot kitchen, fish is the answer. Infinitely varied in flavour and texture, fish and shellfish alike all have one thing in common – they are best cooked quickly, if indeed you are cooking them.

Some varieties are perfect when served raw, provided you can be sure of the quality and freshness of the fish. If in doubt, ask. Say you want to serve it raw and you will be guided to the best choice.

Cleaned and scaled, split open, with heads removed, sardines and other similar-sized fish are immensely versatile. Sometimes I dip them in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and deep fry them in gabardines as it were, the coating keeping the fish moist.

Or I salt the fish lightly and give them a short marinade in coconut water, with spring onions, grated lime zest and finely chopped lemon grass as well as fresh coriander.

After an hour or so in the fridge, they are delicious raw, with toasted sourdough or a quinoa salad.

Squid are similarly versatile, raw or cooked. They are very good in a ceviche, either alone or mixed with other fish, which makes a wonderfully refreshing first course, mixed with diced tomato, sliced chilli, shallots or spring onion, salt, coriander and lime zest or juice.

I never leave it marinating too long, as I like the fish to retain some of its rawness; too long in the lime juice changes the texture to something denser, as if you had steamed the fish almost.

For quick cooking, a char-grill adds a magnificent flavour to large squid, but the heat would be too fierce for small squid. These are best griddled à la plancha or seared briefly in a hot pan.

Carpaccio of tuna is probably more of a favourite than it should be, given the increasing scarcity of tuna through overfishing. I buy thin as possible slices from a narrow loin of tuna. I cover my marble slab with cling film, then place the slice of tuna on top and cover it with another sheet of cling film.

I use a rolling pin over the whole slice, which gradually flattens and ‘stretches’ the fish. Above all, do not pound it, as you might when making beef carpaccio. When it as thin as you want it – and do not worry if it tears into several pieces – remove the top layer of cling film and carefully turn the fish onto a large plate.

Brush with extra virgin olive oil, scatter on some Gozo salt and add fresh mint, chervil or parsley and a wedge of lime or lemon. Again, hot toasted sourdough is the best accompaniment.

Although denser than many fish, swordfish steaks will grill quickly on the barbecue, or can be done under the grill or cooked in olive oil in the frying pan.

Rather than a sauce, which makes the dish too rich, I like to serve it with a warm olive oil dressing, to which I add chopped herbs, such as mint or fennel, some capers and finely chopped shallots.

Regular readers will know of my fondness for cured salmon, a tea cure and an Islay whisky cure being among my favourites. This summer I have developed a ‘gin and tonic’ cure which works very well, picking up some of the botanicals in gin – coriander and juniper – and using these for the seasoning.

If any of you grow angelica, that can be added to the mixture and used in place of the fennel I use in the recipe. Maltese celery, or lovage, can also be used as the main herb.

Although preparation takes a little time, once done, you have an excellent dish to ‘cut and come again’.

Seared squid and chorizo

Serves 2

1 fresh squid, about 350g, cleaned and split open like a book, with the tentacles
Extra virgin olive oil
50g thinly sliced chorizo
Chopped fresh mint, coriander or parsley
Lemon

Place the squid on a chopping board and cut into approximate rectangles or diamonds. On the inner surface of the squid, score lines in both directions to make diamond shapes, without cutting right through. This preparation will cause the squid to curl as it is seared, as you find it in oriental dishes. Alternatively, you can have the squid sliced in rings after it has been cleaned and skinned. Or, of course, simply buy squid rings.

Heat a little oil in a heavy frying pan and in a smaller frying pan gently cook the chorizo. When the oil in the larger pan is hot, add the squid, tentacles and all, and cook on a high heat for three to four minutes, until just cooked through. Longer cooking will toughen the squid. Combine the squid and chorizo together with a little pimentón-flavoured oil. Scatter on the herbs and serve with quartered lemon. Rocket or lamb’s lettuce accompanies this very nicely, as does a bottle of well-chilled Fino or Manzanilla.

Marinated sardines with quinoa salad

Serves 4

10 sardines, filleted
Gozo sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
100ml coconut water or pineapple juice
Grated zest of a lime or lemon
Fresh mint or basil
1 lemon grass stalk, finely chopped
200g quinoa
1 or 2 tomatoes, seeds discarded
Half cucumber, peeled, halved, seeds discarded
4 spring onions or 1 or 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
2 or 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Place the sardines, skin side down in a single layer in a shallow dish. Season the fish with plenty of salt and a little pepper. Mix the liquid with the zest, herbs and lemon grass and pour over the fish.

Leave for four hours to marinate.

You can also prepare the salad at this time. Simmer the quinoa in two-and-a-half times its volume of water and allow to cool. Season lightly. Dice the tomato and cucumber and add with the onion or shallot to the quinoa together with olive oil. Refrigerate until required.

To serve, you can simply spoon a heap of quinoa salad onto each plate and arrange the sardine fillets on top. Or, for a more elaborate presentation, cut the fillets to fit metal rings which you place on each plate.

Arrange the fillets round the side and fill with the salad. Remove the rings when ready to serve.

Gin and tonic cured salmon

Serves 8, plus leftovers

1 tail of salmon, weighing about 1.5kg
5 tbsp Gozo sea salt
2 tbsp light muscovado sugar
2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 tbsp juniper berries, crushed
4 tbsp gin
1 or two lemons
small bunch wild fennel

Have the fish scaled before filleting and remove as many bones from the fillets as possible. Mix the salt, sugar, pepper, spices and gin.

Take a thin layer of zest from the lemon or lemons.

Spread a few sprigs of fennel and some lemon zest in the bottom of a rectangular dish, large enough to take the piece of fish.

Spoon a tablespoon of marinade over the herbs and lay one salmon fillet on top, skin side down. Spread all but a tablespoon of the rest of the mixture on the flesh side of each fillet of salmon and sandwich the two together with more lemon zest and a little fennel between.

The remaining salt mixture should be spread on the skin side of the top fillet, covered with a little more fennel and lemon zest, the whole thing covered with food wrap, and weighted down for up to three days, although the fish is very good after 24 hours.

To serve, scrape off the herbs and salt, drain off the liquid and slice thinly across the grain, or in thicker slices vertically down to the skin.

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