Over the course of an hour or so 23 curious youngsters joined Marian Armitage to learn more about the significance of the Fishing Industry - in its many forms - for Shetland; to learn about cooking and to taste some delicious fish.
A show of hands confirmed that for the majority: fish was something they had at least once or twice a week. Several said that they had been ‘aff’ fishing with members of their family and that catching mackerel in the summer was most popular.
The dishes on offer were : a fish soup - a vegetable base of taaties, onion, garlic, canned tomatoes, carrots, fennel, leek and celery; with catfish (sometimes called wolf fish or steinbiter) and squid - added for the last 5 minutes of cooking. Fennel was a relatively new vegetable for many bairns - so we tasted it on its own and learned about how to prepare it : raw and cooked. There was much curiosity about squid with most bairns insisting that their taster portion included this sometimes suspicious species. Unfortunately, we only had the tubes to slice up - another time we’ll have plenty of tentacles!
We also discussed how great it is to use fresh herbs and we used handfuls of chopped parsley and dill with some most impressive knife skills on display from the bairns.
Next, we had some beautifully filleted mackerel from one of the Pelagic fleet and we cooked them in absolutely the simplest way : in the oven, on a baking tray with a sprinkling of saat!
They went in at 200 degrees Celsius for exactly 8 minutes (timed precisely by several bairns’ watches) and every single morsel was eaten. Everyone agreed that they could easily do this at home.
Finally, mussels. These are huge success story for Shetland and they are in season and in their prime right now in this chilly weather.
These were kindly donated by Seaspray Shetland Ltd and we discussed how to prepare and de-beard them, watching out for and rejecting any with a broken shell.
In a massive pot we softened a handful of spring onions and garlic in Shetland butter, for about 5 minutes - before adding freshly chopped parsley and dill; a slug of Shetland Farm Dairies whipping cream (thank you Dawna) and then about 3 kg cleaned mussels. Full heat with the lid tightly on and within 5 or so minutes they were all open and everyone was ready to dive in.
So many had not tried them before and most found themselves pleasantly surprised.
What a great group of bairns - they were keen and interested and asked plenty of questions; and they were eager to taste the fish - which for some, was outside their comfort zone.
The kitchen was a complete happy mess by the time we finished and the hour absolutely flew by. Thank you P6/7 for being a great participating audience and a special thanks to the 4 who came back to help with the dishes!
Thank you too to the Shetland Fishermen Association for their generous sponsorship of this session.
