Simon Rhodes, Lobster Pot fishmongers,

Wood Street,

Swindon

THE weather this week has been wonderful. I’ve had a few days away to the Kent coast and I am a little scorched where the sun has caught my forehead.

So with this hot weather I thought I would talk about exotic fish.

A couple of weeks ago we had an order for some Red Snapper fillets, which came in quite large and very substantial. These were from South America and are a little different from the Indian Ocean variety we normally get in.

My supplier has informed me that he is expecting a bigger variety of exotic fish such as Barramundi, Tilapia, Yellow-tailed Snapper and Parrot fish which should be arriving here for next week.

Barramundi, also known as Asian sea bass, is very popular in Thailand, whereas Tilapia is more of an African fish. Both are very meaty and wonderful in curries or well-spiced dishes.

Yellow-tailed Snapper is popular in Florida while Parrot fish, which is a member of the Wrasse family, has a large number of varieties.

All of these exotics make a nice change from the tuna and swordloin which have proved popular here at The Wood Street Foodhall.

My recipe this week is simple; why not try an exotic fillet with a salsa?

First make a spicy paste. Mix together some curry spices, such as cumin, garam masala, turmeric, garlic and ginger, with a little tomato puree and coat the fillet with the paste.

Either shallow fry or grill the fillet skin side down.

Accompany this with a little salsa: first skin and deseed a few tomatoes and dice, remove the skin from some bell peppers by burning the skin and then placing them in a bag to sweat (this makes the peppers taste nice and sweet).

Dice up a red onion and the peppers and mix together with some fresh mint and a splash of white wine vinegar.

Add some salt and a little sugar and you have a very fragrant and flavoursome salsa which will accompany your fish fillet perfectly.

Hopefully we have said goodbye to a long winter and we can now welcome some outdoor eating with some vibrant salads and amazing fresh fish.