Scavenger

I am at the Marylebone Farmer’s Market at the very best time of day:  just before closing time. The get everything-practically-for-free time. 25+vendors are in the parking lot just off Moxon Road and are gathering their last remaining produce into crates and stacking them back onto their trucks. Most customers have left. It’s a goldmine.

The fishmongers at maldon.co.uk yell over at me: “ALL FISH NOW HALF PRICE. GET YOUR FISH HERE NOW. ALL FISH…”

I walk up to their truck which features a built-in counter now filled with lots of melting  ice and very few fish. Some jellied seaweed is scattered on top. I have a little chat with  one of the fishmongers named Goudgel— a North African dark-haired man with fat rosy cheeks and a boisterous disposition.

S: What’s that? Monkfish?

G: Dogfish.

S: What’s that?

G: Shark meat.

S:  Really. How big’s the shark?

G: 5 to 10 K.G.’s. Like this.

S:  Just a portion for myself please. How do you cook it?

G: Aaah! Salt, pepper, flour, garlic, thyme…in oven.

S: Is that how you cook it for your wife?

G: No, no wife. I’m a chef. I cook for the people. (Pause). I can cook a human.

S:  Really.

Fishmonger 2 walks off in a huff.

G: (Goudgel shakes his head). He’s always like that. I roast it beautiful. I can cook different types of humans.

S: Who are the tastiest?

G: Boys. Between 14 to 16.

S:  Do you have a son?

G: No.

I spot the last piece of chocolate cake from the stand “Out of the Box”. The American cake lady crams a 5-inch high slice into a container and gives it to me for £2. I stroll over to the “Garden of Rest” behind the 15^th century Marylebone Church and collapse on a park bench. The encrypted plaque in front of me says that Francis Bacon—not the painter, was married here. I bask in the last few rays of rare sunshine and inhale the entire slice of my dessert as I figure out how to cook my dinner. This is what I came up with:

Fresh Huss Picatta in a Roasted Chorizo and Tomato Broth

This is a hearty dish of hunky gorgeosity. There is nothing cheap about my £2.50 piece of fish.

To begin: do you have a cazuela? If not, most of this dish can be prepared and assembled in a small oven- proof frying pan.

Coarsely chop ½ cup chorizo picante. Heat a frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and add the chorizo. While the chorizo is browning, finely chop a tablespoon of shallots or red onion. When the chorizo is crisp, remove it and set aside, reserving the chorizo oil. 

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