'STRAIGHTMOPS'

And so it was that the Straightmop was  born                                                                                                                           UHG

Rollmops are traditionally pickled herring fillets rolled around a savory nugget, usually gherkins or green olives.

Glenn, a friend and fellow forager is a wealth of information with truckloads of enthusiasm for anything primal. Recently he kindly gave me some rollmops that he had made from a local fish called ‘Streepies’. He had rolled their little fillets around gherkins. They were amazingly excellent. I simply had to get some and some more…

Glenn casts his net far and wide... wish I could do that                                                                                                     UHG

If I were a little fish, I would be afraid. Not of Stef though                                                                                                UHG

When it comes to a little adventure, Glenn is a pushover, so it wasn’t long before we headed for the coast with throw-nets and our friend Stef in tow. It turned out that I was rubbish with the throw-net, so I left that part to others; in turn Stef proved to be only slightly less useless than me. Finally it was up to Glenn to sneak up to fling a net around the darting shoals of little fish.

A time consuming process, but well worth it                                                                                                                       UHG

An overnight salting sucks out the extra moisture that you don't want, not to mention adding seasoning           UHG

There weren’t any signs of ‘Streepies’, but we (or should I say Glenn) managed to net some small ‘Harders' (another local fish). They were too small to fillet, so I kept them whole and with a toothpick secured an agave pickle in their gut cavity… and so it came to pass that the fully foraged ‘straightmop’ was born.

Agave buds, the perfect straightmop pickle, if you going fully foraged ?                                                                      UHG

Stef  harvesting fennel fronds… an obvious pickling spice                                                                                                 UHG

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

Fish

Vinegar

Salt

Onion

Pickles / green olives (in this case agave bud)

Pickling spices (I went for foraged fennel flowers, lemon leaves and Peruvian pepper)

MOTHOD

If you have small fish - scale, gut and take off the heads, or if they are  big enough - scale and fillet them.

Layer the fish with course salt in between and leave in fridge overnight.

Rinse off the salt.

If you only have small fishies and are going for the new and exciting ‘Staightmop’, stab a half toothpick through each one to secure your pickle in their gut cavity. If you have bigger fish and are making good common old Rollmops, roll the fillets around pickles and zap them with toothpicks.

Pop em into a jar with your pickling spices, a few onion slices and top up with white vinegar… and there you have it.

 They will last in the fridge for weeks.