Monchel-sur-Canche: Trout Fishing

My final [extremely overdue] post on my mini-break to France is by far my favourite. The tiny commune plays host to the River Canche, meaning the local trout farm gets pretty lucky. Right on the side of the road, you can just turn up, grab a rod and catch yourself some dinner.

 

Now, I have to admit to being horrendously squeamish, and don't have the best track history when it comes to killing, and eating, your own dinner. When I was 20, I bought a lobster from Billingsgate fish market to cook at home. Bear in mind you have to get to the market for about 6am, and I was cooking him for dinner (yes, we got so close 'it' became a 'he' - 'he' even became Herman) - he was in my fridge for a full day, and, well, we bonded. 

When it came to it, it broke my heart to put him into my Lobster Linguine. I did at least manage to kill and cook it, but ended up picking out the pasta and giving what was left to the cat - the guilt was too much. No, I didn't manage to eat him, but I was willing to do the dirty work myself - this pretty much sums up my whole ethos about food - if you're willing to eat it, you should be willing to partake in, or at least be witness to, the pond-to-plate saga.

Anyway, back to that afternoon at the Trout farm. Fishing were just myself, Adam and my three cousins - we were completely left to our own devices, no tutorials here - just grab a rod and catch as many fish as you like, then take them to be weighed and pay for them.

If you ever get chance to catch your own fish and eat it that day - do it. Yes, you have to touch maggots and ultimately hold something in your hand and confront the fact that it's dying because you're planning to eat it - but unless you're vegetarian (in which case, why are you trout fishing?), you should be able to deal with it.

We baked the fish in the oven with green olives, toasted almonds & a little bit of lime and it was, in all honesty, the best fish I've ever tasted - it was unbelievably fresh (the bones came out in one, which I'm told is the sign of fresh fish) and tasted divine.