Too good a dish for any but anglers....
Serves 4
Compleat Angler Izaak Walton's famous dish adapted for the 21st century.
Ingredients
- 1 cleaned pike around 1500 gm
- 300gm/12 oz (net wt after glaze) shelled oysters
- 50gm/2 oz tin of anchovies or go authentic and use our whole fresh anchovies
- 1 tbsp fresh marjoram or ½ tbsp dried
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme or ½ tbsp dried
- 100gm/4 oz butter
- 1 bottle red wine
- juice of 4 oranges
Method
- Wash the pike. Score its sides three times each, ½ inch deep. Drain the melted ice glaze from the oysters. If using whole anchovies, clean them (slit belly and rinse under tap).
- Chop half the anchovies into small pieces, then put them in a pan with the butter and herbs. Turn heat on low - do not aim to melt the butter - merely to soften it so these four items can be blended together.
- Add the oysters to the butter, gently. Do not break them.
- Now put this mixture in the pike's gut cavity and place it in a suitable oven-proof dish. Pour the claret and orange juice over and scatter the remaining anchovies around. Roast at 180C/375F/gas 4 for around 45 minutes, maybe a little longer. Baste every 10 minutes
