A zesty fish dish and the sweet scent of baking apples
In a wretched year, brief moments of joy are to be cherished all the more. Today, cold, damp and dealing with a blanket of sodden leaves in the garden, I catch the smell of baking apples coming through the open kitchen door. A hint of fruit slowly building to a froth and the scent of browning butter and sugar which, albeit briefly, puts my world to rights. A dish of small, rosy dessert apples whose sweetness intensifies in the oven, which we will eat with homemade blackberry and apple ice-cream. The ice-cream will melt slowly over the fruit, forming a blissful, apple-scented puddle lying in wait at the bottom of our dishes.
Halibut steaks have been marinaded until ready to be grilled until their edges blacken in the heat