Smoked Gurnard

Been meaning to share this for some time. Nothing to it but it transforms the humble Gurnard into a  meal worth remembering.

Gurnard - a fish with attitude

 So long as you work either side of the central scale ribbon running along its back, whilst avoiding its spines, filleting is straightforward. There is a lot of bone and head for fairly small fillets, so choose a good sized one that looks plump, not wasted post spawning. Unless you want to make some fish stock, you will probably want to get the fishmonger to fillet it for you.
Get out your Camerons smoker, or similar and scatter a small handful of Alder chips around the base. This time I used Apple chips but to my mind it was not as good, so go for Alder if you can. Lightly oil the grid, wipe the open flesh sides of the fillets with oil, a twist of pepper then place flesh side down on the grid. Repeat with the top skin sides and assemble smoker. Put on a just a little higher than medium hotplate, wait until some smoke escape and time for around eight minutes. It really doesn't need very long at all. Check, touch to make sure the flesh is cooked. Take off heat and reserve then serve. It is excellent, hot or cold, needs no further embellishment. As you can see, I dressed it with lightly pickled pink shallot rings.