& DRINK Recipes you’ll fall for hook, line, and sinker T

400g smoked mackerel fillets, skinned; 200g cream cheese; 1tbsp creme fraiche; 1 lemon, halved; 2tbsp chopped chives; 2tbsp chopped dill; oatcakes, optional, to serve; sea salt and black pepper

(Leave at least two hours for this step). Place the water, sugar, vinegar, bay leaves, thyme sprigs and a pinch of salt in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil, then set aside and leave to cool completely.

Once cool, pour into a non-metallic bowl. Cut the cucumbers into 0.5cm-thick slices, add to the brine and leave for two hours, then transfer to the fridge if not using immediately.

When ready to serve, remove cucumber slices from brine and pat dry. Spread the pâté on pickled cucumber slices and serve with oatcakes on the side, if you like. HE way to get anyone, and particularly kids, into fish, says Tom Kitchin, is to show them the whole cycle of eating it, from catching to plating.

The chef, whose Scottish restaurant The Kitchin has one coveted Michelin star, goes fishing five or six times a year, “whether it’s sea fishing or trout or salmon fishing” – but it’s mackerel fishing that he’s a real sucker for.

“I love to do that with the kids (he has four boys with wife Michaela), it’s great fun because quite often you catch something,” says the Edinburgh-born restaurateur. “The one thing about fishing is, you have to have a bit of patience, and it’s not something that children have a lot of...”

But if you do snag a few muscular, iridescent mackerel, silver-bellied and eyes bright, he says, follow the process all the way through with kids if you can, because “more often than not, that’s how you’ll get them to eat it. If they’ve caught it, they’ve gone through the gutting and the barbecuing, and then they taste it – that’s a very satisfying day,” he adds.

This enthusiasm for fish – an enthusiasm Tom hopes to share – is the backbone of his latest cookbook, Tom Kitchin’s Fish & Shellfish.

He calls the recipe collection “a real celebration” of seafood and “a real passion of mine”, that shows how seafood offers “such a quick way to cook, such a healthy way to eat”.

The book is also underlined by a desire to help people quash their fish fears and “get away from (the belief that), ‘Oh, I just like salmon, I just like haddock’,” adds Tom, with a knowing touch of exasperation.

Being based in Scotland though, the 41-year-old is well aware that he has incredible access to the joys of edible sea creatures not enjoyed by all. But he’s adamant it is possible to get your hands on decent seafood, no matter how landlocked you might be.

“First and foremost, you’ve got to build your relationship with a fishmonger,” says Tom. “Fishmongers in general are great banter, proper old school, love a regular customer, and will go out of their way (to help).

"So, if you find a recipe and say to yourself, ‘I’d really like to try that, it’s got scallops or prawns or mackerel’, then go and speak to your fishmonger because they will be able to source these ingredients for you.

“I think (people) have really bad childhood memories, they think about fish with bones in it. It’s a bit like offal,” muses Tom. “People think about liver and onion at school – ‘I’m never having that again’ – but like most things, if it’s done properly, it’s really, really good.”

Cost, particularly if you don’t entirely rate your fish cookery skills, can also be a concern. After all, the trendiest fish of the moment, turbot (“The king of fish”), is stunningly pricey, especially if wild caught. But for Tom, the wonderful thing about fish is that there’s so much variety – in flavour, size and cost.

“As long as it’s fresh, it’s good. So if you’re really pushing the boat out, you’re talking lobster, turbot, langoustines, scallops, but underneath that you’ve got some wonderful fish; hake, cod, haddock, mussels, plaice, (which are) great value for money. It can certainly be done on a budget – and just think of how good it is for you.”

As a child himself, Tom reckons he was “pretty adventurous” but wasn’t elegantly scoffing snails, or anything like that.

“My kids are eating much better now than I was at their age,” he says – and if his boys were faced with a snail? “They’ll try it, I don’t know if they’ll fully enjoy it, but they’ll try it,” he offers with a laugh.