One of the joys of walking our neighborhood is the seafood shop on the corner of Rue Lepic and Rue de Abbesses with its wonderfully tempting array of every seafood imaginable from the live langoustine with their feelers waving in cold air, the cockles and mussels (alive alive oh!) the shiny silvery herrings and the large pieces of Colin (the fish, not the person, and it is what we know as hake).

Langoustines

A fan of The Great British Menu and Rick Stein’s TV shows, I have always been fascinated by Langoustines, looking like a very large prawn with long dangerous claws the size of their body. In their natural state they have the bright red colour of cooked prawns and crayfish. I had just seen Rick whip up a feed of langoustines in a pan sizzling with garlic, oil and a splash of white wine, so they were our first purchase. Five minutes using the Rick Stein method, and what a feed!!

Soupe de Poissons et Crevettes

Of course, I couldn’t possibly let those langoustine shells go to waste so I cooked up a seafood stock and made Soupe de Poisson et Crevettes ( Fish and Prawn Soup). Absolutely delicious

Fillets of Sardines

Our last purchase was fillets of sardines which were crumbed and fried and eaten simply with baguette and a glass of wine.