Instructions: Scale and clean the fish.

Chop parsley and garlic together.

Heat the oil in a flameproof serving dish and cook the parsley and garlic for three minutes gently.

Meanwhile turn the fish in seasoned flour.

Put it into the pan and turn in the oil.

Add lemon juice seasoning bay leaves drained olives and 200ml water.

Simmer for 5 minutes then put into the top of an oven preheated to 220C (425F gas 7). Two mullet should be cooked in 810 minutes; one larger one will take longer.

Remove from the oven pour off the liquid into a shallow pan and boil it down hard to a vigorous concentrated flavour adding extra salt if necessary.

Pour over the fish and leave until cold then refrigerate baste the fish with the juices from time to time or turn the fish as it cools.

See the olives and bay leaves are nicely disposed around the fish and tidy up the dish before refrigerating it.

Serves 6

When we cooked and ate this dish hot it seemed dull. I was all set to give the cat the remains for his supper and drop the recipe when I happened to taste a little. The mullet never a fine fish unlike the red mullet but passable if very fresh had firmed up in the cold of the larder and taken on a good flavour from the lemon. The juices had turned to a jelly and the olives were succulent.

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