A fish called Wanda

I like to think that I'm a fairly adventurous cook; except when it comes to fish! I never cook the stuff.

Oh sure, I cook pre-packaged salmon or peppered mackerel from the supermarket but it's not the same as a fresh piece of fish from the fish shop, is it?

And so, thanks to advice from my newest and bestest chum Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall (ok, his cook book), I decided to confront my fears about choking on fish bones and I went to "bond" with my local fishmongers.

And what a nice chap he was too.

Scared of cooking fish? (Umm, yes, actually). Worried about fish bones for children? (Err ... no, me now you come to mention it). No idea what to do with it once you get it home? (You got it in one Big guy).

Red bream, he said confidently, perfect for families as it's only got one big bone to lift out (not strictly true), couple of slits in the side, rub a bit of lemon and butter in, wrap it in foil and give it 20 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees.

So that's exactly what I did.

And it was easy.

' course, I wasn't scared really ..........

(Unwrapping the fish at home. I left my largest chef's knife in shot to give you an idea of the size of the fish)

Preparing the foil, greased with butter, fresh thyme, bay leaf, red onion, salt pepper and butter (in fish cavity)

The finished article.

Easy peasy and tasty!!