I was watching a TV show with my mum about how fish like to eat autumn fruit. And because of that, I thought I’d do a fish and fruit experiment, so I made this. I LOVE it. You need a skilled fishmonger (thanks, Marsey!) to fillet the bream for you.

For more of this kind of thing you can head over to Unbound and pledge for a collection of tips on how to improvise with food, and a collection of 52 improvised recipe cards.

Ingredients for 2 hungry people or 4 people with normal appetites.

4 bream fillets. Bones out but skin on. Squeeze a little lemon juice over them just before you cook them.

2 shallots and 2 cloves of garlic very finely chopped.

A punnet of blackberries, rinsed and drained.

Salt and pepper.

Olive oil

Pre heat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas 6

Heat a splash of olive oil in a large frying pan and fry the shallots and garlic for a few minutes.

Squeeze a small amount of lemon juice over the bream fillets, move the shallots and onions to the perimeter of the pan and place the fillets, skin side down, in the middle. Keep moving them very slightly as they cook so that they don’t stick, but be careful not to break them. Fry them for about 4 minutes skin side down, then very carefully turn them over. At this point the skin will have come loose so scrape it off gently with a spoon and throw it away. Fry for another 3 minutes and then gently lift the fillets out onto a piece of cooking foil and wrap them loosely. Pop them on a shelf in your hot oven for about 10 minutes.

While the bream fillets are finishing off in the oven, tip the blackberries into the pan with the garlic and onions and mash them up as you fry them for 3 or 4 minutes.

Serve with the smashed fried blackberries on the side. We ate them with purple potatoes and carrots (which I’d roasted in the 200ºC oven for about 45 minutes) and a salad.

Frying the blackberries…                                 serving with roast purple potatoes & carrots