When I lived in New York, a Hero was a sandwich – well, a soft roll filled with Italian meat and cheese. Also called a Hoagie, and very much like what we Londoners call a Panino. One could imagine that many people out working this spring in both cities were eating a lot of them. Shift workers in supermarkets. Refuse collectors, delivery drivers, cleaners, carers, posties, teachers. Emergency service people, milkmen, nurses, doctors, pharmacy staff, construction workers, train and bus drivers, utilities crew, food producers and many more. Heroes all, keeping the city going while old ladies like me were safely tucked up indoors.

When the restrictions lifted slightly I had the pleasure of cooking for two heroes and their son eating in the garden: Baked salmon trout (sea trout), ratatouille, and potatoes. I have already described ratatouille – you can see the recipe here

The salmon trout was wild, caught off Whitby. I didn’t want to mess it around too much so I stuffed it with some dill and a few lemon slices, rubbed it with olive oil salt and pepper, wrapped it in baking paper then foil and baked it in the oven. Timings vary. A quick browse through recipes for a 2 kg whole foil wrapped salmon range from 30 min in a very hot oven (Gordon Ramsay) to over 2 1/2 hours in a cool one (Delia Smith). I actually managed to undercook it a bit so it had to go back in while we ate the ratatouille. Next time I will remember to score the fish several times on each side. Also, I am pretty sure that wild trout have thicker skins and denser flesh than farmed, so you just have to watch it.

There should have been mayonnaise, but I messed it up. I couldn’t concentrate, I was just so happy to see them!

Maybe a dance around to David Bowie’s Heroes ?