After 5 years in London, I have decided to return to my University town Brighton, for a quieter life by the sea. My boyfriend and I have been travelling down frequently in pursuit of the perfect flat. Well, we haven’t found it yet, but I did discover lot’s of foodie treasures.

In between a host of disappointing flat viewings we stumbled upon The Little Fish Market, a beautiful little fishmonger, seafood deli and cafe. They specialise in local and sustainable seafood and serve some up a delicious range of fishy snacks in their cafe. We tucked into a couple of Mersey oysters, some yummy pollock balls and a couple of really good glasses of sauvignon blanc all for £14. This will definitely become one of our local haunts.

Oysters and fish balls

For our second refreshment break we headed to The Chilli Pickle. An acclaimed Indian restaurant in the North Laines, which provides adventurous, tasty food in a laid back setting. We shared a King Tali, which included a starter and a dessert and a multitude of dishes in between all for a measley £13. The food was interesting, light and full of flavour – definitely one to take my dad to.

Tali Heaven

We then walked along the seafront, as you do in Brighton and enjoyed the sunshine and sea air. I came across a stall selling lovely local fresh fish and seafood and I picked up some hot smoked salmon, some queen scallops and a rather wonderful large crab. And here’s what I did with them…

High on sea air

Crabby

This simple spaghetti is so delicious yet requires very little effort or time. The recipe below uses scallops but you can use any fish or seafood – crab is particularly good. I have included a picture of the same recipe using crab meat in place of the scallops and angel hair spaghetti. It’s also lovely with a few cherry tomatoes thrown in at the end, or for the decadent foodies out there, try topping with bottarga.

Scallop Spaghetti

Using the scallop roe and anchovies in the base of the sauce gives it an intense richness, capers and lemon juice cut through this and the chilli gives it a glorious kick. The fresh white scallop meat is flash cooked at the very end so that they retain their delicate fresh sweetness.

Serves 2

• 200g spaghetti
• 150g fresh scallops, with roe
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 3 teaspoons pickled capers, finely chopped
• 3 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
• 1 glass dry white wine
• 1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
• 1 handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• juice and zest of half a lemon
• A handful of fresh rocket

Prepare your scallops by removing the roe and finely chopping it. Then take the white flesh and slice each scallop in 2 or 3, each slice should be about half a centimetre thick.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil with 3 teaspoons of salt and cook the spaghetti to aldente. While the pasta is cooking, you can make the sauce.

Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan or wok and sweat off the shallot. Add the scallop roe, anchovy fillets, capers, garlic and chilli and sweat for a further few minutes. Pour in the glass of wine and bring up the temperature to cook off the alcohol.

Drain your pasta and toss it straight into the pan with sauce, add the rest of the olive oil and the lemon juice and mix thoroughly. Now add the white scallop flesh, the lemon zest and the fresh parsley. Stir for a couple of minutes until the scallops turn just opaque – it is very important not to overcook the scallops or they become chewy.

Serve the spaghetti with a lemon wedge and some more fresh parsley and a handful of fresh rocket.

With Scallops

With the crab