To wipe out all the imported American Halloween drivel from our consciousness, today we devoted ourselves to pickling a supply of onions for the year ahead.

I can’t remember how many years we’ve been doing this, but it all started with exasperation at the standard of most pickled onions on sale and lingering memories of those my grandmother used to make.

So a couple of hours hard graft, including several minutes of onion tears (which pass quite fast), produced 11lb of home-made pickled onions according to Ruth Mott’s recipe, which includes black treacle and Demerara sugar. 

Home-made pickled onions

Last year’s onions have lasted well and there are two left, which coincidentally I shall consume tonight, along with some chips which I’ll be cooking as a treat.

Halloween? One of these pickled onions will certainly put the wind up you!

Not something that we eat every day, but a wonderful occasional treat, especially when you can buy fresh cod or other white white fish and local potatoes (which have never seen the inside of a supermarket warehouse or articulated lorry). We buy Braunton potatoes, grown within 10 miles of Ilfracombe, from Norman’s independent greengrocer in Ilfracombe High Street.

Home-made fish cakes and chips with pickled onions

So simple to make too: mix the cooked white fish and mashed potato, adding salt, pepper and a few parsley leaves, then mould into a long roll. Slice the fish cakes, dip in beaten egg and coat with home-made breadcrumbs. We use the end slices of a loaf from our baker’s, The Pantry in Ilfracombe High Street, bake them in the oven and grind in a blender. 

The chips are also made from local potatoes, peeled and chopped thick.

Deep fry the fish cakes very hot for five minutes or until ready, then keep warm in the oven, while frying the chips for 15-20 minutes.

The fish cakes are deliciously light and fluffy inside and crisp on the outside. I eat mine with home-made pickled onions, but choose whatever accompaniment you prefer.

We chose a fruity Regatta from Stanlake Park, so refreshingly free of the chemical after-taste (and headaches) of mass produced wines, as the perfect white wine on this occasion.

A potentially dangerous meal if eaten too often and if you’re not careful when deep frying, but lovely to enjoy as a treat with common sense and an otherwise healthy diet.