Have you ever seen anyone with a fishing rod look more gorgeous than Ava Gardner?

Lest we assume Ava only donned the waders for a set of cheesecake photos, here she is with Gregory Peck “gone fishing”.

Naturally once I’d stumbled upon these pix, I wondered which other film stars might have done a spot of fishing.  First glamourpuss I searched for was Sophia Loren…

YES!  Here’s a shot that is slightly less glam, with somebody giving their nose a good blow beside her.

Not just a fair weather fisherwoman our Sophia!

I thought Lauren Bacall was probably the type…

and hoped my favourite glamour girl Carole Lombard would have been too…

I have never in my life rolled up my trouser legs and got in a river to try and catch myself a fish but when this pandemic is over, it’s on my to-do list.

So maybe Ava was just posing in her fishing pix, or maybe she really did enjoy casting a line for a fishy or two.  Whichever way you look at it, here’s a fish dish she liked to prepare with flounder.

I couldn’t get flounder for love nor money here in the UK, so I had a lovely fillet of Dover sole instead.

In the Ava Gardner Cookbook, published by the Ava Gardner Museum, this recipe also includes tomato sauce in the ingredients list.  I assumed this would just be served on the side so I made a sauce with red onions, fresh tomatoes chopped finely and some anchovy paste for an umami boost.  I soaked the fish in the eggy milk while I was making the sauce and steaming some veggies and I cooked my Dover sole for about 4 minutes on each side.  It was a lovely solo din-dins.  Just what I needed.

This dinner marked a special day for me.  It was day one of my participation in a new medical trial.  I will no doubt tell all at some point, but for now let’s just say for the next three years I have to cut down on my boozing and live a healthier life.  Step one was to do something I can’t remember doing for a long, long time.  Sitting at the dining table to eat my lovely dinner, rather than just eating it standing up in the kitchen – haha!  It’s a whole new me!

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