Panfried red mullet, fennel and crab mayo

I found these beautiful blue Gien plates this morning, asking for seafood. 

Sardines? Out of season!

I scoured the freezer (red mullet!) and the larder (a fennel bulb!) and remembered a recipe from ateliersdeschefs.co.uk and looked it up. 

Found the required tin of crab meat and started. 

Mixed the crab with some mayo and parsley and put it in the fridge.

Then made the sauce with lemon juice and olive oil. A matter of tasting, not too oily, not to acid.  Still not satisfied I reduced some orange juice till sirupy, let it cool and added that. Perfect.

Then used the mandoline to slice a funnel bulb wafer thin. Marinated the fennel in some of the sauce.
Added chopped chives to the rest of the sauce and panfried the mullet in a slightly oiled pan.

Served as shown. Looking good and simple!

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Caramellised fennel

Ottolenghi today! Vegetarian!

Start by preparing the fennel bulbs. First, cut off the leafy fronds, keeping a bit aside for the garnish. Next, slice off the end of the root and remove the tough outer layers, making sure the base still holds everything together. Cut each bulb lengthwise into 1/2 in. thick slices.

Melt butter and olive oil in a large frying pan over high heat. When the butter starts to foam, add a layer of sliced fennel. Do not overcrowd the pan and don’t turn the fennel over or stir it around in the pan until one side has become light golden, which will take a few minutes. Using tongs, turn the slices over and cook for another few minutes. Remove from the pan, add a bit more olive oil and butter if needed and repeat the process with the remaining raw fennel.

Once all the fennel is done and removed from the pan, reduce the heat, then add t sugar, fennel seeds, and plenty of salt and pepper to the pan. Fry for 30 seconds, adding a little more oil or butter if needed, until the sugar is dissolved, then return all the fennel to the pan and caramelize them gently. Once the fennel is caramelized, coated with sauce and tender (say 5 minutes?), turn off the heat and add the garlic. Stir again to incorporate it.

To serve, toss the fennel in a bowl with the dill and lemon zest. Taste and adjust seasoning. Arrange on a serving plate, or serve on toast as an appetizer (you may want to cut them into slightly smaller pieces). Dot with spoonfuls of goat’s cheese and garnish with fennel fronds.

About it being advertised as vegetarian. It is, but if you take a closer look at the picture you can see that we couldn't resist adding a nice juicy leg of chicken. Sorry

Garlicky escargots, mushrooms

Slice half a shallot very finely and do the same with 3 cloves of garlic, sweat them in 50 gr of salted butter.
Add 4 tbsp chopped parsley. Mix with the garlic/shallot butter, off the heat. 

Clean some mushrooms, take out the stems and fry the hoods in butter

Then heat up snails from a tin in the garlic butter. Then put them in the upturned mushrooms. Add a slice of red pepper and a parsley leaf for colour and serve with fresh crusty bread. 

Pan seared sea trout,mash and pea/feta/mint pesto

Start with the 'pesto', boil a handful of frozen peas for 7 mins, drain. Use the stick blender to blitz them with olive oil, 2 tbsp of mint leaves  and 1 garlic clove till the right consistency.  Then crumble some feta cheese and mix that in as well.

Next: boil a few potatoes.

Then sear the fish (the recipe said sea bream, but I had sea trout) in a lightly oiled pan, skin side down. When the skin is nice and crisp, turn off the heat and turn the fish. It will be done in a minute.

In the meantime crush the potatoes with a fork and add some olive oil. The recipe also asked for some spring onions, but I didn't have any, so I finely cut half a shallot and sweated that for a minute and added to the mash. `For color I added some parsley as well.

Inspiration: atelierdeschefs.co.uk






PS Don't forget, like I did,  to serve with lemon wedges!