Seafood Recipes
Turbot with Pink Peppercorns - Serves 4
4 turbot steaks, each weighing approx 180g/60z
3 teaspoonfuls of brined peppercorns
150ml/5fl oz white wine
120g/4oz Guernsey butter
30g/1oz flour
Note:There is a variety of pink peppercorns available. They can be dried or bottled in brine. For this recipe, I use those in brine.
Turbot is one fish that is always delivered gutted, which can be a relief!
Gently crush the peppercorns in a pestle.
Brush the turbot steaks with a little butter. Press the crushed peppercorns onto each side of the turbot steaks.
In a thick-bottomed frying pan, melt the butter until most is smoking. Add the turbot steaks. Keep them moving so they don’t stick. Lower the heat and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Turn and cook the other side. If you have a ridged frying pan the steaks look really good.
Remove and keep warm.
Add the plain flour to the buttery mixture in your pan and mix until smooth. Add the white wine, gradually bring to the boiling point. If using a ridged pan, rinse the buttery mixture with the white wine into a small pan, add the flour and mix well. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more wine.
Remove from heat, add the cream and mix until smooth. Reheat but do not boil.
Serve individually on warmed plates, with a little of the sauce carefully poured over.
Serve the remaining sauce separately.
Taken from Channel Fish: A Book of Fish Cookery from the Channel Islands, by Marguerite Paul, published by Seaflower books (ISBN 1-903341-10-8). Price - £9.95
Sea Bass baked whole with cider Sauce - serves 4
Ingredients:
1 sea bass weighing 1 1/2 kg/3lbs
1 tbsp lemon juice
3tbsp chopped mixed herbs such as thyme, rosemary and sage
1 small onion or 2 shallots
60g/2oz butter plus a bit extra 1tbsp chopped parsley
for placing on the fish 30g/1 oz flour
275ml/10fl oz dry cider
2tbsp Guernsey cream
Salt and pepper
Scale and clean the bass and cut 3 diagonal slashes on either side.
Lay the bass on a large strong piece of foil. Season both sides with salt, pepper, lemon juice and 2 tbsp of chopped herbs, making sure as much as possible goes inside the slashes. Dot the fish with butter and wrap it up with the join on the top.
Carefully lift into a roasting tin, add a little water as this helps to prevent sticking.
Bake in a preheated hot oven at 215C/425F Gas 7 for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile make the sauce - fry a small onion or two shallots in the butter. Add the flour, mix well then add the cider, lemon juice, and the final tbsp of mixed herbs. Season. When smooth and bubbling set aside.
When the fish is cooked, carefully lift it from the tin and lay on the serving dish. Roll back the foil, crinkling it around the fish. Quickly reheat the sauce, add the cream and the tbsp chopped parsley.
Serve the sauce separately.
A courgette and red pepper salad would go well.
Fry one red and one green pepper that have been thinly sliced and de-seeded in olive oil. Add a slice of courgette or two and cook till all have collapsed. Sprinkle 1tsp ground cumin, a handful of chopped flat parsley and two finely sliced spring onions. Season.
Cool and serve.
Taken from Channel Fish: A Book of Fish Cookery from the Channel Islands, by Marguerite Paul, published by Seaflower books (ISBN 1-903341-10-8). Price - £9.95
Sea Bass on Nicoise New Potatoes – Serves 6
To celebrate Guernsey’s harvest of some of the world’s finest seafood, Paul Olliver of the Auberge bar and restaurant lets you into the secrets of one of the Islands’ favourite fish, sea bass, and adds a few mouth-watering twists of his own.
Spring and early summer are the best times of the year for new potatoes. Guernsey’s have to be one of the best varieties in the world.
In this recipe they are simply boiled and crushed with some nicoise-inspired ingredients, including olives and tomatoes, to complement the sea bass.
Ingredients:
6 fillets (150-175g each) Sea bass skin on
2tbsps olive oil
Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper
Nicoise potatoes
600g Guernsey new potatoes
75g black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
1tsp capers, roughly chopped
6 anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
2 ripened Guernsey tomatoes, finely diced
1tbsp tarragon leaves
1tbsp chives, finely chopped
1tbsp basil leaves, shredded
1 spring onion, finely chopped
3tbsps extra-virgin olive oil
juice of half a lime
Maldon salt and freshly ground pepper
Sauce:
1 ripened Guernsey tomato, finely diced
50g black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1tbsp basil leaves, shredded
1tbsp pine nuts
3tbsps extra-virgin olive oil
2tsps balsamic vinegar
To serve
Quarter Guernsey tomato, diced
6 basil leaves
100g rocket leaves
1. Potatoes: Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add the potatoes. Cook them for 12-15 minutes (dependent on their size) until they are tender. Remove from the heat and drain the water from the pan.
2. Crush the potatoes with the back of a fork until you have a rough mash. Add all the remaining ingredients and distribute them throughout with the fork. Season with the salt and pepper to taste. Set the potatoes aside until they are ready to serve.
3. Sauce: Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and set aside until they are ready to serve.
4. Sea bass: Place a little olive oil in a large frying pan so that it has an even but thin coating. Place the pan over a moderately high heat. Slice the sea bass fillets in half and season them with a little salt and pepper. Place them skin side down in the hot oil and reduce the heat slightly. Cook them for three minutes on the skin side and two minutes on the flesh side (the skin should be slightly crisp and the edges golden-brown). Remove the fish from the heat and serve or keep warm until they are ready to serve.
5. To serve: Place an egg ring poacher or round pastry cutter in the centre of each plate to shape the salad (optional). Put a little rocket in the ring or pastry cutter or just place a small handful on the centre of each plate. Then fill the rest of the rings or pastry cutter with the potatoes nicoise so that it is tightly packed or simply distribute the potatoes onto the rocket evenly. Remove the rings from the plate (if used) and place two half-fillets on each serving of potato so that one slice is on top of the other. Garnish the fish with a little diced tomato and a basil leaf. Spoon the sauce around each plate and serve.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Grillade of Fish - Serves two
Guernseyman Tim Vidamour, Head Chef at Da Nello, 46 Le Pollet, St Peter Port, knows a thing or two about seafood. He says: “When it comes to cooking fresh fish, keep it simple and set the natural flavours free”.
Try this local delicacy at home, or – better still - relax over an apéritif and let Tim cook it for you.
Fish:
1 live lobster (approximately 560g)
1 fillet of brill, cut in half (225-250g)
1 fillet of bass, cut in half (225-250g)
4 scallops
2 king prawns (shell on)
Marinade mix:
Olive oil (100ml)
Juice of half a lemon
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1 chopped carrot
6 whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon of chopped dill, sorrel and parsley
Sauce Zafferano:
205ml Fish stock
110ml Dry white wine
75ml Noilly Prat
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 sachet of saffron
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
170ml single Guernsey cream
25g Guernsey butter
Salt and pepper
1. 15 – 20 minutes before cooking place the brill, bass scallops and king prawns in a large bowl. Pour on the marinade mix and toss the fish to ensure it is well coated.
2. Cut the lobster in half lengthways and crack the claws with a hammer. Heat a griddle pan to red hot – bluish smoke will appear – and warm the oven to 200°C. Lay the lobster in a roasting tray flesh side up, drizzle with a little olive oil and place in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
3. Sear the fish well - cook the brill and bass (3-5 minutes, both sides), scallops and prawns (2 minutes, each side).
4. Finish cooking the fish by putting the griddle in the oven with the lobster for the final 5-6 minutes.
5. Divide onto 2 hot plates, drizzle the juice of the tray on top, serve with lemon wedges, new potatoes, mixed salad and saffron sauce on the side.
Sauce Zafferano
Place the fish stock, white wine, Noilly Prat and shallot into a pan and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer to reduce by half. Add the cayenne pepper, saffron and cream. Reduce to a light, creamy sauce. Whisk in the butter at the last moment, season to taste and serve.
For a recipe for traditional Ormer Casserole, an abalone found on Guernsey shores, please see the Traditional Recipes section