Cuisine

PĀUA FRITTER SANDWICHES WITH SMOKED CHIPOTLE MAYONNAISE

SERVES 4–6 / PREPARATION 15 MINUTES / COOKING 10 MINUTES

½ cup self-raising flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

2 free-range eggs

100ml milk

500g pāua, cleaned and minced

½ cup red onion, finely chopped a handful coriander leaves, finely chopped juice of 1 lemon butter sliced white sandwich bread smoked chipotle mayonnaise (see recipe)

Sieve the flour and baking powder together into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Lightly whisk the eggs with the milk and tip into the well. Whisk together, then fold in the pāua, onion, coriander and lemon juice. Season with salt to taste.

Heat a large frying pan or solid barbecue plate and lightly oil (or if you have a toasted sandwich maker, it is perfect for this). Cook a small fritter to check the seasoning, tweaking it lightly if required. Cook the fritters in batches.

Butter the sliced bread and spread with a teaspoon of mayonnaise on each slice. Place a pāua fritter on one slice. Add a teaspoon of mayonnaise to the fritter and close with a top slice of bread. Trim the crusts from the bread, cut the sandwich into quarters and serve immediately.

SMOKED CHIPOTLE MAYONNAISE MAKES 500ML

2 chipotle chillies in adobo sauce 250ml mayonnaise 250ml sour cream juice of 1 lemon

½ teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

Chop the chillies finely and whisk all the ingredients together. Store covered in the refrigerator.

THERE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH TO DO IN THE KITCHEN AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR, AND I WANT TO ENJOY MYSELF.

BBQ BUTTERFLIED FISH, CRUSHED PEAS & BROAD BEANS, BÉARNAISE SAUCE

SERVES 4–6 / PREPARATION 40 MINUTES / COOKING 15–40 MINUTES

Crisp, blackened skin, the flesh just cooked through, flavoured with the fragrant, herbal notes of hot charcoal and just a hint of fresh air. There isn’t anything like barbecued fish to get the juices flowing.

BBQ BUTTERFLIED FISH

1 x 800g–1kg fish such as snapper, gurnard, tarakihi or blue cod olive oil

Make sure the fish is scaled and gutted before starting. Using sharp kitchen scissors, and with the head of the fish positioned towards you, snip down each side of the spine towards the tail, where the fish was gutted. Turn the fish around so the head is facing away from you, and with a sharp knife cut down the scissored opening to the tail. Using the scissors again, cut through the tail and just behind the head where it meets the spine. Carefully pull out the spine, taking care not to tear through the skin. All that’s left to do is to use fish tweezers to remove any pin bones and rib bones.

Heat the grill. Brush the surface well with clean oil to make sure the fish will not stick. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and season with coarse sea salt (I prefer never to use pepper when cooking seafood, but the choice is yours). Check the heat of the grill – you should be able to hold your hand over it for about 4 seconds. Place the fish skin-side down on the grill rack. Do not turn the fish over – leave it alone as it’s sure to break up if you fiddle around with it. Keep a watch on the flesh of the fish as it changes colour from raw to translucent and is nearly cooked through (this may take from 15 to 40 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish and the heat of the coals), then use a wide fish slice or palette knife to carefully lift the fish onto a warmed plate and leave it to finish cooking.

To serve, place the fish on a platter, with the peas and beans served separately and the Béarnaise sauce on the side.

CRUSHED PEAS & BROAD BEANS

400g fresh peas, shelled, or frozen peas, thawed 200g fresh broad beans, shelled, or frozen broad beans,

thawed and shelled

90ml olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint juice of 1 lemon

Lightly crush the peas and broad beans in a food processor, using the pulse button – you don’t want a purée and it’s important to retain much of the texture. Transfer the peas and beans to a medium saucepan and stir in the olive oil, mint and good seasoning of salt and pepper. Heat for 4 minutes, stir in the lemon juice and season again if necessary.

BÉARNAISE SAUCE

Béarnaise is reputedly a difficult sauce to make, emulsifying beautifully one minute into a silky sauce, then curdling the next into scrambled eggs. The secret to a perfect sauce every time is not to melt the butter first, as is the classical custom, but to add it piece by piece. The butter gradually melts and releases itself into the eggs and both heat up together.

2 shallots, chopped

2 tablespoons tarragon or chervil leaves,

including stalks, chopped 2 tablespoons wine vinegar 2 tablespoons white wine

1 teaspoon peppercorns

3 egg yolks

200g unsalted butter, cut into cubes juice of ½ lemon

Put the shallots and 1 tablespoonful of the tarragon or chervil into a small saucepan along with the vinegar, wine and peppercorns. Bring to a simmer and reduce the liquid to about 1 tablespoon. Press the liquid through a sieve into a bowl and leave to cool.

Put the egg yolks and 1 tablespoon water into a heatproof glass bowl. Bring a saucepan of water to a gentle simmer and place the bowl over it, making sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. The heat should never be too high. Add the reduced strained liquid and whisk well. Start to add the butter, cube by cube, until it is all absorbed. Taste, season and add a squeeze of lemon juice. Stir in the remaining chopped tarragon or chervil. Keep warm, covered with a piece of greaseproof baking paper.

MARTIN BOSLEY

en-nz

2021-11-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-11-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://cuisine.pressreader.com/article/282338273040450

Slick & Sassy Media Ltd