Yoghurt-baked fish with walnut-herb crumbs

This recipe came from a fascinating dinner at which chef Greg Malouf cooked a selection of Iranian dishes from his book Saraban which he wrote with his former wife Lucy with whom he still collaborates. This unusual and simple fish dish in yoghurt particularly appealed to me and I thought it would to you too.

Mahi-e mast-gerdu
YOGHURT BAKED FISH WITH WALNUT–HERB CRUMBS

Greg writes: Although it might at first seem a little strange to bake fish in yoghurt, I guarantee that this wonderful dish from the north of Iran, with its crunchy walnut and herb topping, will surprise and delight you. You’ll need to select a firm white fish that becomes succulent and tender as it cooks – I find rock ling (a south Australian fish) ideal.

SERVES 6
unsalted butter, for greasing
1 kg firm white fish fillet, skin removed
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
rice and fresh herbs, to serve

WALNUT–HERB CRUMBS
150 g fresh breadcrumbs
150 g shelled walnuts, coarsely chopped
and sieved
1/4 cup shredded flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/4 cup shredded tarragon leaves or
dill sprigs
90 g unsalted butter, melted

YOGHURT SAUCE
250 g thick natural yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon cornflour
1 large egg
1 small shallot, finely diced
2 tablespoons finely snipped chives
juice of 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly butter a baking dish just large enough to fit the fish comfortably.

To make the walnut–herb crumbs, combine the ingredients thoroughly in a bowl.

To make the yoghurt sauce, whisk the yoghurt with the cornflour and egg. Stir in the shallot, chives, lime juice and oil and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Remove any stray bones from the fish, then cut the fillet into 6 even pieces. Season the fish lightly all over with salt and pepper and arrange in the baking dish. Pour the yoghurt sauce over the fish. Pack a generous layer of the walnut–herb crumbs on top of each piece of fish. Season lightly again and bake for 15–20 minutes, or until the topping is golden and crunchy and the fish is cooked through.

Serve straight away with your choice of rice and fresh herbs. (Greg served this with a simple pilau and the very pretty fresh herb and flower salad in my rather blurry picture, right)

What to drink: We actually drank a rather grand Chablis premier cru with this but I think a simple crisp white like a Picpoul de Pinet or an Albariño would work just as well.

Saraban is published by Hardie Grant at £30.

Tagliolini au Gratin with Prawns and Treviso

A lovely Venetian pasta recipe from Jacob Kennedy’s fantastic Bocca di Lupo cookbook which was shortlsted for Best Cookery Book in last year's Guild of Food Writer Awards.

Jacob writes: While a few other dishes in this book, I am unashamed to say, have been inspired by the inimitable Da Fiore in San Polo, Venice, this one is an attempt to replicate exactly one of their signature dishes. So great is the feeling of discovery when you find a special restaurant serving a special dish, ou somehow take emotional ownership of it. But credit where credit’s due and it clearly isn’t due to me.

Mediterranean prawns - Sicilian red, Venetian spotted or Neapolitan violet-headed - are ideal, but there are plenty of alternatives. Live langoustines would be excellent - in either case, start with about 500g shell-on weight. Second to that, buy shell-on Atlantic prawns, peeled brown shrimp meat, or in the US peeled rock shrimps. Picked crab would be excellent and, if you’re really stuck, 220g potted shrimps would work well too - if you were to omit the butter from the ingredients below.

Serves 4-6 as a starter, 2-3 as a main

120g dried tagliolini or 150g fresh
50g butter
1/2 smallish red onion or 1 shallot, thinly sliced across the grain
1 medium head radicchio di Treviso (or a small radicchio, around 200g), shredded 3-5mm
200g peeled raw prawn tails
60ml white wine
200ml double cream
4 tbsp freshly grated parmesan

Melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and fry for a few moments, then add the radicchio and gently sauté for 4 or 5 minutes until wilted. Add the prawns, then the white wine and let it boil for a couple of minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the cream to the sauce at about the same time putting the tagliolini in a pan of boiling, slated water. Let both pots boil until the tagliolini are still somewhat undercooked (just over half the recommended cooking time which is already very short) and the sauce just runnier than cream.

Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce; toss together over the heat for a minute until the pasta is well coated by the cream, season with salt and pepper and transfer to a baking dish about the size of a piece of A4 or a number of smaller individual ones. Sprinkle with parmesan and brown the top, either in a fiercely hot oven (on maximum) or under the grill. Serve immediately.

What to drink: Treviso often indicates a red but in this case, with prawns and a creamy sauce I’d opt for a crisp Italian white like a Soave, a Pinot Bianco or a Pinot Grigio from the Alto Adige FB

Bocca di Lupo is charming small restaurant in Soho (tucked away down Archer Street just off Shaftesbury Avenue) serving authentic Italian regional food.

 

Rustle up a Red Nose Pudding!

If you’re organising a Red Nose Day tasting tonight here’s a zany idea for a pudding that I devised for a Sainsbury’s magazine feature a couple of years ago when I interviewed TV presenter Phillip Schofield for Comic Relief.

It’s based on the classic French cherry dessert Clafoutis, a crisp sweet batter with cherries - or rather, red noses . . .

serves 8-10

2 x 425g cans of black cherries
3 tbsp of kirsch, cherry brandy or brandy (optional but good!)
4 medium eggs
60g (2 1/2 oz) caster sugar
110g (4 oz) plain flour
A pinch of salt
400ml(14 fl oz) whole milk (i.e. not skimmed or semi-skimmed)
Finely grated rind of one medium unwaxed lemon
A little flavourless oil for the tin
Icing sugar to serve

You will need a shallow rectangular cast iron dish or baking tin about 30cm x 20 cm or 1.5 litres (2 1/2 pints) in capacity

Get the cherries and batter ready two to three hours before making the pudding. Drain the cherries and place in a bowl with the kirsch or cherry brandy, if using. Mix lightly together with a metal spoon and leave to macerate, stirring the cherries into the juice a couple of times. To make the batter put the eggs in a food processor or liquidiser with the sugar, flour, salt and half the milk. Whizz together until smooth then gradually add the rest of the milk. Add the lemon rind and whizz again then pour the batter into a large jug, cover, and leave in the fridge until ready to use.

To bake the pudding preheat oven to 190°C/375° F/Gas 5. Brush the baking dish or tin lightly with the oil and put in the oven for 5 minutes to heat up. Drain the cherries (reserving the juice - a treat for the cook!) and tip into the base of the dish. Give the batter a final stir, pour over the cherries and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until nicely puffed up and brown. (Check after 20 minutes and if it seems to be browning too quickly turn down the heat to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.) Sift icing sugar over the pudding and serve with pouring cream or vanilla ice cream.

Recommended match: A cool cherry-flavoured fruit beer (Kriek) would be the perfect match with this although you could drink a southern French Muscat or other dessert wine.

Don't forget a number of retailers are selling wine in aid of Wine Relief which is contributing to the Red Nose Day charities. You can find my pick of what's on offer in the Guardian though some are no longer available as part of the promotion.

The photograph which is not of my recipe but one very like it is © Lilyana Vynogradova - Fotolia.com

The Opera Tavern's Italian-style Scotch Eggs

One of the most popular dishes at Opera Tavern from the excellent new Salt Yard cookbook which, interestingly, is self-published. And includes drink recommendations. Hurray!

Co-author Ben Tish writes: "When we set up Opera Tavern, we wanted to give a nod to its public house heritage and so added a few pub classics to the menu, each with our own distinctive Spanish-Italian twist. These Scotch eggs are given some Italian flavours with the use of pork and veal mince, mixed with marjoram and lemon zest. Cook the eggs just before they’re to be eaten, so they’re hot and crisp on the outside and the yolk is warm and runny in the middle. They’re delicious dipped in some homemade alioli* and washed down with a glass of cold beer.

Italian-style Scotch Egg

Makes 6 scotch eggs

6 medium free-range or organic eggs

180g minced British rose veal

180g minced pork

zest of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons marjoram leaves

plain flour, sifted, enough for coating the eggs

5 eggs, beaten

panko-style breadcrumbs, enough for coating the eggs

2 litres vegetable oil for deep-frying

alioli* (optional), for dipping the eggs in

sea salt and black pepper

Bring a pan of water to a rolling boil, carefully lower the eggs into the water and cook for about 6½ minutes. Remove and place in a bowl of iced water. Leave for 5 minutes or so until completely cool. Very carefully peel the eggs.

Place both the minces and the lemon zest in a mixing bowl. Roughly chop half the marjoram and add to the mince mixture. Season lightly and mix thoroughly. You can test a small piece of the mince by frying it in olive oil until cooked through: taste to see if you’re happy with the flavouring and seasoning, and adjust as necessary.

Divide the mince mixture into 6 equal pieces. Flatten one piece on a lightly oiled chopping board to make an oval shape about 3mm thick. Sit an egg on top and wrap the mince around it, ensuring there are no air gaps between the egg and the mince and that the mince is distributed evenly. Be very gentle so you don’t break the egg, which is still runny inside. Repeat with the other eggs.

Place the flour, beaten eggs and breadcrumbs in 3 separate bowls. Roll each egg first in the flour, then in the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs. Make sure you coat the egg evenly at each stage. When all the eggs are breaded, coat them once more in the egg and again in the breadcrumbs (but not the flour this time). This second coating is the secret behind a wonderfully crispy crust. If the breadcrumbs become too gooey and clumped together, use another bowl of fresh breadcrumbs. It’s important that you have a nice, light coating.

Heat the oil in a tall-sided pan until a piece of bread fizzles and browns when dropped in, or heat the oil in a deep fat fryer to 170ËšC.

Lower 3 eggs into the oil and fry until golden brown, which should take about 4 minutes. Turn the eggs while they fry to colour evenly on all sides. Transfer the eggs to some kitchen paper and repeat the procedure with the remaining eggs. When done, transfer to a baking tray and place in a warm oven for 3 minutes to further heat through.

Slice the eggs in half lengthwise and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Serve strewn with fresh marjoram leaves and the alioli on the side, if you like.

*alioli is a Spanish-style garlic mayonnaise.

Salt Yard Food & Wine from Spain and Italy by Sanja Morris, Ben Tish and Simon Mullins is published at £30 by Piquillo Publishing. Photographs © Jason Lowe