Steamed sea bass with ginger and spring onion/Qing zheng lu yu 清蒸鱸魚

One of the simplest Chinese recipes but a perfect one for the Chinese new year according to cookery writer Fuchsia Dunlop, author of the brllliant Every Grain of Rice

Fuchsia writes: This is one of the easiest dishes to prepare and yet is greeted with more delight at the dinner table than almost any other. The cooking method is typically Cantonese, which is to say that it relies on superbly fresh produce and minimal intervention: the seasonings are there just to enhance the flavour of the fish. The only thing you need to be careful with is the timing, making sure the fish is not overcooked.

Don’t worry too much about quantities, just use those I’ve given as a guide. This recipe will make a farmed sea bass taste splendid, a wild one sublime. You need to steam the fish in a dish that fits into your steamer or wok, with a little room around the edges for steam to circulate. If you can’t quite fit the fish, lying flat, in your steamer, you can curl it around, or, in a worst-case scenario, cut it neatly in half then reassemble on the serving plate.

In China, the fish is presented whole. At more informal meals, guests will pluck pieces of fish with their chopsticks, dip them into the soy sauce, and then eat. In more formal settings, a waitress may lift the top fillet from the fish and lay it on the dish, then remove the backbone with attached head and tail. If you do this, don’t forget to offer the fish cheeks to your most honoured guest before you remove the head!

5 spring onions

50g piece of ginger

1 sea bass, about 700g, scaled and cleaned, but with head and tail intact

Salt

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

3 tbsp light soy sauce or tamari

4 tbsp cooking oil

Trim the spring onions and cut three of them into 6cm lengths, then into fine slivers. Wash and peel the ginger, keeping the thick peel and any knobbly bits for the marinade. Cut the peeled part into long, thin slivers.

Rinse the fish in cold water and pat it dry. Starting at the head, make three or four parallel, diagonal cuts on each side of the fish, cuttinginto the thickest part of the flesh near the backbone. Rub it inside and out with a little salt and the Shaoxing wine. Smack the ginger remnants and one of the remaining spring onions with the side of a cleaver or a rolling pin to release their fragrances and place them in the belly cavity of the fish. Leave to marinate for 10–15 minutes.

Pour off any liquid that has emerged from the fish and pat it dry. Tear the last spring onion into two or three pieces and lay it in the centre of the steaming plate. Lay the fish over the spring onion (the onion will raise the fish slightly so steam can move around it).

Steam the fish over high heat for 10–12 minutes, until just cooked. Test it by poking a chopstick into the thickest part of the flesh, just behind the head; the flesh should flake away easily from the backbone. When the fish is nearly done, dilute the soy sauce with 2 tbsp hot water.

Remove the fish from the steamer and transfer carefully to a serving dish. Remove and discard the ginger and spring onion from its belly and the cooking juices. Scatter the fish with the slivered ginger and spring onion.

Heat the oil in a wok or small pan over a high flame. When it starts to smoke slightly, drizzle it over the ginger and spring onion slivers, which should sizzle dramatically (make sure the oil is hot enough by dripping over a tiny amount and listening for the sizzle before you pour the rest over the fish). Pour the diluted soy sauce all around the fish and serve immediately.

Variation

Steamed fish fillets with ginger and spring onion
Fillets of fish can be cooked in exactly the same way, adjusting cooking times and quantities accordingly.

What to drink:
It really depends how many additional dishes you serve at the same time as the fish. Served on its own with a simple stir fry of green vegetables you could serve a crisp white like a Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé or a dry German riesling. With other dishes you might want a white with a touch more body - an Alsace riesling or Austrian riesling or Grüner Veltliner for example. Fuchsia suggests red braised pork and twice cooked chard, both from the book, as possible accompaniments.

This recipe comes from Every Grain of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop published by Bloomsbury at £25. Photograph - not of the dish in the recipe but a similar one by Lili.Q at shutterstock.com

Cullen skink (smoked haddock and leek chowder)

If you can't face the thought of haggis on Burns' Night how about a warming bowl of deliciously creamy cullen skink - the Scots' answer to chowder?

serves 4

225g (8oz) smoked haddock, preferably undyed

300ml (1/2 pint) whole milk

1 medium to large potato (about 225g/8oz), peeled and diced

40g/1 1/2 oz butter

1 large or 2 small to medium leeks (about 225g/8oz sliced weight), cleaned and finely sliced

A good handful of chopped parsley

White pepper and a little salt (for boiling the potatoes)

Place the fish, skin side up in a single layer in a medium-sized saucepan and cover with milk. Bring gradually to the boil, simmer for a minute then take off the heat. Meanwhile put the diced potato in another pan, cover with water, bring to the boil, salt and simmer until tender. Scoop out half the potato chunks and set aside. Crush the remaining potato roughly in he remaining water. Melt the butter in a third pan* and cook the leeks over a low heat until just soft. Skin and flake the cooked fish, taking care to remove any bones. Put the crushed potato, cubed potato, fish and milk in the pan of leeks, adding enough water to get the consistency you’re looking for (surprisingly if you add water it'll still taste creamy. Heat through and adjust the seasoning (it should be salty enough but might benefit from some white pepper). Add a good handful of chopped parsley, heat through again and serve.

* you don’t need to use all these pans, obviously. You can cook the fish, then the potato in the same pan - it’ll just take longer.

What to drink: If you want to drink whisky I'd go for a light malt like Dalwhinnie or grain whisky although see Ewan Lacey's other suggestions here. Alternative you could have a glass of smooth dry white like a Chablis, Gavi or a chenin blanc

Two great prawn recipes to grill on the BBQ

Talking to food writers Helen Graves and Genevieve Taylor about recipes that might get beginners - particularly women - into barbecuing they both came up with one based on prawns, aka shrimp. Both are super-easy.

Genevieve's prawn, chorizo and ciabatta skewers

The spicy oil from the chorizo soaks into the bread so it grills up to be deliciously crisp and tasty. Keep the bread cubes fairly generous so they will be less likely to fall off the skewers.

Makes 6

6 thick slices ciabatta

2 tbsp olive oil

200g (7oz) raw peeled prawns (shrimp)

125g (4 1/2oz) dried chorizo, cut into 5mm (1/4in) discs

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

a handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 lemon, quartered

You will also need 6 metal skewers.

When you are ready to cook, fire up your barbecue ready for direct cooking.

Cut the bread into cubes a similar size to the diameter of the chorizo and put in a bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil. Add the prawns (shrimp) and the chorizo and a good grind of salt and pepper then toss to mix. Thread onto skewers, alternating between bread, prawns and chorizo.

Lay the skewers directly over the fire and cook them for 3–5 minutes, turning regularly, until the prawns are pink and cooked through and the bread is crisp. If the bread is catching too quickly, move the skewers slightly further away from the fire to cook more gently.

To serve, scatter over the parsley and squeeze over the lemon. Eat while hot.

Credit: Foolproof BBQ by Genevieve Taylor (Quadrille, £12.99) Photography ©Jason Ingram

Helen's prawns with smoky chilli salt

For 2 people

12 large king prawns, shell on

1 smoky dried chilli, such as a jalapeno or ancho

A couple of pinches of flaky sea salt

1 lemon, cut in half

Light the barbecue for direct cooking.

Toast the chilli in a dry frying pan until fragrant - a few minutes. Remove the stalk and blitz in a spice grinder or smash it up in a pestle and mortar. Combine with the sea salt and set aside.

When the BBQ is ready, toss your prawns in a little oil but don’t season them.

Cook them over direct heat for a couple of minutes each side, or until totally pink and cooked through.

Cook the lemon cut side down over the hottest part of the BBQ until it’s lightly charred.

Serve the cooked prawns with the caramelised lemon and the chilli salt, for dipping.

Recipe and photography ©Helen Graves. You can find more of her recipes on her blog Food Stories

What to drink: Although these recipes have different seasoning they'd both go with a crisp citrussy white. I'd probably pick an unoaked white rioja or Rueda with Genevieve's recipe and an albarino or an assyrtiko with Helen's.

Pizza 'claminara'

Shellfish topped pizzas or pizzette have been right on trend recently and here's a great version from Mitch Tonks fab new cookbook Rockfish (which has a whole load of other recipes I want to cook).

Mitch writes: "There is nothing not to like about this dish and it can be easily made at home. Garlic, crisp bread and a creamy topping of sweet clams.

The method was inspired by Pizza Pilgrims, the best pizza guys in London. During the lockdown of 2020 they launched an at-home pizza kit that fascinated me, and I watched their video on how to make a delicious pizza in a frying pan. It was genius and it works!

Take the time to make this dish. It’s super. If you like folded pizza, just fold it over before cooking and enjoy a ‘clamzoni’.

MAKES 4

For the dough

a 7g sachet of fast-action dried yeast

500g strong white flour

325ml tepid water

1 tablespoon olive oil

5g salt

5g caster sugar

For the sauce

1kg live clams

100ml white wine

1 bay leaf

1 peperoncini – hot red chilli

20g butter

20g plain flour

200ml milk

2 garlic cloves, grated

a handful of chopped curly parsley

To finish

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

1 mozzarella ball (about 125g), roughly torn

Make the dough by mixing together the yeast, flour, water, olive oil, salt and sugar. Knead on a floured surface for about 5 minutes to make a nice elastic dough. Place in a bowl, cover with a tea towel or clingfilm and leave to rise until doubled in size. This will take 1–1. hours depending on room temperature. Knock the dough back, then divide into 4 portions. Pinch and shape each into a ball and leave under the cover of a towel to prove for 30 minutes.

To make the sauce, prepare the clams. First check that all the shells are undamaged and tightly shut (or close when tapped). Rinse under cold running water to remove any grit or sand, then put the clams in a pan with the wine, bay and chilli. Cover and steam the clams until they open, about 2 minutes. When cooled, remove the clams from their shells, keeping the meat and the liquid; discard the shells and any clams that didn’t open as well as the bay leaf and chilli.

Melt the butter in a smaller pan and stir in the flour. Cook for a couple of minutes to make a roux. Mix the clam cooking liquid and the milk together and pour gradually into the roux, stirring or whisking to make a smooth white sauce. Add the garlic and parsley and simmer for 3–4 minutes. The sauce should be creamy and quite thick. Add the clam meat and stir through. Set aside.

Shape each ball of dough into a disc to fit the pan you are going to use. Push up a raised rim all around.

Preheat the grill. Heat your ovenproof frying pan over a high heat and, when hot, place one of the pizza dough discs in it. Spread a quarter of the clam sauce over the pizza, up to the raised rim. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan and dot some mozzarella liberally all over the pizza. Cook for 4–5 minutes or until the bottom of the pizza is crisp and the edges are starting to rise.

Place the pan under the hot grill to finish cooking – the edges will rise and blister and the cheese will melt and brown. Once the pizza looks full of appeal, take it out and serve, then repeat with the remaining pizza dough discs and topping.

What to drink: I definitely fancy an Italian white wine with this - most likely vermentino but other Italian whites like verdicchio would work too.

From The Rockfish Cookbook by Mitch Tonks available from therockfish.co.uk or the restaurants and Amazon. Photograph © Chris Terry