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Steamed turbot, winter tomatoes and new season’s olive oil — a Rowley Leigh recipe
Forget intricate recipes simplicity is what brings out the best in this fish
The King of the Sea does not have to be complicated — it will be perfect with hollandaise or even simpler treatment
Turbot has never been cheap, and nor should it be. This imperious fish has always been very highly regarded: its rich, gelatinous flesh has earned it the title King of the Sea and there can be no better claimant to the throne. It inspires respect and I can recall several occasions in restaurants when it has lived up to the title.
I once had a huge steak of very fresh fish simply poached and served with a hollandaise sauce in the venerable Sweetings in the City of London perhaps 40 years ago. The restaurant is still there and I note turbot is charged at only £30, which makes it something of a bargain. The great Richard Corrigan gave me a similar piece, again simply poached, but this time accompanied with melted butter and freshly grated horseradish, an inspired combination that I have copied subsequently. The most inventive turbot dish I’ve had was at the three-star Guy Savoy in Paris.
The fish was a tronçon (a steak cut across the bone, usually after the fish has been split down the middle), which was served at the table, the central bone neatly removed and replaced with a poached egg, and lightly drizzled with olive oil. After I’d devoured this, the head waiter removed the top, perforated part of the large soup plate to reveal the poached frill of the fish floating in a fragrant broth with some soft cloves of garlic and slices of potato, accented by spots of egg yolk and olive oil that had escaped from the upper chamber.
Equally, I could describe in detail the turbot stuffed with lobster mousse and wrapped in pastry served by Michel Roux Jr to celebrate Le Gavroche’s 40th birthday. But there isn’t space. Suffice it to say that I and a few other shameless guests went back several times for more. The first two dishes demonstrate very well that turbot does not have to be complicated.
The fish is the thing and so long as it isn’t overcooked — the flesh should just come away from the bone but not without revealing a little faint pinkness — it will be perfect with hollandaise or horseradish or the even simpler treatment offered here. Steamed turbot, winter tomatoes and new season’s olive oil.
Unlike many fish, the bigger the turbot, the finer the flavour. Steer clear of the farmed stuff. The oil should be of the highest quality: it doesn’t have to be Tuscan but it helps. The winter tomatoes coming out of Spain and Italy at this time of year — varieties such as Raf, Iberiko and Camorna — may lack the sweetness of summer tomatoes but have an acidity and intensity that are an ideal accompaniment to fish.
Recipe for two
Quantity Ingredients 4 winter tomatoes
Salt
Black pepper
Sugar
½ tsp red wine vinegar
2 large turbot steaks, or tronçons, 3cm thick
2 tsp sweet pimento, plus a pinch of picante pimento Fresh marjoram or oregano
60ml new season’s olive oil
Remove stalks and cut the tomatoes in half. Season each one with a pinch of salt, some milled pepper, a pinch of sugar and half a teaspoon of red wine vinegar (other vinegars would be fine). Place on a tray cut side up and bake in a cool oven (130C) for 30-40 minutes until they have dried out and concentrated their flavour.
Season the turbot well with salt and black pepper 10 minutes before cooking. Dust the flesh sides (those without skin) with the pimento and place the turbot in a steamer for eight to 10 minutes. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the steaks: test them with a wooden skewer — when cooked, the skewer will glide through with only the bone resisting.
Peel off the dark skin — and the white if you really don’t like it — and serve with the tomatoes sprinkled with the chopped herbs and the fish generously doused in the oil. Serve with purple sprouting broccoli turned in a little chopped garlic softened in olive oil. Wine White, obviously, and this should be the stuff of dreams. Great white Burgundy fits the bill, just as long as it still has freshness, vigour and absolutely no premature oxidation. My desert island choice, however, might be white Rhône. How about Beaucastel’s Roussanne Vieilles Vignes, about 10 years old? Ridiculously expensive, of course, but a bargain next to Grand Cru Puligny Montrachet or Meursault.
Hear the river rushing past, smell the salty ocean air, feel the slimy rocks – this book is the closest you’ll be to the water without having to travel at all.
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