Spiced Gurnard from Fish for Dinner

Serves 4

You’ll need:

• gurnard, weighing 500–600g (1lb 2oz–1lb 5oz)each, gutted, filleted and pin-boned
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon hot chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil for the marinade, plus extra for cooking

For the chilli yogurt

• 400g (14oz) full-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped mint
• Zest and juice of 1 lime
• Sea salt

For the salad

• 2 small shallots or 1 banana shallot, thinly sliced into rounds on a mandolin
• Juice of 1 lime (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon flaked sea salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• A bunch of watercress
• A small bunch of coriander (cilantro), leaves picked
• A small punnet of mustard cress
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the potato pancake mix see below

Method

To marinate the gurnard, place all the spices and salt in a large shallow bowl with the olive oil and mix together. Slice each gurnard fillet into 3 equal pieces so you now have 12 pieces of fish. Place the fish in the oil and leave to marinate for 1 hour. Make the pancakes following the instructions on page 216. For the yogurt, mix the yogurt with the chilli, mint, lime zest and juice, then season with salt. Taste for balance and keep chilled until ready to serve. For the salad preparation, place the sliced shallot in a bowl with the lime juice, spices, salt and oil. Mix everything together well and leave for 10–20 minutes to soften the shallots. To cook the fish, heat a large non-stick pan or seasoned iron pan over a medium-to-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil and lay the fish skin-side down (you may need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your pan). Gently fry the fish fillets for 3 minutes until the edges start to turn golden, then carefully turn the fish and reduce the heat slightly. Cook for a further minute and then remove the pan from the heat. If the fish you are cooking is from a smaller fish, due to the thickness of the fish fillet, it will be cooked. If the fish you are cooking is thicker and from a bigger fish, then leave the fillets in the pan and the residual heat in the pan will finish the cooking.

To serve, add the watercress, coriander (cilantro) and mustard cress to the shallots, season with salt and pepper and toss together, then divide the salad between 4 warmed plates. Place 2 potato pancakes on each plate, top with 3 pieces of fish and a dollop of chilli yogurt.

Serve immediately

Potato Pancake mix

You’ll need:

• 100g (3.oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• A pinch of salt
• 2–3 large Maris Piper potatoes, cooked and mashed
• 150ml (5fl oz) full-fat Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons chopped coriander (cilantro)
• 2 large eggs, plus 1 extra egg yolk
• Olive oil, for frying

Method:

Heat your oven to 180ºC Fan (400ºF), Gas Mark 6 and bake the potatoes for 1 hour until cooked. Scoop out the cooked potato and mash or put through a potato ricer. You should have about 300g (10½oz) mashed potato.

To make the batter, sift the flour, baking powder, turmeric and garam masala together into a bowl and add a pinch of salt then mix in the mashed potato, yogurt, coriander (cilantro) and all the egg yolks. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until firm, then fold them through

the batter mix. You will need to cook the pancakes in batches. Heat a non-stick frying pan and add a drizzle of olive oil. When it is hot, spoon in tablespoons of potato batter, leaving space between as they will grow slightly and you don’t really want them to stick together. Cook for 1 minute until golden, then flip them over to cook for another 1–2 minutes. Pile them up on top of each other when they are cooked and cover while you cook the rest; this way they will stay warm.

This recipe was a Spiced Gurnard Turmeric Potato Pancake, Watercress & Shallot Salad, Chilli & Lime Yogurt Fish For Dinner, by Nathan Outlaw.

If you enjoyed this recipe, then why not try the Whole Butterflied Mackerel from Fish For Dinner