At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is a recipe I’ve wanted to share for some time. It starts to inch me back towards the reason I started this whole thing – to explore, in a non-scientific way, recipes full of flavour but light on fat and carbohydrates. And the broken record? I’ve realised that this is not the first time I’ve gone for the fish-olive-potato combination. And it’s not the first time either, that I’ve raved about John Torode's book Mezzo, where I found this lovely recipe (I’ve pulled back quite a bit on the amount of olive oil listed in Torode’s recipe*).
You can be the judge of the dish – I think it opens up a host of possibilities. Use snapper or blue-eye instead of red mullet, which is a bit of a bugger to fillet and pin-bone (unless you have a great fishmonger); or add or subtract from the ingredients used in the stewy component – as long as you end up with a moist, richly flavoured version of some description. And, it’s appropriate timing to include a mention of an article in The Washington Post that summarises two new reports that both conclude that the health benefits of regularly eating fish outweigh any risk from consuming contaminants such as mercury. Given my last post though, it was interesting to read in the article of environmentalists’ concerns “about the impact the findings could have on marine life if people worldwide try to dine on seafood twice a week, because there isn't enough to go around”. On that subject, I’m pretty sure that red mullet, or rouget, isn’t heading for extinction just yet.
Red Mullet with Potatoes and Black Olives
Serves 2
3 tablespoons olive oil
200g new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 2.5cm chunks
200g peeled tomatoes, chopped
100g small onions, halved top to bottom
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs sage
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
30g black olives (I used little Ligurian olives)
40g flat-leafed parsley, stems removed
4 fillets of red mullet, pin-boned
Preheat the oven to 190ºC (375ºF). Warm 2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy casserole over a medium heat. Add the potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, thyme and sage, and bring to the boil. Season well and simmer for 5 minutes, watching that the mixture doesn’t start to burn or stick to the casserole. Cover then, and cook in the oven for about an hour, or until the potatoes are cooked through. (Do not stir, as this will break up the vegetables.) Allow to cool slightly, then add the olives and parsley.
Heat a griddle or frying pan over a high heat until smoking. Season the red mullet fillets and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Place the fillets skin side down on the griddle for 30 seconds, then flip them over and cook for a further 30 seconds. (The fillets will be very thin and shouldn’t require very much more time than this.)
Spoon the vegetable mixture into shallow bowls and criss-cross two fillets of mullet on top of each bowl.
* NB: the original recipe called for more than double the amount of olive oil I’ve used above. Instead, I’ve used more tomato to keep the mixture moist as it cooks.
