Phil Fanning owns and is executive chef at the Michelin starred Paris House in Woburn. His cooking is contemporary with layers of taste from unusual ingredients and an eye for theatrical mischief. The recipes he has created using our crispbread for Great British Chefs are relatively complex but we hope that you will find some interesting flavour combinations that will inspire you to try something a little different.
You can watch Phil making this dish on our YouTube channel here.
Cooking Time: 6 hours (plus 1 week to pickle)
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Pickled fennel and wild garlic berries
150g of white wine
85g of white wine vinegar
350g of water
10g of salt
38g of sugar
2g of dill seeds
5g of lemon zest
5g of tarragon
10g of gorse flowers
100g of fennel, finely sliced
100g of wild garlic buds
Brown onion juice
4 onions, peeled
35g of kombu, dried
1 sprig of rosemary
Soy sauce, to taste
Braised kombu
50g of kombu, rinsed well
2 star anise
1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
Rye crispies
45g of medium crispbread, preferably Peter’s Yard
45g of potato flour
155g of soda water
Vegetable oil, for frying
Steamed halibut
400g of halibut fillet
350g of water
10g of grey salt
15g of lemon zest
2.5g of dill seeds
15g of kombu, dried
50g of gorse flowers
To serve
Wild garlic leaves
3g of bottarga
1 tsp fennel pollen
1 handful of chive flower
Fennel fronds
Method
- Start with the fennel and wild garlic pickle; in a pan, bring the wine, vinegar, water, salt sugar, dill, zest, tarragon and gorse to the boil. Cool, then place in a sterilized jar in the fridge with the fennel and garlic for at least a week
- Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3
- Use a sharp knife to cut a deep cross through the onions, put in a roasting tin, cover with foil and roast for 6 hours. Leave to cool, place in a tea towel or muslin cloth and squeeze out the juice into the tin
- Heat the juice slightly and add the rosemary and kombu, leaving to infuse for 20 minutes before straining through a sieve and seasoning with the soy sauce
- To braise the kombu, boil 135ml of the reserved onion juice with an equal amount of water, then use this to cover the kombu, oil and star anise in a small roasting tin. Cover with baking paper and foil, then braise for 4 hours on a low heat. Cool then cut out 3cm discs from the kombu and reserve the liquid
- Make a batter for the crispies by grinding the crispbreads to a fine powder (in a food processor or blender) and mixing with the flour and soda water. Place in a syphon gun (charging 2 gas cartridges) and shake well. Bring the oil in a deep fryer to 160°C
- Hold a colander over the fryer and spray through the batter to form drops, when golden, remove from the fryer and drain on kitchen towel
- In a pan, make a brine by boiling the salt, zest, dill and dried kombu with the water, add the gorse and cool the liquid before adding the halibut. Leave for an hour, dry off the fish and cut into 4 portions
- Line a roasting tin with baking paper, add the fish and 3-4 tablespoons of the onion juice. Cover with cling film, place on a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Allow to steam off the heat for another 4-5 minutes
- In a pan of boiling water, briefly blanch then drain the wild garlic leaves
- In a bowl mix together the bottarga with the pollen, flowers and rye crispies
- Serve the halibut portions with a sprinkle of the crispie mix, a few garlic leaves, pickled buds/fennel, kombu discs, fennel fronds and a drizzle of onion sauce
Recipe courtesy of www.greatbritishchefs.com
