So after having eaten a fab gurnard at the weekend I thought I might see if I could feed it to my other half too. She's really fussy about fish, and its always a challenge, but gurnard is a firm, tasty, white fish and it should be just down her alley. And I'm glad to say she loved it.
I came home from the fishmonger with Bernard here. Thats what I'm calling him, Bernard the Gurnard. Suits him, right?
So as well as being a firm, tasty white fish thats really plentiful and under no threat right now, another great thing about this fish is its cheap - this one was eight quid and it will do us four servings (well, two meaty servings and a soup for both of us too). So, out with the guts, and its he only fish I often get where you're better cutting a Y shape rather than a straight cut.
It always strikes me as weird that people would rather get the fishmonger to do this - if is a good, fresh fish it isn't an unpleasant job, and if there are roes in there you'll get another tasty snack out of it. Anyway, after you've got rid of its innards cut all the fins off (and its fleshy little feet - see those tendrils? those) and pitch them into your stock pot. Here they are.
After that (and giving it a run under the tap) its almost as simple as filleting any other fish - run a filleting knife down either side of the backbone, cut through the cavity, and down to the tail. Don't forget to go well under the head shield to get all the flesh off - and if you're really hungry pick out the meat from the cheeks underneath. I didn't, because thats all going in stock anyway. Then hold the fillet skin side down and work your knife along the inside of the skin, down against the board, from the tail end to the front.
For this dish I then cut the fillets down the line in the middle of them, either side of the pin bones (which join the rest of the wreckage). And then I sliced them up into little cubes and put them into a dish with lemon juice, salt, zest, and a little dash of rice wine. That went into the fridge for an hour or so to marinade.
Then the rest of Bernard the Gurnard - skin, bones, head, fins, little fleshy feet all goes into the pressure cooker for stock. Maybe for hot and sour soup on Saturday.
So on to the rosti. We all know this, right? Potato, shredded fine, spoon full of salt, left for 10 minutes or so then squeeze as much juice out as you can before pushing handfulls down onto a hot pan to fry it. Put a lid on it, turn it when it looks about right, and when it looks done it is. Nothing cheffy or dainty here, splodge it on, cook it until browned.
While it was cooking I sliced up a bunch of salad veg, and when it was nearly done I beat an egg white almost to soft peaks, folded in the yolk and about a dessert spoon full of cornflour, and a pinch of salt. Thats one of my favourite really light coatings for fish - it gets a lovely colour, keeps the fish moist and doesn't overpower the flavour. Drop the fish in it, and then into a hot pan with oil...
The fish only takes a couple of minutes to cook on either side, and being gurnard you can cook it quite hard, it stays moist and holds its form. Serve on the rosti, with salad, and a slice of lemon, and this is a lovely little dish even for a fish-skeptic. And for fresh fish, its dirt cheap.
So I don't know whether my current gurnard obsession is going to continue, it depends on whether the fishmonger keeps getting good ones in. But I really also need to do something with this fridge full of mushrooms next...
No comments:
Post a Comment