Baked Bream, Spring Vegetable Nage & Crispy Cabbage

Serves 4

For the bream:

  • 4x bream 300g-400g, scaled, fillet and pin boned
  • Olive oil
  • Salt

Preheat the oven to 190 deg cel. Lightly coat the fish fillets with olive oil and lightly season. Line a tray with parchment paper, and place the fish on the paper, skin side up. Bake in the oven for 4-5 minutes, or until just cooked.

For the nage stock:

  • ½ leek- washed and diced
  • ½ fennel- diced
  • 2 carrots- peeled and diced
  • 2 sticks of celery- diced
  • ½ onion- diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic-sliced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns
  • 1 tsp vegetable bouillon
  • A few sprigs of thyme

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and just cover with cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 mins. Ideally leave to marinate for 24hrs, then strain.

For the nage garnish:

  • 150g cooked new potatoes- diced
  • 75g cooked carrot- diced and cooked al dente
  • 75g cooked mooli- diced and cooked al dente
  • 50g edamame beans
  • 50g peas
  • 3g dashi powder
  • 4 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp chopped parsley
  • 1 tsp chopped parsley
  • 1 tsp chopped coriander
  • 100 ml nage stock
  • Lemon juice

Blanch the potatoes, mooli, and carrots, peas and edamame in boiling water for 1 minute and drain and dry. Place the name stock and dashi powder in a medium size saucepan and bring to the simmer, blend in the mayonnaise. Add the blanched vegetables to the pan, followed by the herbs, and warm gently. Check seasoning and add a little lemon juice.

For the crispy cabbage:

  • ½ a small hispi cabbage- finely sliced
  • Vegetable oil
  • Salt

Heat a medium sized saucepan filled 1/3 full with oil to 150 deg cell. In batches, fry the cabbage until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and season with salt.