Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course (8 page)

1
. Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas 7.

2
. Put the garlic and paprika into a mortar, add the salt and pound to a smooth paste. Add a few drops of olive oil, then rub the flesh side of the mackerel fillets with the paste and set aside.

3
. Make the vinaigrette. Put all the ingredients into a small bowl and whisk together with a fork. Season to taste.

4
. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and brush lightly with olive oil. Lay the mackerel fillets skin side up on the paper and season the skin with sea salt. Roast for 8–10 minutes until the skin is crisp and the fish is cooked through. Remove from the oven and leave to rest.

5
. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in a large pan of salted water for about 15 minutes until tender, then drain. Return to the pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Crush lightly with the back of a fork, then add the spring onions and stir to combine. Season, then add a couple of tablespoons of the vinaigrette.

6
. Serve the crushed potatoes topped with the mackerel and a drizzle of the remaining vinaigrette.

CRAB AND
MASCARPONE
CRÊPES

MAKES 6 CRÊPES

This is an unusual way of serving crab but makes a great change from a crab sandwich or crab with chilli, lemon and linguini. The white crab meat looks pretty and has a lovely sweet flavour, but it’s the brown meat that packs the real punch. I always use a combination of the two, but it is up to you.

1
. First make the crêpe batter. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the egg. Slowly pour in the milk, mixing with the flour as you add. Whisk to form a smooth batter with no lumps, the thickness of double cream. Cover and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

2
. Mix together the mascarpone, cayenne pepper, half the chives, some lemon juice and zest. Add some salt and pepper, then fold in the crab meat. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary, adding more lemon juice and/or zest and another pinch of cayenne or salt and pepper, as preferred.

3
. To cook the crêpes, heat a dash of oil in a small to medium non-stick frying pan and swirl around to cover the bottom. When hot but not smoking, add a small ladleful of the batter, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan, and swirl to spread it out thinly.

4
. Cook on one side for 1–1½ minutes until golden, then flip the crêpes and repeat on the other side. Transfer to a plate and keep warm while using the remaining batter in the same way.

5
. To serve, place spoonfuls of the crab mascarpone mixture in the centre of the warm crêpes, fold them over it and garnish with a sprinkling of the remaining chopped chives. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

GORDON’S
KEDGEREE

SERVES 4–6

Kedgeree is wonderfully comforting, especially after a hard night, and very easy to make.

To enrich it at the end and make a lighter dish, I’ve used natural yoghurt instead of the more usual butter or cream. Hot-smoked trout or even mackerel work just as well as smoked haddock, but in these cases use plain water to cook the rice.

1
. Heat 750ml water and the bay leaves in a large frying pan and bring to a simmer. Put in the haddock, skin side up, and simmer for 5 minutes until the fish feels flaky and is cooked through. Remove with a fish slice and drain on a plate. Reserve the cooking liquid.

2
. In a second pan, melt the butter, add the garlic and onion and gently fry for a couple of minutes. Add the ginger, curry powder, mustard seeds and tomatoes and cook for a further 3 minutes until the onions have softened.

3
. Add the rice, stir a couple of times to coat it in the butter, then gradually add the lemon juice and cooking liquid from the fish, stirring well after each addition. (This should take about 20 minutes.)

4
. Carefully pull the skin off the haddock and flake the flesh, checking for any bones, then stir into the rice along with the yoghurt.

5
. To serve, divide the kedgeree between 4 warmed serving plates, sprinkle on the coriander and chilli, top with the eggs and season with salt and pepper.

SEA BREAM WITH TOMATO
AND HERB SALSA

SERVES 2

This is a beautiful way of serving all kinds of fish fillets, from sea bream to sea bass or even cod. The salsa is effectively a warm vinaigrette, so don’t heat it too vigorously. The idea is just to encourage the flavours to mingle so they cut through the fish.

1
. First make the salsa. Place a small saucepan over a gentle heat and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Chop the tomatoes in half and add to the oil. Add the olives, season with salt and pepper and stir over a low heat for 1–2 minutes. Set aside.

2
. Hold the coriander and basil stalks together and slice down with a sharp knife to shave off the leaves. Discard the stalks, then gently roll the coriander and basil leaves into a ball and chop. Keeping a little back for garnish, add the coriander and basil to the salsa and stir to combine.

3
. Roll the lemon on a chopping board to soften it and release the juices, then cut in half. Add the juice of one half to the pan, stir and set the salsa aside to allow the flavours to infuse.

4
. To cook the bream, heat a heavy-based frying pan over a high heat. Meanwhile, slash the skin of the fillets in 2 or 3 places. Add a dash of oil to the pan and, when really hot, add the bream fillets skin side down. Season and cook for 2–3 minutes until the fish is dark golden and the skin is crisp. (The flesh should be opaque two-thirds of the way up the fillet.)

5
. Turn the fillets and cook on the other side for 1 minute, basting with the oil in the pan, until just cooked through.

6
. To serve, sit the fish fillets on top of the tomato and herb salsa and sprinkle with the reserved coriander and basil.

HOW TO CHOP HERBS

Soft herbs, such as basil, parsley, coriander and mint, can bruise very easily, so try to ensure you cut them only once. The easiest way to do this is to roll them gently into a ball or cigar shape, and slice along their length. Don’t be tempted to go back over them – unlike rosemary, say, they never have to be cut that fine.

SEA BASS WITH FENNEL,
LEMON AND CAPERS

SERVES 4

Cooking fish in individual foil packets, or
en papillote
, as they say in France, is a great way of sealing in all the flavours. The smell that hits you when you open them up are just phenomenal, so let everyone do their own at the table. Feel free to change the fish and aromatics but make sure you include a little liquid so the fish steams. Serve with crushed new potatoes and courgette ribbons.

1
. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6.

2
. Season the fish really well inside and out. Finely slice the fennel and place, along with some fronds, inside the sea bass stomach cavity. Sprinkle in the capers and line the lemon slices on top of the fennel inside the cavity. Top with the dill and dot over the butter in small pieces.

3
. Drizzle the fish with a little olive oil and then wrap in foil. Pour the wine into the parcel just before you close up the last corner and make sure the parcel is well sealed, wrapping it in a second piece of foil if necessary.

4
. Place the parcel on a roasting tray and bake in the oven – about 20 minutes for the 600g fish, or 8–10 minutes if using the smaller ones – until the fish is just cooked through with the flesh flaking away from the bone.

5
. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for a few minutes before serving (be careful of the hot steam when you unwrap the foil). Serve sprinkled with the reserved fennel fronds.

RED MULLET WITH
SWEET CHILLI SAUCE

SERVES 4

What I love about the Asian style of food is that it has made my cooking so much lighter, and taken me away from using too much butter and cream. Red mullet is a sweet, robust fish that needs a lot of help with flavours, and the chilli, fish sauce, lime and coriander really give it a wake-up call. The peanuts are there to add crunch – don’t crush them too much or they will burn. Serve with fragrant rice and stir-fried broccoli.