Whole Rock Cod With Biltong Dust Mousse & Polenta Chips
Author: Kiran Jethwa
Recipe type: Seafood Main
Cuisine: Afro-Mediterranean fusion
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
A whole fish that has been deboned and seasoned with biltong and used very much how you would use bacon or pancetta with fish. Sounds strange but really works.
Ingredients
- For the stuffing
- 1 red bullet chili
- ½ orange
- ½ lemon zest
- 100 g salmon belly
- 200 g cream cheese
- Biltong dust/finely chopped peperoni/any cured meat
- 6 roasted garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp. dill
- 2 tbsp. smoked chili paste
- Salt
- Pepper
- Whole filleted roc cod/any good white fish
- Spinach
- For the polenta
- 200 g cream cheese
- 100 g butter
- Salt
- Pepper
- 500 g Maize flour
- 2 tsp. caraway seeds
- 2 tsp. mustard seeds
- Oil
- For the sauce
- Butter
- ¼ tsp. caraway seeds
- ½ white chopped onion
- 2 cloves of garlic chopped
- Handful of prawn shells and heads
- 100 g butter
- 4 tots of cognac
- 500 ml cream
- Handful chopped parsley
- 100 ml fish stock
- Tsp carpers
Instructions
- Fillet the rock cod by creating a pocket on the belly of the fish, keep the head and the tail. With a pair of scissors cut the bone side of the tail, pull and separate the bones from the flesh.
- Heat up a large pan of water, add quartered lemons and discarded fish bones to make fish stock. Let this cook for 15mins
- Cut off the fins and place in the fridge for 20 mins
- For the stuffing put the cream cheese, salmon, orange zest, lemon zest, red bullet chili, roasted garlic, biltong dust into a food mixer and blend. Whisk until smooth and creamy.
- Add dill and smoked chili paste, salt and pepper then carry on blending.
- Put the mixture in a bowl
- Cover a large chopping board with a couple of layers of cling film and lay the fish on top.
- Stuff the cod with raw spinach and then carefully spoon the Mousse stuffing into the fish. Trying to recreate the shape of the code without the bones.
- Wrap the fish in cling film (This will help maintain shape)
- Gently place the fish into the heated pan of water and poach it for 20 minutes
- Carefully remove the cling film and place the fish standing on a board. (If you don’t have a board you can lay it flat and turn it when using the blowtorch)
- Using a blowtorch, brown off the skin of the fish until nice and crispy. And set aside
- For the sauce heat up a frying pan and add caraway seeds. Add a pinch of black pepper and some butter. Add chopped onion and garlic cloves and let them sweat off.
- Add a handful of prawn heads and fry them off, then add cognac, cream, chopped parsley, the fish stock and salt. Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes
- Pour the prawn sauce through a strainer and put the strained sauce back on heat to thicken it up. Once thick add some capers and chopped parsley, mix to combine.
- For the polenta heat up equal quantities of water and cream. Add a knob of butter and season with salt and pepper, then whisk with a wooden spoon.
- As soon as the creamy mixture starts to boil, slowly add the polenta flour whisking continuously and cook it out till the texture starts to stiffen.
- Add cream cheese and the grated parmesan, continue stirring until the polenta is nice and thick
- Put the polenta into a square dish, smooth it out with a spatula so it’s about 1 inch thick
- Sprinkle some caraway seeds and mustard seeds in the polenta and press them down in the polenta
- Set aside to cool
- Once the polenta has cooled remove from the tin and place on a chopping board. Portion it into chunky chips shapes.
- Heat oil in a fryer and carefully fry the polenta, fry till nice and golden.
- To serve pour the sauce around the stuffed cod, and set the polenta chips on the side
