Fresh fish, simply cooked
Fourteen years ago the Padstow Seafood School opened. I don’t know if it was the view out over the estuary across the water to Rock, the blue and white fish tiles, the warm wooden floor or the sail-shaped ceiling, but it was instantly successful.
Maybe it was the quality of the fish and shellfish we used. I came to see that many people just didn’t realise how good fresh fish could be. To help the students, I decided to write a book telling them everything they needed to know about fish and shellfish, and called the book Seafood. Like the school, it was also very popular.
Since that time, quite a lot has changed in my seafood world; in the techniques and styles of dishes and even the fish we use now. We’re about to celebrate the Seafood Restaurant’s 40th birthday, so there are plenty of reasons to revise the original book with new recipes and, at the same time, take a nostalgic look back over many of the dishes we’ve cooked at the restaurant.
There are also new recipes based on 14 years’ more experience in Padstow, but also dishes brought back from filming in France, the Mediterranean, Spain, south east Asia and India, as well as from my restaurant Bannisters at Mollymook in Australia.
The overriding principle behind all the recipes in this book is: ‘Would I cook this at home?’ I’ve pared down all the recipes, and taken a view that most people will have a kitchen with equipment to make the job a lot easier, for example, a deep-fat fryer or a wok-shaped pan or a food processor or even a temperature probe, which you can now get for about £10.
Fish is still my first love, and looking back over the first 40 years of the Seafood Restaurant I still feel the same as I did then: there’s nothing more exhilarating than fresh fish simply cooked.
Fish & Shellfish, by Rick Stein, with photography by James Murphy, is published by BBC Books, priced £25.
Grilled sardines with coarsely chopped green herbs
Serves 4
Alternative fish: anchovies, small herring, horse mackerel, small mackerel, smelts, sprats
Ingredients
You will need:
Method
It is important to remember to soak the bamboo skewers in cold water for at least half an hour before using so they don’t scorch.
Mix together the lemon zest, rosemary, parsley, garlic, olives, capers, salt and pepper. Set to one side.
Preheat the grill to high. Pierce each sardine from head to tail with a skewer. Lay them on a lightly oiled baking tray and sprinkle them with some extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill for 2 minutes on each side.
Serve the skewered sardines scattered with the herb mixture, drizzled with a little extra olive oil and with the lemon wedges placed alongside.
Steamed scallops in the shell with ginger, soy, sesame oil and spring onions
Serves 4
Ingredients
Method
Pour 2.5cm of water into the base of a wide shallow pan and bring it up to the boil. Loosen the scallops from their shells but leave them in place. Sprinkle each one with some of the ginger.
Arrange the scallops, in batches if necessary, on a petal steamer. Lower them into the pan, reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook for about 4 minutes until just set. Remove and keep warm while you cook the rest.
Meanwhile, put the sesame oil and soy sauce into a small pan and warm through. Lift the scallops on to 4 warmed plates and pour over some of the warm soy sauce and sesame oil. Sprinkle over the coriander and spring onions and serve immediately.
Hot pollack slices in a wrap with bok choi, beansprouts, garlic and ginger
Serves 4
Alternative fish: any cheap, sustainable fish, eg, coley, hake, leatherjacket, whiting
Ingredients
Method
Put the couscous in a shallow bowl. Season the fish lightly with salt and turn over in the couscous, then gently fry in a shallow pan with the vegetable oil for 3 minutes. Remove the fish to a plate, add the garlic and ginger to the pan and fry with the residual couscous for 1-2 minutes.
To warm the tortillas, place on a hot, dry frying pan or under a hot grill for approximately 6 seconds on each side.
Place the fish in the centre of each of the wraps. Sprinkle with bok choi and beansprouts, then spoon over the garlic, ginger, couscous and oil from the pan. Cover with the spring onions and coriander, then drizzle over the Tabasco and soy sauce. Fold up the wraps and serve.
Maybe it was the quality of the fish and shellfish we used. I came to see that many people just didn’t realise how good fresh fish could be. To help the students, I decided to write a book telling them everything they needed to know about fish and shellfish, and called the book Seafood. Like the school, it was also very popular.
Since that time, quite a lot has changed in my seafood world; in the techniques and styles of dishes and even the fish we use now. We’re about to celebrate the Seafood Restaurant’s 40th birthday, so there are plenty of reasons to revise the original book with new recipes and, at the same time, take a nostalgic look back over many of the dishes we’ve cooked at the restaurant.
There are also new recipes based on 14 years’ more experience in Padstow, but also dishes brought back from filming in France, the Mediterranean, Spain, south east Asia and India, as well as from my restaurant Bannisters at Mollymook in Australia.
The overriding principle behind all the recipes in this book is: ‘Would I cook this at home?’ I’ve pared down all the recipes, and taken a view that most people will have a kitchen with equipment to make the job a lot easier, for example, a deep-fat fryer or a wok-shaped pan or a food processor or even a temperature probe, which you can now get for about £10.
Fish is still my first love, and looking back over the first 40 years of the Seafood Restaurant I still feel the same as I did then: there’s nothing more exhilarating than fresh fish simply cooked.
Fish & Shellfish, by Rick Stein, with photography by James Murphy, is published by BBC Books, priced £25.
Grilled sardines with coarsely chopped green herbs
Serves 4 Alternative fish: anchovies, small herring, horse mackerel, small mackerel, smelts, sprats
Ingredients
- 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- ½ tbsp finely chopped rosemary
- 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
- ½ tbsp finely chopped pitted green olives
- ½ tbsp chopped capers
- ½ tsp sea salt flakes
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 8 sardines, cleaned and trimmed by your fishmonger
- extra virgin olive oil, for brushing and serving
- lemon wedges, to serve
You will need:
- 8 bamboo sticks
Method
It is important to remember to soak the bamboo skewers in cold water for at least half an hour before using so they don’t scorch.
Mix together the lemon zest, rosemary, parsley, garlic, olives, capers, salt and pepper. Set to one side.
Preheat the grill to high. Pierce each sardine from head to tail with a skewer. Lay them on a lightly oiled baking tray and sprinkle them with some extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill for 2 minutes on each side.
Serve the skewered sardines scattered with the herb mixture, drizzled with a little extra olive oil and with the lemon wedges placed alongside.
Steamed scallops in the shell with ginger, soy, sesame oil and spring onions
Serves 4 Ingredients
- 16 scallops in the shell, prepared by your fishmonger
- 1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp roughly chopped coriander
- 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
Method
Pour 2.5cm of water into the base of a wide shallow pan and bring it up to the boil. Loosen the scallops from their shells but leave them in place. Sprinkle each one with some of the ginger.
Arrange the scallops, in batches if necessary, on a petal steamer. Lower them into the pan, reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook for about 4 minutes until just set. Remove and keep warm while you cook the rest.
Meanwhile, put the sesame oil and soy sauce into a small pan and warm through. Lift the scallops on to 4 warmed plates and pour over some of the warm soy sauce and sesame oil. Sprinkle over the coriander and spring onions and serve immediately.
Hot pollack slices in a wrap with bok choi, beansprouts, garlic and ginger
Serves 4 Alternative fish: any cheap, sustainable fish, eg, coley, hake, leatherjacket, whiting
Ingredients
- 90g couscous
- 400g pollack fillet, cut into 1cm slices
- salt u 90ml vegetable oil
- 15g (3 cloves) garlic, grated
- 15g fresh ginger, grated
- 4 Mexican-style flour tortilla wraps, 20cm in diameter
- 60g bok choi or salad cabbage, thinly sliced
- 60g beansprouts
- 8 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
- a small handful of coriander, roughly chopped
- ½ tsp Tabasco or Sriracha sauce
- ½ tsp soy sauce
Method
Put the couscous in a shallow bowl. Season the fish lightly with salt and turn over in the couscous, then gently fry in a shallow pan with the vegetable oil for 3 minutes. Remove the fish to a plate, add the garlic and ginger to the pan and fry with the residual couscous for 1-2 minutes.
To warm the tortillas, place on a hot, dry frying pan or under a hot grill for approximately 6 seconds on each side.
Place the fish in the centre of each of the wraps. Sprinkle with bok choi and beansprouts, then spoon over the garlic, ginger, couscous and oil from the pan. Cover with the spring onions and coriander, then drizzle over the Tabasco and soy sauce. Fold up the wraps and serve.