King George Whiting a la Plancha with Globe Artichoke Puree and Tomato Vierge

• Serves 4

• Preparation time: nil

• Cooking time: nil

Ingredients

4 x 150g King George whiting fillets
8 artichokes
Juice of 2 lemons
1 brown onion, sliced
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
50ml extra virgin olive oil
50ml white wine
100ml water
Salt and pepper, to season


Tomato vierge

2 sweetest heirloom or vine grown cherry tomatoes, sliced lengthways through the core
50ml extra virgin olive oil
10 basil leaves, finely chopped
Half a bunch of tarragon, finely chopped


Candied basil leaf

10ml olive oil
20g caster sugar
10g table salt
5 basil leaves

Method

Globe artichoke puree:
1. Peel and trim artichokes removing the hairy choke.
2. Place into water with the juice of two lemons.
3. Slice one brown onion, one peeled carrot and crush a clove of garlic.
4. Sauté the lot in 50ml of extra virgin olive oil for five minutes with no colour.
5. Add 50ml of white wine and 100mls of water. Add artichokes.
6. Simmer for 15 minutes until tender then remove from cooking liquid and blend in a blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
Tomato vierge:
1. Find the sweetest heirloom or vine grown cherry tomatoes, slice lengthways through the core, so you don’t lose any of the seeds.
2. Gently warm 50 ml of extra virgin olive oil to blood temperature.
3. Finely chop 10 basil leaves, and half a bunch of tarragon place everything in a bowl and leave in a warm place to infuse.
Candied basil leaf:
1. Stretch cling wrap over a dinner plate making it taut like a drum sprinkle over 10ml of olive oil, 20 g of caster sugar and 10g of table salt.
2. Find the nicest unblemished basil leaves and place shiny side down on the cling wrap
3. Microwave for 20 seconds, turn over and repeat, you should have nice candied basil leaves to assemble.
Whiting
1. Ask fish monger to scale fillet and pin bone the whiting for you.
2. Heat a non stick frying pan with a little olive oil.
3. Season the fish fillets, place in the pan skin side down but press with a fish slice so the skin doesn’t curl up.
4. Cook only on the one side as the fish fillets are thin, when the flesh is just opaque remove and the residual heat will finish the process for you.
5. Make a quenelle of the globe artichoke and place in the centre of the plate.
6. Place fish on top, spoon around a little of the sauce and top with the basil leaf.

Notes