Pan-fried John Dory with cockles, samphire and fish veloute

Madalene Bonvini-Hamel of the British Larder website makes the most of seasonal April ingredients such as John Dory and cockles in this recipe.

For more ideas, see our article, Flavours of April >>

INGREDIENTS (Serves four)

For the steamed cockles

• 1kg fresh cockles, washed
• 2 banana shallots
• 2 large sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 250ml dry white wine

For the fish velouté

• 250ml fish stock
• 20g unsalted butter
• 1tbs olive oil
• 1/2tsp coriander seeds, crushed
• 2 banana shallots, peeled and finely sliced
• 150ml cockle wine cooking liquid
• 100ml double cream
• Salt and freshly cracked white pepper

For the gnocchi

• 250g Desiree potatoes, peeled
• 70g "00" pasta flour
• 1 medium free-range egg
• Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 10g semolina

For the pan-fried John Dory

• 4 skinless fillets of John Dory
• 1tbs olive oil
• 20g cold unsalted butter
• Coarse sea salt

For the sautéd samphire and capers

• 100g Norfolk Marsh Samphire
• 1tbs unsalted butter
• Gnocchi, previously prepared
• 2tsp small caper, drained
• 200g picked cooked steamed cockle meat
• 1tsp julienned flat-leaf parsley
• ½ fresh lemon

METHOD

Cockles

Soak the cockles in fresh cold water overnight and then wash them under running cold water for 20 minutes to wash away all the sand. If there are any open cockles, discard them immediately.

Drain the washed cockles in a colander. Peel and finely slice the banana shallots and add these together with the whole sprigs of parsley to the cockles.

Heat a large saucepan over high heat and, as it approaches "smoking hot", add the cockles, sliced shallots and parsley. Shake the pan, add the wine and fit a tight fitting lid. Keep the pan on the heat and give it a gentle shake. Steam the cockles for two minutes.

Once all the shells have opened, remove the pan from the heat and immediately transfer the cockles to a fine sieve, lined with muslin, placed over a bowl to collect the cooking juices.

Pick the cockle meat from the shells and return to the passed cooking juices, then chill.

Fish velouté

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan. Once the butter starts to foam, add the sliced shallots and crushed coriander seeds and sweat until transparent with no colour.

Add 150ml of the cockle wine cooking liquid and reduce the liquid by half.

Add the fish stock, bring the sauce to the boil and cook until reduced by half.

Add the cream, bring the sauce back to the boil and pass the velouté through a fine sieve into a small saucepan. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Chill and set aside until needed.

Gnocchi

Preheat the oven to 100°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into large equal-size chunks. Boil the potatoes in salted water until cooked, drain and transfer them to the lined baking tray.

Place the tray into the preheated oven and dry the potatoes out for 10 minutes. This is to remove any excess water. Push the dry, warm potatoes through a ricer into a large mixing bowl, add the egg, pasta flour and seasoning and mix it all together until the gnocchi dough forms.

Wrap the dough ball in clingflim and refrigerate for two hours.

Once rested, place the dough on a lightly floured work surface, divide into four equal pieces and roll each piece into 2cm thick sausages. Use a sharp knife and cut 2cm wide gnocchi pillows. Sprinkle the semolina over a baking tray and place the gnocchi pillows on the tray.

In a large saucepan, bring the salted water to a rapid boil, add the gnocchi all at once, cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and bring the water back to the boil.

Blanch the gnocchi for four minutes. Once they all float, they are ready to be transferred to ice water to chill them immediately.

Drain the gnocchi, toss them in a splash of olive oil and transfer them to a clean, dry tray. Keep refrigerated until needed.

Sautéd samphire, gnocchi, cockles and capers

Wash the samphire and remove any brown dried-out stalks.

Bring a large pan of salted water to a rapid boil and blanch the samphire for one minute, refresh and drain.

Melt the butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Once the butter starts to foam, add the gnocchi and sauté until golden brown all over - about four minutes. Add the drained samphire, cockles and capers, sauté for one minute and add seasoning, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and the parsley. It's ready to serve.

Pan-fried John Dory

While sautéing the gnocchi and samphire, heat some oil in a second large frying pan. Season the John Dory fillets with the salt and place the fillets presentation side down into the hot pan and add the knobs of cold butter. Pan-fry for one-and-a-half minutes before flipping the fish over, then continue cooking for a further one-and-a-half minutes. Drain the fish fillets on kitchen paper.

To serve

Bring the sauce back to the boil. On warm serving plates, spoon the samphire mixture, place a piece of pan-fried John Dory on top followed by more cockles and samphire. Froth the sauce using a hand-held blender and spoon the foaming sauce over the fish and serve immediately.