Recipe: My fish stew by Nathan Outlaw

08 April 2016
Recipe: My fish stew by Nathan Outlaw

Serves 8

  • 1 monkfish tail, about 1.5kg, bone removed and reserved, trimmed of sinews
  • 2 gurnards, 600g each, filleted (heads and bones reserved)
  • 8 large or 16 medium scallops, shelled and cleaned
  • 40 live mussels, de-bearded and rinsed
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
  • 1 rosemary sprig, leaves picked and chopped
  • Zest of 1 lemon (microplaned)
  • 100ml light olive oil
  • 1 large cod head, cleaned
  • 300ml white wine
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the stew

  • 2 onions, peeled and sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
  • 2 fennel bulbs, finely chopped
  • 2 red peppers, cored, de-seeded and sliced
  • ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
  • Zest and juice of ½ orange (zest microplaned)
  • A big pinch of saffron strands
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 rosemary sprig
  • 50g tomato purée
  • 8 ripe tomatoes, chopped

To serve

  • 1 large baguette
  • Light rapeseed oil for frying
  • 1 garlic clove, halved

For the mayonnaise

  • 2 egg yolks
  • Pinch of saffron strands
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 chili, de-seeded and finely chopped
  • 4 salted anchovies in oil
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 400ml olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Cut the monkfish into eight equal chunks. Halve each gurnard fillet to give eight pieces. Put the monkfish, gurnard, scallops and mussels into a bowl and add the garlic, rosemary, lemon zest, olive oil and some salt and pepper. Mix carefully, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for one hour.

To make the stock, line a roasting tray with a sheet of baking parchment. Lay the cod head and reserved fish heads and bones on the paper and roast for 25 minutes. Turn them over and roast for another 25 minutes.

Place the tray over a medium heat on the hob. Add the wine, stirring and scraping to deglaze. Simmer for five minutes, then tip everything into a big cooking pot and add water to cover. Bring to the boil and skim off any impurities from the surface. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat another large pan over a medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. When it is hot, add the onions, garlic, fennel and red peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes. Now add the chilli flakes, orange zest, saffron, bay and rosemary and cook for two minutes. Stir in the tomato purée and cook, stirring frequently, for five minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes and orange juice and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Pour the stock through a sieve onto the vegetables and simmer for 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.

In the meantime, cut the baguette into thin slices. Heat a 1cm depth of rapeseed oil in a wide pan. When hot, shallowfry the bread until golden on both sides. Drain the croÁ»tes on kitchen paper, rub with the cut surface of the garlic and season. Add the monkfish to the stew and cook for one minute, then add the gurnard and mussels and cook for another two minutes. Add the scallops and cook for one minute.

Serve the stew in the centre of the table with the croÁ»tes and anchovy mayonnaise on the side.

Spicy anchovy mayonnaise

Put two egg yolks, a pinch of saffron strands, two chopped garlic cloves, one finely chopped, de-seeded chilli, four salted anchovies in oil and the juice of ½ lemon into a blender or small food processor and blitz for one minute. With the motor running, slowly add 400ml olive oil through the funnel. Season the mayonnaise, scrape into a bowl, cover and refrigerate.

Recipe from Nathan Outlaw's Everyday Seafood (reviewed here). Photography by David Loftus

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