Brill on Champ and a Rich Creamy Sauce
Ingredients:
Fish
1 large Brill fish – descaled and gutted
Oil
Salt and pepper
butter
Champ
500g of maris piper potatoes, peeled and quartered
50g salted butter
Approx. 3 tbsp of milk
Approx. 5 spring onions finely sliced
Large pinch of white pepper
Pinch of salt
Sauce
1 large leek finely sliced
1 large handful of mushrooms finely sliced
1 large garlic clove minced
Oil
300ml-500ml double cream
Handful of bronze fennel
Method:
1. In a large pot put cold water and a large pinch of salt and the peeled potatoes, bring to the boil and boil till soft.
2. Start filleting the brill, run the knife down the middle of the fish where the spine is. Then edge the knife between the spine bone and fillet. Make a clean cut around the head and the tail so the fillet can be detached from the fish at the end. Keep running the knife like this to separate the bones from the flesh. Then once you get to the fins on the outer edge of the fillet, flap the fillet over and use your sharp knife to separate the fillet from the fish. Then repeat for the other 3 fillets and place on a tin ready to cook.
3. Potatoes should be soft, drain and use a potato masher or ricer, add the butter, spring onions and taste, you may want to add salt and pepper and also milk, but be careful with the amount of milk added otherwise it can get too watery. The champ should be smooth and creamy.
4. For the sauce fry off the leeks in some oil till soft (add some of the juices from the fish to help soften the leeks). Then add in the garlic and mushrooms and sweat down further for about 5 minutes. Then add in 300ml of the cream and reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Add in the chopped up bronze fennel. Taste and season accordingly. If you would like more sauce add more cream.
5. In a non-stick pan, add a large tbsp of oil and once it is hot, place once piece of fish skin side down, cook till the flesh around the edge is white and then carefully flip over and add a couple of knobs of butter and baste the fish so it cooks evenly. Cook for a further couple of minutes, the fish is cooked when the flesh flakes.
6. To serve – big scoop of champ, lovely piece of brill and lashings of sauce drizzled all over the fish.
