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Rainbow trout fillets with pink pepper and seaweed flakes, served with pumpkin and fennel fritters
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 4-8 rainbow trout fillets (depending on size and appetite)
- 2tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 20g unsalted butter
- juice 1⁄2 lemon, plus 1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve
- 1 1⁄2tsp pink peppercorns, crushed
- 1 1⁄2tsp Aonori seaweed flakes
For the fritters
- 300g grated pumpkin (approx. 600g unpeeled)
- 1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and finely grated
- 1 long red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 60g rice flour
- 1 egg
- 200ml sunflower oil, for frying
Method
To make the fritters, mix the grated pumpkin, fennel, chilli and garlic together and season with sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper. Beat the egg together with the rice flour and 2tbsp water. Fold into the pumpkin mixture and mix to a dropping consistency.
Heat the oil in a wok to around 170C (you will need to fluctuate the heat as they fry so as not to brown them on the outside too quickly before they are cooked in the middle). Scoop 25g piles of the mixture onto a tray (to make a total of 18 fritters), then fry in the oil (do this in batches, around 4 at a time) for around 4 minutes, turning them as they fry so they are evenly golden.
Lift them out with a slotted spoon onto a tray lined with kitchen paper to drain. When they are all cooked, they can be stored, chilled, until ready to use or kept warm in a low oven if eating right away. (If heating the fritters up from chilled, wrap them in foil and put in a medium oven for around 10 minutes.)
Sprinkle some sea salt crystals over the flesh side of the trout fillets. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the oil and the fillets, skin-side down. Fry for around 2 minutes, until the skin is golden. Keep skin-side down, add the butter and spoon it over the flesh as it fries for around 30 seconds, until the fish is just cooked and the flesh flakes easily. Pour over the lemon juice.
Transfer to a platter and dust the fillets all over with a mixture of the crushed pink peppercorns and seaweed flakes. Serve the fish fillets with the fritters and some lemon wedges for squeezing.
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