Sriracha and honey-marinated gurnard with pearl crackers

Serves 4 Starters and mains

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Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/ Gas 4 and lay the parsley leaves on a large baking tray. Bake for around 5 minutes until the leaves are very crisp and still bright green. Roughly crunch up the leaves and put into a coffee grinder and whizz to a fine powder. Store in an airtight container until required.

Put the tapioca pearls in a medium pan, add 600ml cold water and slowly bring to the
boil. Turn down to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally for around 6 minutes until glassy and translucent. Tip into a sieve and rinse briefly with cold water. Put into a bowl and mix in 11⁄2tsp of the parsley powder.

Spread the mixture out evenly onto a baking tray lined with a silicone baking sheet. Bake for 11⁄2 hours at 100C/210F/ Gas1⁄4 until it can easily be peeled off the silicone in a big sheet. Turn it over and bake for a further 30 minutes if need be, until crisp. Break into rough pieces.

Heat the oil to 180C/350F and fry 2 pieces at a time for around 30 seconds until puffed up and pale in colour. Put on a kitchen paper-lined rack and leave to cool. Use immediately or store in an airtight tin for up to 24 hours.

In a dish big enough to contain the gurnard fillets, mix the sriracha sauce and honey together until smooth. Cut each fillet in half widthways and season with sea salt flakes. Add the fillets to coat in the marinade. Leave for 5 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and fry the gurnard flesh-side down for around 2 minutes Turn them over and cook for a further 1 minute or until cooked through. As soon as ready, lift onto a plate and lightly coat both sides with the sesame seeds. Keep warm.

Put the lemon juice, mustard, a little sea salt and the oil in a screw-top jar and shake well to emulsify. Put the leaves in a bowl and spoon some of it over. Serve the fish on top of the salad with a couple of pearl wafers. Spoon over a little extra dressing.