Snapper with Fennel Purée, Caviar & Lemon Myrtle Oil
Snapper with Fennel Purée, Caviar & Lemon Myrtle Oil
The inspiration for this dish comes from supporting my friend Simon Favorito at events where he’s the head chef. He often pairs simply cooked fish with a delicious purée that always presents beautifully and tastes amazing.
Servings
4
Prep time
Cook time
Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 fennel bulbs (1 sliced 3-4mm thick along root to stem for roasting, 2 roughly chopped for purée)
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 150g macadamia nuts
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 cups water
- Pinch salt
- 100g butter
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1 lemon, cut in halves
- Handful lemon myrtle leaves
- ½ cup olive oil
- 4 portions snapper, 150–200g per person, trimmed & deboned
- 1 small jar salmon caviar
- Fennel fronds, for garnish
Method
- Preheat oven to 200°C.
- Drizzle some olive oil over the sliced fennel and roast until golden, then remove and set aside.
- Meanwhile, place chopped fennel for purée along with macadamia nuts and garlic cloves in a small saucepan. Add water and salt and bring to a boil, then cover and simmer approx.
- 20–30 mins until fennel is very soft.
- Set the fennel aside and allow it to cool a little.
- Drain the cooled fennel, reserving any liquid in case it's needed.
- In a food processor or blender, add cooked fennel, butter, nutritional yeast, ½ tsp salt and a squeeze of lemon. Blend to a thick, smooth purée. If needed add reserved fennel liquid, a little at a time to achieve desired consistency of the purée.
- Place lemon myrtle leaves and olive oil in a pan and bring to heat whereby leaves begin to sizzle and release their aromatics. Keep temperature as low as possible for 3–5 mins then remove from heat.
- When all other elements are ready, season fish fillets with salt and olive oil, then pan fry over high heat, skin side down approx. 3–5 mins depending on the size of portions. Flip and cook another 3 mins until fish is just cooked.
- To serve, spoon a generous dollop of fennel purée onto a plate. Roasted fennel slices and fish can sit on top or just off to one side depending on how thick your purée is. Finish with a spoon of salmon caviar, selected fennel fronds and a drizzle of lemon myrtle oil.
- Serve as a standalone dish or add salad and potatoes for a fuller main meal.
Tried this recipe? Mention @wellbeing_magazine or tag #wbrecipe!
