Wirral Life November 2019 | Page 40

W L PAN-ROAST FILLET OF PETERHEAD HAKE WITH A RISOTTO OF FILEY CRAB SERVES: 4 SHERRY VINEGAR REDUCTION INGREDIENTS A LITTLE TASTE OF AUTUMN BY PAUL ASKEW, CHEF PATRON OF THE ART SCHOOL RESTAURANT It’s all go for the team and I this month. One of my young pastry Chefs, Beth, excelled at the National final of Young Chef of the year winning the 'Exceptional Presentation' award, a fine achievement on the national stage. I had the honour of judging the National Chef of the Year competition with a number of my peers from the industry at the Restaurant show in London. The winner from over 100 competitors, was Steve Groves, Head Chef at Roux, Parliament Square with William Keeble, demi chef de parti at Whately Manor winning the young chef award. Such occasions give us the rare opportunity to meet up with friends and colleague from across the industry, to share ideas and discuss the latest culinary challenges. I’ll be meeting more old friends on my return to Singapore later this month to take part in the bicentennial celebrations. I’ll be cooking at both the Singapore Cricket club and a celebration banquet for the Royal Gurkhas. It promises to be an emotional trip with both my wife, Helen, and son, Harry, joining me for the first time. I’ll be preparing a version of one of my dishes from 'Onwards and Upwards' so I thought I’d share the original version for you to try at home! Until next month! Chef Askew 40 wirrallife.com 50ml sherry vinegar 350ml red wine 1 sprig of thyme 1 bay leaf 1 clove 20g muscavado sugar Method: 1. In a pan, pour the sherry vinegar, red wine, thyme, bay leaf clove and the sugar. 2. Bring this to the boil and reduce by half until the mixture becomes thick enough to drizzle on the plate. 3. Pass this through a sieve and leave it to cool. 4. When cool, whisk in a little olive oil to emulsify. 5. Put this to one side ready to dress your plate Risotto. RISOTTO INGREDIENTS 280g of Aborio rice 500ml of fish stock 1 onion - finely diced 1 clove of garlic 1 bunch of chives 1g Cheshire saffron 20g mascarpone 10g butter 100ml white wine 100g white Filey crab meat Brunoise of vegetables - 1 carrot, 1 leek and 1 stick of celery Method: 1. For the risotto, heat up the stock with saffron, and then sweat down the onion, brunoise and the garlic using a knob of butter until they are soft. 2. Add the white wine and reduce. 3. Gradually add the stock, until the risotto is cooked. 4. Finish with mascarpone, chives and crab meat. 5. Season to taste HAKE INGREDIENTS 4 portions of chunky hake fillet – around 150g per portion 50ml extra virgin olive oil Art School fish seasoning (200g Maldon salt, ½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper, 3 cloves garlic, peeled) 1 tsp fennel seeds 1 tsp espelette pepper Knob of butter 1 link of morcilla Method: 1. Heat a frying pan to smoking point, and add olive oil. 2. Season the fish using The Art School Fish Seasoning and put in the pan skin side down using a splash of olive oil and a knob of butter. 3. Once the fish starts colouring, finish with the morcilla in the oven for 3 minutes. 4. Add the butter to the pan and let it foam until it becomes nutty, and then baste the fish with butter and the juices of morcilla. Assembly To plate this dish, we arrange the saffron risotto in the centre of the dish. On top of this, add the morcilla, finishing with showcasing the fish directly on top. For this dish, we have used some charred onions for garnish. However, you can use any vegetables of your preference that are in season. Chef ’s Recommended Wine: Telmo Rodriguez, Basa, Rueda, Spain, 2016