Curing is a terrific technique for serving fish raw or even to preserve leftover uncooked fish. Here the mullet is cured quickly to give it a light flavour and served with a sorrel dressing whose strong, tart flavour is the perfect foil for the citrus, pepper and fish.
Szechuan pepper cured grey mullet and sorrel dressing
Serves 4
2 x 200g grey mullet fillets, skinned
10g Szechuan peppercorns
100g salt
50g caster sugar
1 pink grapefruit
100g sorrel
100ml fish stock
20ml fish sauce
200ml double cream
30ml lemon juice
Ask your fishmonger to fillet and skin the grey mullet for you.
Place the fillets in the freezer for one hour to kill any bacteria before removing and allowing them to defrost.
Blend the peppercorns in a food processor or a pestle and mortar until they are a fine powder. Tip this into a mixing bowl and add the salt and caster sugar before mixing well.
Lay the fish on a large tray, skin side down, sprinkle the salt mixture over the fish and set aside for 40 minutes to cure. Once the fillets are cured remove them from the tray and wash off the mixture. Place the fish on a clean cloth and place it in the fridge to dry for three to four hours.
Next, use a small paring knife to remove the skin from the grapefruit and cut the flesh into segments.
Make the sorrel dressing by blending the sorrel along with the fish stock, fish sauce and cream in a liquidiser until smooth. Add the lemon juice and season with salt.
Remove the fish from the fridge and slice the fillets as thinly as possible. Dress the plates generously with the sorrel dressing, arranging segments of grapefruit and slices of grey mullet on top, and serve.
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