Neven Maguire: fresh, light and so tasty fish

I am really looking forward to next Sunday when I’m heading to London with a group of our chefs and front-of-house team for what we call our ‘meal experience’.

Over the years, we have organised a group to travel and visit a fantastic restaurant and we always come back with lots of ideas.

This year, we are going to the Ritz in London. A visit here is the only time I ever wear a tie.

I have known John Williams, the head chef there, since I met him at the Bocuse d’Or in Lyon more than 20 years ago. He was a judge.

The Ritz is a fabulous restaurant where you get to enjoy chefs' cooking tableside; a skill you do not see that often these days. It is very important for us all to experience the highest of standards in hospitality, but I must admit I feel very lucky to have this opportunity.

We will also visit the Borough Market, where there are well over a hundred food stalls. I believe it is London’s oldest food market.

It may be a little humbler than the Ritz, but this grilled salmon dish is an easy, tasty meal. Salmon is very versatile. We do a marinated oriental salmon as a pre-starter in the restaurant and it goes down well. For this recipe, make sure your avocado is ripe. Simply Better do great sun-dried tomatoes.

People are sometimes nervous about cooking sardines. I made this dish for my Portuguese Food Trails show with sardines fresh out of the sea. You could ask your fishmonger to butterfly them for you.

People have a bit of a love/hate relationship with aubergines, but they are good to absorb flavours and there are a lot of interesting ingredients in this chutney. I love rocket with this for its nice punchy, peppery taste, but a little goes a long way.

Happy cooking,

Neven

Ingredients: serves 6

6 salmon fillets

Juice of ½ lemon

2 ripe avocados, peeled, stone removed and sliced

Salt and pepper, to taste

For the sun-dried tomato vinaigrette:

12 semi sun-dried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped

200ml olive oil

1 tsp lemon juice

1 pinch chilli powder

3 basil leaves

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1 Cut each salmon fillet into three pieces. Heat a griddle pan until smoking. Season the salmon and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, then place in griddle pan. Fry gently for two minutes on each side until golden brown. Turn once during cooking.

2 Make the vinaigrette: blend together all the ingredients in a food processor for about one minute, or until it forms a fairly smooth texture.

3 Season to taste with the salt and pepper.

4 To serve, drizzle the vinaigrette in the centre of the plate. Gently place three grilled salmon pieces on each plate.

5 Carefully arrange the sliced avocado and drizzle the vinaigrette around the plate. Alternately, place the salmon and avocado on a large serving platter and drizzle with the vinaigrette to present family-style. Serve with rocket and enjoy.

Ingredients: serves 4

12 sardines, scaled and butterflied

40g freshly grated Parmesan

1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

50g fresh white breadcrumbs

50g plain flour

2 eggs, beaten

Sunflower oil, for deep-frying

For the chutney:

4 tbsp olive oil

1 large aubergine, cut into 1cm (½in) dice

1 onion, finely chopped

1 celery stick, finely chopped

2.5cm piece of fresh root ginger, finely chopped

1 tsp medium curry powder

1 tbsp Tomato purée

2 tbsp light muscovado sugar

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

50g pine nuts

50g raisins

4 tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lightly dressed wild rocket salad, to serve

Method

1 To make the chutney, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the aubergine, season and sauté for 8-10 minutes until cooked through and tender. Add the onion with the celery and ginger and cook for 4-5 minutes.

2 Sprinkle the curry powder over, add the Tomato purée and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.

3 Add the sugar and vinegar with six tablespoons of water, stirring to combine, then simmer gently for another 5 minutes, or until well reduced and thickened.

4 Meanwhile, heat a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the pine nuts and cook for a few minutes until toasted, tossing occasionally. Add to the aubergine mixture with the raisins and coriander.

5 Season to taste and simmer gently for another 5 minutes to allow the flavours to combine and until the coriander has wilted. Transfer to a bowl and set aside at room temperature to cool for as long as time allows.

6 To prepare the sardines, mix together the Parmesan, parsley, breadcrumbs and seasoning in a shallow dish. Place the flour on a flat plate and season generously. Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl.

7 Dip the butterflied sardines into the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess, then coat in the beaten egg. Finally, add to the breadcrumb mixture, pressing it on well to give an even coating. Chill until ready to cook.

8 Pour the oil into a large pan or heat a deep-fat fryer to 180°C (350°F) or until a small piece of white bread dropped into the oil browns and rises to the surface.

9 Deep fry the sardines for a minute, flipping them over half-way through so that they brown on both sides. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain well on kitchen paper. Keep warm while you cook the remainder.

10 To serve, arrange the fried butterflied sardines on warmed plates with small mounds of the aubergine chutney. Garnish with the rocket salad to serve.

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