An easy and delicious recipe for Spring – all ingredients are available from market stallholders.
Ingredients
Blue cod or Monkfish or any other firm fish, each fillet cut into 2-4 pieces depending on size
Streaky bacon – from Marty of Bentru (beside our fish counter)
Asparagus – from Fresh Gardens and Jason
Alicante Sauce
Homemade mayonnaise made from 1or 2 egg yolks, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a neutral oil and salt & pepper
Peel of 1 orange, peeled using a vege peeler so you avoid having any pith, blanched, refreshed and then finely chopped
Juice of an orange and a lemon
Good pinch (or more) of cayenne pepper or sweet paprika (not smoked)
One or two egg whites beaten till stiff (adding a pinch of salt helps this)
Wrap the pieces of fish in bacon. Heat a little oil in a heavy oven proof frying pan. In the hot pan cook the bacon wrapped packages on each side for a minute or two.
Then put the pan in the oven preheated to about 180°C for about 10 minutes (this will depend on the thickness of the fish).
While the fish is cooking make the Alicante sauce. Add equal quantities of fresh orange juice and lemon juice to the mayonnaise tasting as you go to reach the amount of acidity to suit your taste. Add the finely chopped blanched orange peel and cayenne pepper or paprika. Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.
Steam some asparagus.
Just before serving quickly fold in the beaten egg white to the Alicante sauce. This sauce is a great replacement for hollandaise sauce and works really well with the combination of asparagus and fish.