This was published 9 years ago
Frank Camorra: whiting grenobloise and creme brulee
With simple techniques and fresh, vibrant flavours, French cooking is always a pleasure, by Frank Camorra.
By Frank Camorra
I grew up with Spanish cuisine and started my cooking career in an Italian kitchen, but I have a soft spot for French cookery. The simplicity and wonderful flavours of French provincial dishes are what I like best, and French techniques are used in the MoVida kitchen at times, such as when we make rabbit terrine and duck liver parfait.
King george whiting is the largest of the whiting family, with firm, sweet, white flesh that cooks very quickly. The Grenobloise sauce is from Grenoble, a small French city close to the border where France, Switzerland and Italy meet. This recipe is also perfect with salmon, tuna or even chicken breast.
Lemon verbena brulee. Credit: Marcel Aucar
The lemon verbena I use to flavour the creme brulee is native to the west coast of South America. Brought to Spain in the 17th century and grown for its oil, it has an amazing perfume that infuses the cream in this recipe. You can use it to make exotic ice-cream as well.
King george whiting grenobloise
4 large king george whiting fillets
salt and freshly ground pepper
40g butter
4 tsp water
1 lemon, segmented and juiced
1 tbsp capers, washed and drained
2 slices white bread, toasted and cut into 1cm cubes
1 tsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Season the whiting fillet. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat until foaming, then add the fish and fry for 5 minutes skin side down, then turn and finish cooking. Set fish aside on a warm plate. For the sauce, add water to the hot frying pan so the caramelised juices dissolve into the liquid as it boils. Add the lemon segments, capers and bread cubes to the frying pan, return to the boil and season to taste. To serve, divide the fish between two plates and pour the sauce over and around the fish. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
Serves 2
Lemon verbena brulee
300ml thickened cream
200ml milk
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways, seeds scraped out
10 lemon verbena leaves
100g egg yolks (about 5 eggs)
100g castor sugar
Preheat oven to 130C. Place the cream, milk and vanilla seeds in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, remove from heat then add verbena leaves. Quickly whisk together the yolks and 70 grams of the sugar in a large bowl until just combined. Pour the hot cream mixture over the top and whisk again until combined. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve then pour into four 180-millilitre ramekins. Cover with foil, place them in a baking tray and add boiling water to the tray until half way up the ramekin sides. Bake for 40 minutes or until set but with a slight wobble. Remove and rest for 20 minutes at room temperature before chilling for 4 hours or until cold. To serve, sprinkle each brulee with the remaining sugar and caramelise using a blowtorch. Let cool for a minute then serve.
Serves 4
TIP
If you can't find lemon verbena, use two cinnamon quills instead. If you don't have a blowtorch, make a small amount of caramel and pour it over the top of the finished brulees.