The king of the fish and a very expensive fish too. Turbot has a rich and delicate flavour, it’s also quite heavy so a large fish won’t feed as much as say, salmon. It is probably my favourite fish but it’s not very common in the UK and even if it was, it wouldn’t be something I would buy everyday… not at £15-20 per kg. I managed to spot a whole turbot going for £5 per kilo at my local supermarket, so I bought it pretty much on impulse. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it or even how to prepare it, since I’ve only ever had it as a fillet.
Once I got my Turbot home I realised it’s covered in a black slime, it needs a good wash and a wipe with some kitchen roll to clean it up. I decided to roast it whole as I was advised against making it into fillets with only a 750g fish (something like a 1.5kg fish is worth filleting). With that decided, I needed to think of something to serve with it. The first time I ever had Turbot was at a fish and chip shop in Aberdeen, when I was about 7 or 8 years old. You won’t see battered Turbot in your local fish and chip shop anymore but chips seemed like a good idea and I always wanted to make my own chips. All I needed to round it off was a sauce and since Turbot is fairly delicate in flavour I didn’t want anything too strong. So I settled on a creamy sweetcorn sauce. It all worked out quite well but if I were to do this again I would buy a bigger Turbot and pan fry or grill the fillets to get a nice crispy skin.
Ingredients (serves 2):
– 750g Whole Turbot
– 2 cobs of sweetcorn
– 50g unsalted butter (cubed)
– 150ml double cream
– 1 Lemon
Method:
1) Preheat your oven to 220C.
2) Start making your chips – when you get to the first frying stage, continue on to the next step here.
3) Clean the fish, lightly salt it and place slices of lemon over it. Then place it in the oven for 20-25mins (or until the flesh is opaque).
4) Cut all the corn off the cob and place in a small pan with cream.
5) Gently heat the pan, stirring well to ensure that it doesn’t burn.
6) When the corn starts to soften, add in the cubes of butter along with a pinch of salt and pepper.
7) Keep stirring the sauce to ensure the butter and cream combine (still on a low-medium heat). Once the butter has melted and the corn is soft it is ready to serve.
Tips:
– I find it easier to make a cut down the middle of the fish before I start cooking. It makes it easier to check if the fish is done and it makes it easy to pull the meat away from the bones once it is cooked.
– If you don’t like the look of little black bits in your sweetcorn sauce, use white pepper (I’m not a fan of it but you eat with your eyes!)