 IN SEASON





RED MULLET BAKED WITH ROSEMARY AND WILD GARLIC


Nathan Outlaw says: “This is my favourite way to eat red mullet. To me, roasting any fi sh on the bone makes all the difference to the fl avour. Traditionally, whole red mullet are cooked with their innards intact, but I prefer to gut the fi sh and cook the livers separately – seasoned nicely and wrapped in wild garlic to protect them. When wild garlic is out of season, simply fry the livers with a few whole garlic cloves to lend fl avour.”


Serves 4


❤ 4 red mullet, about 400g each, scaled, gutted (livers reserved)


18 | THE WEST COUNTRY FOODLOVER


❤ 8 wild garlic (ramson) leaves ❤ 4 rosemary stems ❤ Olive oil for cooking ❤ 100g butter ❤ 1 shallot, peeled and chopped ❤ 50ml cider ❤ Cornish sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


1 Heat your oven to 200C/Gas 6 and put a roasting tray inside to heat up. Wash the red mullet livers, pat dry and season with salt and pepper. Wrap them in the wild garlic leaves.


2 Score the fi sh diagonally, making 3 or 4 slashes on each side and insert little sprigs of rosemary into the slashes. Season the fi sh all over with salt and pepper. Add a drizzle of oil to the roasting tray. Add the remaining rosemary and place the fi sh on


top, side by side. Dot with the butter and bake for 8–10 minutes.


3 Meanwhile, heat a non-stick frying pan, then add a drizzle of oil. When it is hot, add the wrapped fi sh livers and cook for 1 minute. Flip the liver parcels over, add the shallot and cider to the pan and cook for 1 minute. Remove the wrapped livers and set aside with the fi sh.


4 Add a few spoonfuls of the fi sh cooking juices to the cider and shallots in the pan and heat, stirring to combine and make a dressing.


5 Place the red mullet and wrapped livers on warmed plates. Pour over the dressing and serve at once, with buttery mashed potatoes.


Nathan Outlaw’s British Seafood, publisher: Quadrille, photo David Loftus


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