Swap your usual Christmas fowl for turbot. The mild flavoured fish soaks up the creamy, buttery notes of the white truffle nantais sauce beautifully.
Prep time 1 hour
Cook time 20 minutes
white truffle nantais sauce
100ml Chardonnay
20ml Champagne vinegar
20g shallots, diced
100ml cream
100g butter, chilled and cubed
30g white truffle paste (available from Amazon.com)
» In a small heavy saucepan, simmer wine, vinegar and shallots over moderate heat until liquid is reduced to about one third of the volume.
» Add cream and simmer the mixture until slightly thickened. Gradually add butter a few cubes at a time.
» Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into another saucepan, before adding the white truffle paste.
turbot
500ml olive oil
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
a pinch of salt
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
4 turbot, skin and bones removed
20ml extra virgin olive oil
fleur de sel, to taste
» On a pan, heat the olive oil to 65°C. Add fresh sprigs of thyme and sliced garlic.
» Lightly season the turbot with fine salt and gently slide into the olive oil. Poach the turbot at 65°C for 15 minutes.
» Remove the turbot from the pan and pat the fillet with paper towel to drain off the excess oil. Set the fish aside to rest for 1 minute before drizzling it with extra virgin olive oil and fleur de sel.
vegetable garnish
80g baby carrots, peeled and trimmed
140g Romanesco florets, trimmed
120g beetroot, peeled and sliced in half
20g shallots
30g butter
salt, to taste
» Blanch the baby carrots, Romanesco florets and beetroot separately in salted boiling water until tender and cooked.
» Sauté shallots in butter until translucent. Then add carrots and Romanesco florets. Sauté for for 1 minute, then set
aside. Repeat step with beetroot separately and season with salt to taste. Set aside.
assembly
8 caper berries
30g cherry tomatoes
12 edible flowers
12 fennel blossoms
40 alder wood chips
» Assemble according to photo or as desired.
» Just before serving, place the alder wood chips into the camber of the smoking gun. Ignite and cover the whole dishwith a cloche. Place the hose of the smoke gun under the cloche and smoke the dish for 30 seconds. Serve immediately.