Confit Sea Trout

Confit sea trout

• 300g sea trout fillet (skin and pin bones removed)
• 1 stick lemongrass
• 5 black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 coriander seeds
• 500ml of rapeseed oil (you need enough oil so that it coats the fish completely)

Tarragon mascarpone

• 75g mascarpone cheese
• 3g fresh tarragon

Candied walnuts

• 40g walnuts
• Caster sugar (enough to coat the walnuts)
• Water

To serve

• 1 pink lady apple
• 1 lemon
• 1 stick celery
• ½ bulb of fennel
• Baby herbs

• Cut the trout fillet into neat 30g square pieces and set to one side.
• Warm together the oil, chopped lemongrass, bay leaf, coriander seeds and peppercorns. Bring to a temperature of 60c before carefully placing the trout into the oil and then removing immediately from the heat. Leave this to cool allowing the flavours to infuse into the trout.
• Mix together the finely chopped fresh tarragon and mascarpone, add a little salt if needed.
• Use a melon baller to create balls of apple and then squeeze on half the lemon juice to stop the apples from going brown.
• For the walnuts, coat the walnuts in water and then sprinkle liberally with sugar so that it sticks to the water. Bake the walnuts in the oven at 180c for about 10 minutes until the sugar has caramelised.
• Make shavings of the fennel and the celery by using a mandolin or a vegetable peeler. Place the shavings into iced water with the remaining lemon juice and allow them to become crisp.
• We serve the dish by smearing the mascarpone across the centre of the plate.
•  We then place 2 pieces of the drained trout onto the plate along with 2 apple balls and some of the walnuts.
• Garnish the dish with the fennel and celery shavings and finish with baby herbs.