Crisp-skinned John Dory with rolled Swiss chard and roasted garlic
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Serves 2
Crisp-skinned John Dory is served with rolled Swiss chard, anchovy and roasted garlic, alongside a vibrant nettle sauce and preserved lemon yoghurt.
For this recipe you will need a blender or food processor.
Ingredients
For the preserved lemon yoghurt
For the nettle sauce
For the John Dory
- 100g/3½oz clarified butter, for frying
- 300g/10½oz John Dory fillet, skin on and boneless
For the Swiss chard
- 1 garlic bulb
- 35g/1¼oz clarified butter
- 16 Swiss chard leaves, or good-quality spinach leaves
- 6 salted anchovy fillets
- 1 lemon, finely grated zest only
- freshly ground black pepper
Method
To make the preserved lemon yoghurt, put the preserved lemon in a blender and blend to a fine paste, adding a splash of warm water if needed, until smooth. Stir into the yoghurt and set aside.
To make the nettle sauce, pour 1 litre/1¾ pints water into a large pan with a lid and add the salt. Bring to the boil then add the nettle leaves, stir until submerged, cover and cook for 30 seconds.
Remove the nettles from the water and put them on clean tea towels. Use the towels to wring out as much water as possible.
Put the anchovies and nettles in a blender and blend on high for about 2 minutes, adding a little water if needed, until the sauce has a cream-like consistency.
Pass the sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl set over another bowl of iced water. Stir until completely chilled.
Season the nettle sauce with sea salt flakes and black pepper, then stir in the dashi powder. Set aside.
For the John Dory, heat a frying pan until hot and add enough clarified butter to fry the fish.
Put the John Dory in the hot pan, skin-side down. Put a fish weight or heavy pan on top to keep the fillet flat against the pan. Fry for 5–6 minutes, until the skin is evenly golden and crisp and the fish is cooked through.
Transfer the John Dory to a wire rack set over a tray and leave to rest while you prepare the Swiss chard.
For the Swiss chard, preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Slice the top off the garlic bulb and roast in the oven for 20–30 minutes, until soft.
Return the John Dory frying pan to the heat and add the clarified butter. Once melted, add the Swiss chard and put the fish weight on top. Cook until the underside is lightly toasted and the leaves are tender.
Remove the weight. Add the salted anchovy fillets and roasted garlic in the middle of the leaves. Finely grate over the lemon zest and season with black pepper. Cook for one more minute.
Slide the leaves and their toppings out of the pan and onto a board. Roll the Swiss chard around the anchovies, garlic and lemon zest to form a neat cylinder. Trim the ends and cut the roll in half.
To serve, gently heat the nettle sauce in a saucepan and check that it has the consistency of pouring cream.
Arrange the John Dory just off-centre on the plates and put a Swiss chard roll beside it. Spoon two spoonfuls of nettle sauce between the chard and fish on each plate. Add a small spoonful of preserved lemon yoghurt beside the fish, towards the rim of the plate.
Finish the skin of the fish with a pinch of sea salt flakes and serve immediately.
