Turbot, Potatoes & Broccolini

It’s pretty and definitely looks good and fancy enough for a date night at home with your loved one. That’s what I served it for. On the plus side it is pretty straight forward to put together. Don’t worry if you do not have that Ultra-Tex 3 for thickening the sauce. Skip it and it will still be delicious and green but not as thick. Nothing wrong with that.

Impatient? Skip to the recipe.

Any fish you can think of can stand in for the turbot here. I think white fish like snapper, grouper or cod works better with the mild broccolini but salmon will work fine too.

To make it I brined the fish in a solution of 10% salt (10 gr salt for every 100 gr of water) for only 15 minutes. I’ve mentioned that in many other posts and I almost always do it with seafood. If not a brine then I salt well and rinse then dry. After brining, the fish is rinsed with cold water, patted dry and pan seared in olive oil and butter.

For the broccolini, I broke it down into stems and florets. The stems became the green component you see in the pictures, like a cross between sauce and puree. To do that, I blanch the stems till just tender and shock them in cold water. Then I puree them with Ultra-Tex 3, butter and shoyu.

The broccolini tops and leaves were also blanched and served simply warmed and dressed with a little oil and lemon juice. The potatoes are small golf ball sized ones of different colors. I boiled these in heavily salted water and sliced in half before searing very well in olive oil to crisp them. To finish it all I toasted almonds in -again- butter and garnished the plate, it needed that toasted crunch.

Turbot, Potatoes and Broccolini

Servings: 4

Fish

• 4 Turbot, flounder or another white fish fillets
• 1000 gr Water (or more or less depending on your brining container)
• 100 gr Salt (or more or less depending on your brining container)
• 5 to 8 Tbsp Olive oil, divided
• 3 to 4 Tbsp Butter (to cook the fish)

Broccolini and Potatoes

• A couple bunches broccolini (sometimes called baby broccoli)
• Ultra-Tex 3 for thickening (about 1.5% to 3% of total liquid)
• 3 to 6 Tbsp Butter, softened
• 3 to 4 Tbsp Shoyu (Japanese soy sauce)
• 6 small potatoes, about the size of a walnut or golf ball
• Large handful of slivered almonds
• 2 Tbsp Lemon juice (or more to taste)
• 2 Tbsp Olive oil
• Salt

1. Make a salt brine for the fish by dissolving the salt in the water in whatever container you think will fit the fish fillets. Use more or less water/salt keeping the ratio the same; 10% salt for the weight of water.
2. Add the fish to the brine and leave in there for 10 to 15 minutes (thinner pieces I shoot for the lower range and vice versa). Much longer than that and you risk having very salty fish.
3. Remove the fish from the brine, rinse and pat dry very well. These can stay in the fridge properly covered for up to 12 hours. I like to keep them in one layer if possible on a platter or 1/4 size baking sheet, covered in plastic wrap.

Prepare the broccolini and potatoes

1. Heat a large pot of heavily salted water and blanch the broccolini for a couple of minutes until tender but still crisp and green. Move them to a cold water bowl to stop the cooking.
2. Separate the broccolini florets from the leaves and from the stems. Trim the stems to pieces for the puree. Reserve any leaves for garnish.
3. Place the stems with just enough warm water in a blender to allow them to spin and blend to as smooth a puree as possible. On low, add 3 tablespoons of butter, then add the shoyu to taste. With the blender still running on medium low speed add the Ultra-Tex 3. You usually need about 1.5% to 3% of Ultra-Tex 3 based on the weight of the mixture, depending on how thick you want it. I honestly rarely weigh it. I add a bit at a time until i get the result I want. Pass the puree through a sieve and adjust seasoning if needed with salt and shoyu.
4. Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain and cut in half.
5. Melt a couple of tablespoons butter in a pan and let it brown a bit. Gently toast/fry the almonds till golden brown. Keep the heat medium and pay attention not to burn the nuts. Remove to a bowl and season with salt.

Cook the fish and to finish

1. In a shallow pan, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Place the potatoes in the pan, cut side down and allow to gently crisp and brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Flip over and let cook on the skin side for a couple minutes.
2. Heat the butter and enough olive oil to barely cover the bottom of the pan and pan fry the fish. Depending on thickness, this should take a 4 or 5 minutes per side.
3. Remove to a warm plate and quickly sauté the broccolini florets in the same pan to warm them and add some color. Toss them in the pan with a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt.
4. To plate, place a generous puddle of the broccolini puree on the plate and top with the fish. Add the florets to the side, and the potatoes to another side (3 halves per plate). Garnish with the almonds and broccolini leaves if you have them.