Seafood MASTERCLASS: Halibut, crispy squid, coconut & lemongrass bisque

Recipe by Jonny Wright

Coconut, lemongrass & lobster sauce

Ingredients 

200g             Shallots, sliced

200g             Button mushrooms, sliced

100g             Galangal, sliced

3                     Cloves of garlic

600ml          White cooking wine

1 litre           Fish stock

1 litre           Lobster stock

500ml          Double cream

500ml          Coconut milk

2                     Lemongrass sticks

50g                Thai basil

Lime juice to taste

Method

1.   Heat a medium sized pan with oil and sweat the shallots, mushrooms and galangal down without any color. Add garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.

2.   Turn the pan up to heat and add the white cooking wine and deglaze the pan. Reduce the white wine until it becomes a syrup.

3.   Add the fish and lobster stock and reduce by 2/3.

4.   Add the double cream and coconut milk and reduce by ½.

5.   Pass the liquid out through a chinois and squeeze all the remaining liquid out, getting as much flavor as possible.

6.   Season with lime juice and salt then add the basil and clingfilm allowing it to infuse.

7.   Pass again and reserve for service

Squid seasoning and Dredge

Squid Dredge

Corn flour 500g

Salt and pepper spice mix 150g

Salt and pepper spice mix

Szechuan pepper 100g

BLACK pepper 100g

5 spice 100g

Aleppo flakes100g

Sugar 10g

Spice Mix

750g              Salt

750g              Light brown sugar

225g              Chinese five spice

Blend in Spice grinder...

Halibut, crispy squid, coconut & lemongrass bisque

Method

First, you will want to get your sauce working. Heat a medium sized pan with oil and sweat the shallots, mushrooms and galangal down without any color. Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes then turn the pan up to so it’s nice and hot and add the white cooking wine to deglaze the pan. Reduce the white wine until it becomes a syrup then add the fish and lobster stock and reduce by 2/3.

While the stocks are reducing you can make your dredge for the squid and the seasoning . This is made by simply mixing all the ingredients for the dredge together and mixing the ingredients for the seasoning together.

Once the dredge and squid seasoning has been made your stocks should be nearly reduced enough. You can add the double cream and coconut milk to the pan and reduce by ½. Once it's reduced by half you can pass the liquid out through a chinois and squeeze all the remaining liquid out, getting as much flavor as possible. Season the sauce with a generous amount of lime juice and salt then add the basil and clingfilm allowing it to infuse.

While the sauce is infusing you can cook the portion of halibut in a pan skin side down until you have a beautiful golden-brown color. While the Halibut is cooking you can toss the squid in the dredge and drop it in a deep fat fryer until nice and crispy. While the halibut and squid are cooking you can pass the sauce and warm slightly again and buzz with a stick blender. Once the halibut is ready, finish with lime juice, olive oil and salt. Once the suid is ready season it with the spice mix.

For plating, carefully spoon some of the foam from the sauce into a bowl and place the halibut on top. Garnish the top of the halibut with the crispy squid and some blanched monks' beard and any small Thai basil leaves you have left.