Alan Murchison’s sea trout recipe results in a refreshing dish which sources the best of British coastal produce. Samphire is a sea vegetable which has grown in popularity in the last few years. Here, samphire is used as an interesting garnish alongside colourful rainbow chard, delicious spinach and clams.
Ingredients
For the seared sea trout:
• 600g of sea trout, 4 fillets
• 50ml of extra virgin olive oil
• 50g of butter
• 1 dash of lemon juice
• salt to season
For the baby spinach:
• 500g of baby spinach leaves
• 30g of butter
• salt to season
For the chard:
• 250g of butter
• 500ml of water
• salt to taste
• 1 handful of rainbow chard, de-stemmed and roughly chopped
For the clams:
• 300g of clams, soaked in cold salted water
• 20g of butter
• 100ml of dry white wine
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
To garnish:
• 100g of samphire
Method
1 Start with the clams, by straining off the salted water. Add the butter to a medium sized saucepan on a medium to high heat. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
2 Add the clams and adjust to a high heat, stirring for a further minute. Add the wine and place a lid on or 2-3 minutes. Strain the clams and keep the residual liquid from the pan.
3 Next, cook the baby spinach by melting the butter in a saucepan on a medium high heat. Add the spinach to the hot pan and salt to season. Once the spinach has wilted remove from the pan and strain of any excess liquid. Leave aside to reheat for serving.
4 For the sea trout, heat a non stick pan on a medium to high heat. Season the skin of the fish and add the olive oil to the pan. Add the fish to the pan skin side down, gently pressing the flesh to ensure an even cooking of the skin. Season the flesh with salt and leave in the pan until the skin is golden brown.
5 Flip the fish over and turn down to a low heat. Add the lemon juice and butter and cook for a further 2 minutes.
6 While the fish is searing, combine the butter, salt and water in a large saucepan. As the butter starts to melt, whisk vigorously to emulsify the liquid. As soon as it reaches boiling point, add in the prepared chard and boil for one minute. Strain and serve immediately to avoid over cooking.
7 Add the cooked baby spinach and clams into a small saucepan, with a small amount of the clam juice and reheat. Use the chard as a bed for the spinach and clams, followed by the samphire, the sea trout and a generous drizzling of olive oil.
Recipe courtesy of Alan Murchison