Turbot and seafood casserole

Alan White, executive head chef of The Grand Hotel in Brighton, offers a simplified version of one of the signature dishes on the menu at the hotel’s new sea-facing fish restaurant, GB1, as cooked by Joanna Biddolph during a fish filleting masterclass in the hotel’s kitchen. Ingredients are to taste; add less or more, depending on your preferences – keep tasting to get it right for your palate.

Ingredients

  • 1 fillet of turbot (about 140g), skin removed
  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 3 slivers of garlic, crushed
  • 8 clams or cockles, cleaned and rinsed
  • 50 ml white wine
  • 2 to 3 tbsps single cream
  • juice of half a lemon
  • dill, chopped
  • parsley, roughly chopped
  • butter
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • vegetable of your choice (such as samphire, blanched)

Method

  1. Heat a knob of butter in a small skillet
  2. Add the shallot and garlic, toss to coat with the butter and cover so they sweat and soften without colouring
  3. Add the clams and cover (use butter paper or greaseproof paper, pressing it down close to the clams, and a lid) to allow the shells to open
  4. Add the white wine and allow it to bubble so it reduces by half
  5. Add the cream and toss to combine it all; allow it to bubble and reduce by half until it coats the back of a spoon
  6. Add the dill and parsley, toss to combine and remove from the stove while you cook the turbot
  7. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan
  8. Season the turbot with salt
  9. Add the turbot, skin side (skin has been removed) down, to the frying pan and hold it down gently for half a minute or so, so it remains flat
  10. Fry the fish, without moving it, for 3 minutes
  11. Gently lift up the fish, which should be nicely brown, and turn it over
  12. Add a knob of butter and fry for two minutes, basting the turbot with the butter
  13. Remove the turbot from the pan and allow it to rest briefly, keeping it warm (cover it lightly with butter paper or greaseproof)
  14. Reheat the clam and cream sauce gently, add a squeeze of lemon juice and pepper and taste, adjusting it to suit you (it is unlikely to need salt because of liquid that will have come out of the clams)
  15. Pour the clam sauce into a bowl and place the turbot on top to serve
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