This bright and fresh pollock escabeche from Budgie Montoya is topped with pickled yellow peppers and bronze fennel. The sharp escabeche sauce is very easy to make, and a delicious accompaniment to any white fish.
For the escabeche sauce and pickled peppers, first heat a grill until hot
Lightly coat the peppers for the escabeche and for the pickled peppers in oil and salt. Char both until black and then leave in separate lidded containers to steam
For the pickled peppers, skin and roughly chop the yellow pepper
Make the pickling liquor by combining the rest of the ingredients into a small pan and bring to a boil whilst stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and allow to cool, then pour over the yellow pepper
Once the peppers are cooled, peel off the skins, remove the stem and seeds then roughly chop the red peppers
In a medium saucepan, add oil and sweat down the onions on a medium heat until the start to caramelise, then add the ginger and garlic
Sauté the ginger and garlic until soft, then deglaze the pan with fish stock. Add the chopped peppers, cane vinegar and sugar to the pan and simmer until the liquid has been reduced by half
Once reduced, place it all into a blender and blend till smooth. Taste for seasoning and adjust the balance of sweet and sour
Once happy, pass the sauce through a strainer and keep warm until it's time to plate
Fry the pollock fillets skin-side down on a pan with a splash of oil until cooked through three quarters of the way, then flip the fillets over and cook on the other side until just cooked through
Place hot escabeche sauce on the plate then place 3 fillets of pollock on top of the sauce. Place diced pickled peppers on top of the fish, garnish with bronze fennel, drizzle some cold-pressed rapeseed oil around the plate then serve
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