Some of our chef's secrets

Fish

Blackened Linefish

This is a lovely dish with a good combination of differing flavours, using your freshly caught Mozambican ‘linefish’.

Cut the filleted fish into two cm strips and dust with the blackening spice, taking care not to over coat them or leave them stuck together.

Heat a skillet pan with a touch of olive oil and cook the strips for about thirty seconds, take care not to over cook as this will cause the fish to break up.

Any type of fresh linefish, Cajun blackening spice, natural yoghurt, lemon juice, fresh mint sprigs, iceberg lettuce, fresh dill weed.

Serve the fish on a bed of finely sliced ice berg lettuce with a natural yoghurt dressing scented with lemon juice and fresh mint, garnish with a fresh sprig of dill weed.

Grilled East Coast Shark

Shark is la lovely fish and as far as I am concerned is not used enough in restaurants, it has a lovely firm texture totally unlike most other fish.

Take the shark fillet and cut into it along the length on top, fill with the feta cheese.

Boil the tagliatelle, it can be either Verde or normal, drain and cool. I make my pesto with pecan nut’s as these are grown in abundance in the area and provide a different taste.

Place the shark in a hot oven, it does not take too long to cook so again be careful, heat a skillet pan, place some of the pesto in and toss the tagliatelle until hot, place on a plate with the shark in the centre, garnish with mixed salad greens.

Shark fillet, pecan nut pesto, Verde or white tagliatelle, feta cheese, salad greens, olive oil.

West Coast Sole

Sole is a very popular fish, and goes very quickly unfortunately because people know it and are more likely to eat it before a fish like shark.

Melt some butter and coat the sole, then dust liberally with flour and set aside.

Dressed east coast sole, capers, lemon fillets, cream, white wine, smoked salmon, seasoning, butter, flour.

Heat a skillet pan and add the capers, white wine, lemon fillets, reduce by half add the cream and steady with some arrowroot. When cooking the sole only cook under a grill as the fish is very thin and delicate, to served put the fish in the centre of the plate cover with the sauce garnish with chopped smoked salmon, do not put the salmon on to early as this can cover to much of the delicate flavour of the fish.

Tandoori Baked Barracuda

Barracuda again is another fish with a different texture and flavour, be sure to buy a fillet and not a darne as with the cross cut you loose that fine texture which is important to the overall enjoyment.

Marinate the steak in tandoori spices with the natural yoghurt for about twelve hours.

The thing that really makes this dish is the dressing, it’s an easy combination to make , mix natural yoghurt mint sauce and lemon juice, it’s as simple as that. The rice should be braised with onion & garlic, always remember when cooking basic rice it is two cups of water to one cup of rice, but I prefer to eat basmati rice which has a beautiful fulsome flavour and I think needs no onion or garlic to give any flavour.

To serve place the oven cooked steak on the rice and top with the dressing just before serving, finish with salad greens on the side.

Barracuda steak, tandoori spices, natural yoghurt, mint sauce, lemon juice, basmati rice.

Kingklip "a la Ruth"

Kingklip is probably the most popular of the Southern African fish, it is similar to cod and is also the least flavoursome of all the fish, this is why I have decided to add two strong sauces .

Green salsa is a lovely mixture of fresh herbs & green root vegetables. Chop the herbs & green vegetables together roughly add the olive oil, lemon juice & seasoning. The tomato coulis takes longer, blend together the vegetables and sweat off in a hot skillet pan add the red wine and reduce by half, add the plum tomatoes & the juice and cook for half an hour. Put the mixture back in the blender until smooth and pass through a sieve.

Kingklip, for the salsa: olive oil, lemon juice, celery, basil, coriander, thyme, spring onions, onion, for the tomato coulis, plum tomatoes, celery, carrot, garlic, thyme, onion, red wine, butter, flour.

The kingklip should be covered in flour & butter & grilled in the oven, to serve top the fish with the salsa & surround with the coulis.

Tuna "Mhlambanyatsi"

Tuna is a fish that most people seem to think only comes in can and has mayonnaise added to it, the Japanese prize this fish greatly and can pay many thousands of dollar’s for the Blue Tuna, although eating it raw is not to many peoples taste outside of Japan.

Ask your fishmonger for Tuna steaks as this will make this far simpler, when you have the steaks cut into one centimetre thick portions, coat in flour & butter.

Brinjals are mainly grown in Natal and are a firm favourite of the people there, marinate the sliced brinjals in balsamic vinegar and rock salt for one hour, then fry in shallow oil, after this is done cook the tuna steaks until pink in the middle, over cooking tend’s to dry the fish out.

Fennel is a lovely vegetable which I think is not used enough, slice the bulb cross ways and place in a hot skillet pan with some chopped onion and garlic cook until soft whilst browning the garlic to create a roasted flavouring in the sauce, add the white wine, reduce by half, add the cream and steady with arrowroot.

Layer the tuna & brinjal together and pour the sauce over the top.

Tuna steak, brinjal, fennel bulb, garlic, onion, cream, white wine, flour, butter.