Pistachio- and pine nut-crusted halibut with wild rocket and parsley vichyssoise
At Nopi, we make the vichyssoise with nettles and lovage, rather than rocket and parsley. The flavour of lovage is like a mix of parsley and celery with a hint of aniseed, but though it’s widely available in most of Europe, it’s not that easy to find in the UK. Likewise, unless you pick your own, nettles aren’t as easy to get hold of as they could be. If you can get them, use 80g lovage leaves and 120g nettle leaves instead of parsley and rocket.
We pass our smooth soups through a fine-mesh sieve, but if you’re not fussed by a bit of texture, don’t bother. Once it’s cooked, we also plunge the pot of vichyssoise into ice-cold water, to halt the cooking and preserve that vibrant colour, but bypass that, too, if you want.
We love dishes like this, which lie somewhere between a hearty fish soup and a fish dish with a sauce. Whichever way you look at them, they’re a meal in themselves and need little more alongside than some crusty white bread to mop up the juices. The soup and the nut crust can be made up to a day ahead and kept in the fridge. Serves six.
6 halibut fillets, skinless and boneless
2 tbsp olive oil
Coarse sea salt and black pepper
2 tbsp lemon juice
12 breakfast radishes, green leaves and roots left on, cut in half lengthways (or 8 round red radishes)
For the vichyssoise
100g parsley, stems and leaves
150g wild rocket
1 tbsp olive oil
40g unsalted butter
2 medium shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 medium leek, green and white parts finely sliced
2 large all-rounder potatoes (vivaldi or desiree), peeled and cut into 2cm dice
1 litre chicken stock
25g spinach leaves
For the pistachio and pine nut crust
150g unsalted butter, cut into 1cm dice
60g shelled pistachios, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
60g pine nuts, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
¼ tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
Start with the nut crust. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan on a medium-high heat, and cook for four minutes, until nutty-smelling and golden-brown. Strain into a bowl through a fine-mesh sieve, to remove any black bits, then mix in the nuts, sugar, lemon juice and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Spread out on a small, parchment-lined baking tray and chill for two to three hours, until set firm. Cut into six equal rectangles and return to the fridge.
To make the vichyssoise, bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil and add the parsley and rocket. Blanch for 30 seconds, refresh under cold water and drain. Squeeze out the excess water, set aside to dry, then roughly chop.
Put the oil and butter in a medium saucepan on a medium heat. Add the shallots and saute for four to five minutes, stirring once or twice, until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and leek, and cook for two to three minutes, then add the potatoes and cook for five to six minutes, stirring frequently, until shiny and glossy. Pour in the stock, bring to a boil, then simmer for eight to 10 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked but have some bite. Add the blanched parsley and rocket, cook for a minute, then take off the heat and stir in the spinach, a teaspoon and a half of salt and a good grind of pepper. Transfer to a blender, blitz until smooth, then set aside.
Heat the grill to its highest setting. Spread out the halibut fillets on a large, parchment-lined baking tray and brush with two tablespoons of oil. Season with a teaspoon and a half of salt and a good grind of pepper, and grill for six to seven minutes, until the fish is almost cooked. Place a rectangle of chilled nut butter on top of each fillet, and grill for two to three minutes more, until the crust is golden-brown. Remove and squeeze over the lemon juice.
Gently reheat the vichyssoise, then ladel it into six wide, shallow bowls. Lay a fish fillet on top of each portion, place two radishes alongside and serve at once.
Pan-fried mackerel with fresh coconut and peanut salad
There are various ways to open a coconut: holding it over a bowl and bashing it until it cracks open, for example, or draining it (by pricking one of the three eyes at the end of the nut with a screwdriver) and hitting it with a hammer on a hard floor. Cleavers, heavy chisels, rolling pins: whatever works for you. Others swear by putting a drained coconut in a hot oven for 15 minutes. You can, of course, buy coconut pre-prepared, but however you get to that sweet white flesh, this coconut and fresh herb salad is the perfect match for oily fish. It also goes well with Caribbean-style grilled chicken thighs, marinated in jerk sauce, or even on its own, as a light snack.
When making this in the restaurant, we’ll have two large frying pans on the go, so all the fish can be cooked at the same time. If you don’t have the space, or don’t fancy the washing up, just cook half the fish and keep it in a low oven while you cook the second batch. Alternatively, dispense with the frying pans altogether and grill the fish, turning it once, in which case serve it with a squeeze of fresh lime instead of the chargrilled lime. Serves four.
2 limes, halved
8 mackerel fillets, pin-boned and skin lightly scored
2 tbsp olive oil
Coarse sea salt and black pepper
For the coconut salad
35ml mirin
35ml rice vinegar
10g caster sugar
4cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
35g palm sugar (coarsely grated, if using a block)
25ml rice vinegar
30ml lime juice
1 tsp fish sauce
150g fresh coconut flesh, coarsely grated (ie, from 1 medium coconut)
1 long red chilli, deseeded and julienned
2 spring onions, trimmed and julienned
120g roast salted peanuts, roughly chopped
15g coriander leaves
10g mint leaves
Start with the salad. Pour the mirin and rice vinegar into a small saucepan with the caster sugar and a pinch of salt, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat, add the ginger and set aside for 10-15 minutes, to infuse and cool.
Put the palm sugar in a small saucepan with a tablespoon and a half of water, put on a medium heat and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool for a few minutes, then whisk in the rice vinegar, lime juice and fish sauce.
Put the coconut, chilli, spring onions, peanuts, coriander and torn mint leaves in a large bowl. Add the strained ginger (discard the marinade), pour over the dressing, stir gently and set aside.
Put a large frying pan on a medium-high heat, then lay the limes flesh side down and sear for two to three minutes, until caramelised. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Brush the fish fillets with oil and season with a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Put half the fish in the pan skin-side down and fry for two to three minutes, until golden-brown and crisp, then turn over and cook for another minute. Keep somewhere warm while you cook the second batch, then transfer to serving plates and serve with a grilled lime half and the salad alongside.
Roast beef sirloin with cucumber kimchi and fresh plum
There is one thing that’s so a big part of both my and Scully’s cooking styles, and that’s our shared love of anything fermented. Miso paste, fish sauce, shrimp paste, oyster sauce, parmesan, Iranian kashk: the list is a long one. Kimchi is Korea’s national dish of fermented vegetables, and is eaten with every meal. Recipes are closely guarded family secrets, and vary wildly, but the one universal ingredient is time: the longer you leave your raw vegetables to mature and ferment, the more pungent and dramatic your kimchi will be. Don’t be put off by the smell: it’s all part of the experience. You can also buy it ready-made; just stir in some peach or plum before serving.
Gochujang is Korean fermented red chilli paste. Its taste combines the sweet kick of chillies with a savoury, almost Marmite-like element from fermented soy beans and glutinous rice powder. You can get it in Asian food stores, online and in larger supermarkets, but if you can’t find any, you can make an adequate substitute: mix 60ml dark soy sauce with 60ml fish sauce and a teaspoon of sugar, add four finely chopped or blitzed red bird’s-eye chillies and leave to sit for couple of hours.
Nanami togarashi (aka shichimi togarashi) is a Japanese spice mix. If you can’t get hold of it, just use red chilli flakes. You’ll need to start a day ahead, and even longer if you want a properly punchy kimchi. Serves six.
140g gochujang red pepper paste
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
4cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1.5kg beef sirloin, fat removed, cut into two pieces about 6cm x 16cm x 12cm
Coarse sea salt
For the kimchi
2 large cucumbers, peeled and shaved with a vegetable peeler into long, thin strips, stopping before you hit the seeds
2 tbsp caster sugar
3 carrots, peeled and shaved into long, thin strips
1½ tbsp fish sauce
1½ tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
8 spring onions, trimmed and julienned
6 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
20g coriander, roughly chopped
3 plums or small peaches, halved, stoned and cut into 5mm-wide wedges
To serve
1 tsp nanami togarashi (or a good pinch of dried chilli flakes)
Put all the kimchi ingredients except the coriander and fruit in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours: the longer, the better.
Put the gochujang, sunflower oil, soy and mirin in a large bowl, mix to a smooth paste, then add the garlic and ginger. Put the beef in the bowl, rub the paste all over it, and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/gas mark 7. Take the meat from the fridge at least an hour before you want to cook it: it needs to be at room temperature. Rub off the marinade and reserve. Put a griddle pan on a high heat and, when smoking hot, add the beef and cook for three to four minutes, turning so it gets charred all over. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking tray, brush all over with the reserved marinade and roast for nine to 12 minutes for medium-rare or 11-15 minutes for medium. Cover with foil, leave to rest for 10 minutes, then cut into 5mm-thick slices.
Divide the beef between the plates. Stir the coriander and plums or peaches into the kimchi just before serving and spoon alongside the beef. Sprinkle over the nanami togarashi and serve.
Lamb meatballs with warm yoghurt and Swiss chard
This dish can be made a day ahead. In fact, it’s even better reheated the next day. The use of yoghurt in a warm sauce yields a wonderful result – creamy, but not cloying – and is an ideal complement to the rich lamb. Don’t worry if the sauce splits: just lift out the meatballs, add a spoonful of stock or yoghurt, and whisk before returning the meatballs to the pan.
Don’t discard the chard stalks – they are lovely shaved raw into a salad or blanched and tossed with olive oil, lemon zest, garlic and chilli flakes. If you can’t get hold of Swiss chard, use spinach. Serves six.
1kg lamb mince
150g fresh breadcrumbs
70g pine nuts, toasted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp dried mint
4 tsp ground allspice
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Coarse sea salt and black pepper
60ml olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely diced
300g Swiss chard, stalks and leaves separated, leaves roughly shredded
300ml chicken stock
40ml lemon juice
500g Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp cornflour, mixed to a paste with 2 tsp water
1 egg, lightly beaten
Seeds of 1 medium pomegranate (optional)
20g coriander leaves, roughly chopped
Put the first six ingredients in a large bowl with half the allspice, half the garlic, two teaspoons of salt and half a teaspoon of black pepper. Mix to combine, then shape into 5cm-wide meatballs weighing 50g each. You should make about 24 balls.
Heat two tablespoons of oil in a medium saucepan, add the onions and remaining garlic and fry on a medium heat for eight to 10 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the onions have softened but not taken on any colour. Add the chilli and chard, cook for two to three minutes, until the chard has wilted, then stir in the remaining allspice, the stock and the lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat.
Put the yoghurt, cornflour paste and egg in a large bowl with 150ml of water. Whisk to a smooth paste, then gradually spoon in the hot chard mixture, stirring well after each addition, until well combined. Stir in two teaspoons of salt and a good crack of black pepper, and set aside.
Pour the remaining oil into a large, high-sided saute pan on a medium-high heat. Add half the meatballs and fry for four minutes, turning a few times so they brown all over. Remove from the pan and repeat with the remaining meatballs, adding a little more oil if need be.
Wipe down the pan and pour in the yoghurt sauce. Bring to a very gentle simmer on a medium-low heat – it should barely be bubbling – and stir continuously in one direction to prevent it curdling. Return the meatballs to the pan (they should just be submerged in sauce), cover and cook on a low heat for 20–25 minutes, until cooked through. Serve at once, sprinkled with pomegranate seeds, if using, and coriander.
Roast pork belly with crushed butternut squash and apple and walnut salsa
Scully thought he knew all there was to know about good crackling on pork belly until, at a food show in Sydney in 2009, he was approached by a woman in her late 70s. He didn’t get her name, but he did get her secret of rubbing half a lemon all over the skin, squeezing out the juice as you go, before sprinkling it with salt. Believe me, this paves the way to crackling glory.
Both the squash and salsa work as sides for other dishes: the squash with any roast bird or wine-braised shallots, the salsa with any grilled oily fish. Serves four, generously.
20g fresh thyme sprigs
12 large garlic cloves, skin left on but bruised with the flat of a knife
4 sticks lemongrass, lightly bruised with a rolling pin
10cm piece fresh ginger, unpeeled, cut into 1cm slices
1.5kg pork belly, ribs intact and skin on
1 lemon, halved
60g coarse sea salt
500ml dry white wine
For the squash
1 large butternut squash (1.5kg), peeled, deseeded and cut into 2cm chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
30g unsalted butter
1 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp white miso paste
Coarse sea salt and black pepper
For the salsa
1 granny smith apple, unpeeled, quartered, cored and cut into 1cm dice
70g walnuts, toasted and lightly crushed
50g pickled walnuts, rinsed and cut into 1cm dice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp yuzu juice (or lime juice)
1 tbsp mirin
10g tarragon leaves, finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
Heat the oven to 240C (220C fan)/gas mark 9. Spread the thyme, garlic cloves, lemongrass and ginger over the base of a large, high-sided roasting tray (32cm x 24cm), and lay the meat skin side up on top. Pat the pork dry with kitchen towel, then rub the lemon all over the pork skin, squeezing out the juice as you do so. Set aside to dry for 10 minutes, then sprinkle 30g salt evenly all over the skin. Roast for an hour, until the crackling is semi-hard and the salt has turned grey. The aromatics will be very charred at this point, but don’t worry – that’s fine.
Remove from the oven and scrape off and discard the salt. Spread the remaining 30g salt evenly all over the skin, and return the meat to the oven for another half-hour, until the crackling is solid and hard. Remove and turn down the oven to 190C (170C fan)/gas mark 5. If any big bubbles have formed on the skin, insert a small knife to let out the air. Pour the wine into the tray, taking care not to wet the meat, then add 400ml water and return to the oven for another hour. Reduce the heat to 120C (100C fan)/gas mark ½, cook for one hour more, then remove and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
While the pork is in its final hour of roasting, prepare all the ingredients for the squash and salsa. The moment the pork is resting, increase the oven temperature to 220C (200C fan)/gas mark 7. Mix the squash with two tablespoons of oil and spread out on a large baking tray. Roast for 30–40 minutes, until cooked, then transfer to a large bowl, add the butter and crush with a potato masher. Don’t over-mash it: you want some texture to remain. Stir in the rice vinegar, miso, a teaspoon of salt and a grind of black pepper, and keep warm.
In a medium bowl, mix all the salsa ingredients with half a teaspoon of salt and a grind of black pepper.
Transfer the rested pork to a chopping board. The liquid in the roasting tray can either be discarded or used as a base for a soup or a stew. Pick off any herbs stuck to the pork and use a spoon or pastry brush to remove any excess salt from the skin. With a large, serrated knife cut the meat into evenly-sized rectangles about 3-4cm thick. (If you want to remove the ribs before you carve the meat, just pull and twist them out, but you can slice between them and serve the meat on the rib.)
To serve, divide the warm squash between the plates and lay a slice of pork on top. Spoon the salsa alongside and serve.
Strawberry and rose mess
Eton mess, Nopi-style. It’s both a wow of a pudding and also a very relaxing one to make, given that all the elements can be made in advance and put together at the last minute. The dried rose petals look lovely sprinkled on top, but don’t worry if you can’t get hold of any: the advantage of having a pudding with the word “mess” in its title is that there’s little pressure to perform on the presentation front. You’ll have a bit of sorbet left over, which can be saved for another day, though you could also buy good-quality strawberry sorbet instead and save yourself some work. Serves six.
160g mascarpone
270g crème fraîche
15g icing sugar, sifted
1¼ tsp rose water
40g caster sugar
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 tsp sumac
200g strawberries, hulled and chopped into 2cm pieces
60g meringues (shop-bought is fine), broken roughly into 2cm pieces
Seeds from 1 medium pomegranate
2 tsp dried rose petals (optional)
For the strawberry sorbet
40g caster sugar
40g icing sugar
30g liquid glucose
200g strawberries, hulled and blitzed to a puree
Put all the sorbet ingredients in a small saucepan with 60ml water, warm through on a low heat, stirring so the sugar and glucose dissolve, then set aside until completely cool. Pour into an ice-cream maker and churn for 20 minutes, until firm but not completely set, transfer to a suitable container and freeze.
Put the mascarpone and crème fraîche in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the icing sugar and rose water, whisk until just combined, then refrigerate.
Mix the caster sugar with 40ml boiling water and stir to dissolve. Add the pomegranate molasses and sumac, stir to combine and set aside.
To serve, divide the strawberries between four bowls or glasses, and top with meringue, rose water cream and half the sumac syrup. Scatter over some pomegranate seeds and top with a dessertspoon of sorbet. Finish with the remaining syrup and the rose petals, and serve.
Roast pineapple with tamarind and chilli, and coconut ice-cream
Some puddings, like some co*cktails, will always be just a bit 1980s, particularly those that call for tropical fruit to be cooked. And they are none the worse for that, we say. This is Scully’s tribute to the decade of his youth, to piña coladas and to the now-defunct Danks Street Depot in Sydney, where he used to go for brunch.
You can buy ready-made tamarind paste, but it’s easy enough to make your own. To make two tablespoons of paste, soak 30g tamarind pulp with 60ml water for half an hour, squeezing from time to time, so all the tamarind disperses through the water, and strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Serves six.
1 very large pineapple, peeled and cut in half lengthways, then each half cut into three long wedges, core removed
6 small sprigs Thai basil (optional)
For the ice-cream
150ml double cream
400ml coconut milk
250ml coconut cream
12 fresh kaffir lime leaves
1 vanilla pod, cut in half lengthways and seeds scraped out
2 egg yolks
90g caster sugar
1½ tbsp lime juice
For the spiced syrup
600ml water
90g caster sugar
16 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick, broken into six pieces
1 large red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 vanilla pod, cut in half lengthways and seeds scraped out
5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tbsp tamarind paste
First make the ice-cream. Put the cream, coconut milk, coconut cream, kaffir lime leaves and vanilla pod and seeds in a medium saucepan on a medium-high heat, until just coming to the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside for five minutes to infuse.
Put the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until creamy and pale. Using a ladle, spoon a little of the hot cream mix on to the egg mix, whisking continuously. Continue adding the cream until everything is incorporated, then wipe the pan clean and pour in the custard. Cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring continuously, until it’s a light custard consistency; don’t overcook, or it will split. Strain, discarding the leaves and pods, and set aside for 30 minutes. Once the custard is cool, add the lime juice and pour into an ice-cream machine. Churn for about 35 minutes, until semi-frozen but still creamy, then transfer to a cold plastic container and freeze. Remove from the freezer five minutes before serving.
Heat the oven to 240C (220C fan)/gas mark 9. Put all the syrup ingredients in a medium saucepan on a medium-high heat, bring to a boil, then turn the heat to medium and simmer gently for five minutes.
Put the pineapple wedges in a high-sided medium baking tray (30cm x 22cm), pour the syrup evenly over the fruit, and roast for 40-50 minutes, basting every 10 minutes or so, until the pineapple is cooked through and caramelised, and a knife goes in without any resistance. Keep an eye on the liquid levels in the tray: if it dries out, stir in some water. Leave the pineapple to cool slightly in the syrup for five minutes, then lift it out of the tray.
Serve a wedge of pineapple per person. Drizzle a teaspoon and a half of syrup over each portion, dot with a few cloves and a shard of cinnamon from the syrup, scatter over the Thai basil, if using, and serve with a scoop of ice-cream.
Ricotta fritters with blackberry sauce and chocolate soil
These are a really impressive way to round off a meal, and have the added advantage that much of the preparation can be done well in advance. The “soil”, the sauce, the star anise sugar and the batter can all be made well in advance – two days for the batter and sauce; much longer for the soil and sugar – so you’ll just need to fry and bake the fritters on the day. You’ll have some soil left over, but it keeps for a week in a sealed container and is a treat to sprinkle on ice-cream and milkshakes. Serves six.
For the chocolate soil
45g plain flour
½ tsp cornflour
40g caster sugar
30g cocoa powder
40g unsalted butter, melted
Coarse sea salt
For the ricotta fritters
20g icing sugar
100g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
500g firm ricotta
Finely grated zest of 2 large oranges
Seeds of 1 vanilla pod
2 eggs, plus 1 extra egg yolk
450ml sunflower oil, for frying
For the blackberry sauce
50g caster sugar
700g fresh (or frozen) blackberries
120ml sloe gin (or 90ml regular gin)
For the star anise sugar
2 whole star anise, finely ground (or 2 tsp ground star anise)
70g caster sugar
First make the chocolate soil. Heat the oven to 160C (140C fan)/gas mark 3. Put the flour, cornflour, sugar, cocoa powder and half a teaspoon of salt. Mix, then slowly pour in the melted butter. Using first a wooden spoon and then the tips of your fingers, mix until it’s a crumble-like texture, then spread out on a parchment-lined baking tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until it’s the consistency of a crumbly cookie. Remove from the oven and set aside – if the mix has clumped together, you’ll be able to break it up once it has cooled and set.
For the fritters, sift the icing sugar, flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the ricotta, orange zest, vanilla seeds and a quarter-teaspoon of salt and mix to combine. Put the eggs and extra yolk in a separate bowl and whisk until pale and trebled in volume (about three minutes using an electric whisk). Fold into the ricotta mix and refrigerate for at least four hours, to firm up. The batter will keep like this, covered, for up to two days.
Put the sugar for the sauce in a small saucepan with two tablespoons of water, bring to a boil, stirring to help the sugar dissolve, then set aside to cool. Put 500g blackberries in a blender and blitz to a puree. Pass though a fine sieve to strain out the seeds, then pour into a bowl. Pour over the sugar syrup and gin, mix to combine and refrigerate for at least an hour: it needs to be very cold.
Put the star anise in a medium bowl, stir in the sugar and set aside.
Just before you want to serve, heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/gas mark 7. Pour enough sunflower oil into a medium saucepan to come about 3cm up the sides and place on a medium-high heat. Once hot, use two dessertspoons to shape the ricotta mix into rough balls weighing about 50g: use one spoon to scoop the mixture up and the other to scrape it off into the hot oil. Fry in batches of four, so as not to overcrowd the pan, for three to four minutes, turning constantly so they go golden-brown all over.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer the fritters to a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain while you cook the remaining batter. Transfer the cooked fritters to a parchment-lined baking tray and bake for eight minutes, until cooked through. Remove from the oven and, while they’re still hot, roll in the star anise sugar to coat.
To serve, divide the blackberry sauce between six shallow bowls. Place two hot fritters on top of the sauce, sprinkle over a teaspoon of chocolate soil and garnish with the reserved blackberries. Serve at once.
