Barramundi with green beans, thyme mash and beurre noisette – serves 4
Reeled in a whopper but don’t know what to do with it? Our mates at Wharf One at Darwin Waterfront gave us the inside word on their famed crispy skin barramundi.
INGREDIENTS:
4 x 180g saltwater barramundi fillets, skin on, scaled and deboned
1kg desire potatoes
200g unsalted butter cut into 1cm dice, plus extra for basting
200ml cream
2 tbsp salted baby capers
300g green beans, stalks removed
Juice of 2 lemons
50g chopped parsley
5 cloves garlic
20g thyme
Sea salt flakes
Black pepper
Olive oil for cooking
METHOD:
1. Bake potatoes at 180 degrees Celsius in a fan oven in their skins until very soft in the centre. While the potatoes are cooking, place the cream, thyme and garlic in a small pot and slowly bring to the boil. When it boils, remove from the heat and set aside. When the potatoes are cooked, cut them in half while still hot and scoop out the centre then mash the potato. Boil the cream and remove the theme, then add the cream to the potato then add 100g of the butter and beat with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until smooth. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Keep hot while you cook the fish.
2. Boil a pot of salted water. Blanch the beans for 1-2 minutes and then remove them and place straight into ice water. This stops the cooking. Drain the beans and reserve for later.
3. Season the barramundi with sea salt and pepper. In a medium hot pan, place a good splash of olive oil then add the barramundi fillets skin side down and allow to colour. If the skin curls, gently press down on it until all the skin is in contact with the pan. When a golden brown colour is reached, turn down the heat to low and keep cooking for 4-7 minutes until the fish is changing colour to white on the sides of the fillet. Turn fish over. Add the beans and turn up the heat and add some diced butter and cook for a further minute. The butter should be foaming. If it isn’t, turn up the heat more but don’t burn it. Baste the skin of the fish with the foaming butter, remove the fish and beans from the pan and place on a paper towel to soak the excess butter.
4. For the beurre noisette, heat a pan to medium hot. Add 100g diced butter, allow to foam and turn brown. This doesn’t take very long so watch it and be careful not to burn it. When the butter is brown, carefully add the capers as it may spit hot butter out of the pan. Cook for 30 seconds then add the lemon juice, cook for 30 more seconds and add the parsley. Remove from the heat.
5. Place a dollop of thyme mash in the centre of your plate. Place some beans on the top, followed by the fish and drizzle over the beurre noisette. Enjoy!