Although expensive turbot is one fish I single out for a treat. It cooks well and you don't need a large portion to make a meal. Eating this fine fish is about appreciating quality rather than quantity. A fine principle to follow if you are still looking for a new year resolution.
Ilkley, where I live and buy food has a branch of Ramus the high quality Harrogate based fish monger. Their fish is always fresh, varied and not always as expensive as you might fear - think squid, mussels, herring - all beautifully cleaned up and worthy of cooking for a tasty inexpensive meal. Booths one of our local supermarkets also has an excellent fish counter tended to with the diligence needed for such delicate food.
At first sight turbot (
psetta maxima
) is not a handsome fish. Its blotched pointillist skin varies in tone according to its background - light on sand - much darker on gravel. With its eyes both looking upwards, down turned mouth, and bloated body, it resembles a lugubrious drunk lying on a park bench in the early hours of Sunday morning. The top and bottom of flatfish are two flanks. Most lie with their right side uppermost, but the turbot is left sided or sinistral – which rather suits its expression.
It lives on the shallow sea bed, partially covered by sand or gravel, waiting for its prey - sprats, gobis, sand eels and small crustaceans - to swim by and it is one of the largest flatfish living around our continental shelf.
Sedentary for most of the time turbot is given to bursts activity the turbot’s when it needs to catch its prey. Its delicate white flesh is composed of fast-twitch fibres – like a sprinter. The muscle of tuna and salmon are made up of dark slow twitch fibres which are better adapted for long distance swimming. Turbot’s virtually motionless habit makes it suited to being farmed.
Between April and August, wild turbot migrate from shallow to deeper water to lay millions of eggs. The survivors develop into ‘normal looking’ round fish, but as they grow and establish themselves on the shallower sandy bottom, the body becomes flat and the right eye migrates round to join the left. Weird or what?
Unlike the drunk, the turbot has been held in high regard in
Europe
for 2000 years. It is a fish to savour. Rick Stein regards it as possibly “the best tasting fish in the world. The texture is dense and slightly gelatinous, remaining quite moist after cooking.”
It is not a cheap option and the price does vary according to size. Dave Winspear Managing Director of the Sea Fish Alliance in
Whitby
says “the price rises according to its size and a good large fish of between 3-8 Kg will command prices as high as £28 Kg”
Turbot is one of our sustainable fish. “Quotas for turbot are generous and we never come under pressure to reduce the numbers we take out of the sea. Stocks are plentiful” says David.
Rick Stein says it is one of the few fish he would prepare as a main course for a banquet. He advises cooking on the bone in the form of steaks or tron
çon
cut from good large fish.
All the other great chefs know a secret that most consumers don’t. Turbot is king of fish and this is why most of the turbot fished from
UK
waters make their way to either
France
or onto the tables of smart
UK
restaurants.
For my money I would cook turbot every time. It is so much easier to cook and more delicious than the more popular monkfish but costs the same. “But if you can’t afford turbot” David Winspear suggests “brill which is known as poor man’s turbot and is a great alternative. It retails at half the price.”
The trick with turbot is to cook it robustly with a few well chosen ingredients to enhance its taste and texture.
Roasted turbot with oyster poached in fennel flavoured stock
Serves 4
2 tsps finely chopped fresh herbs such as bay, thyme, rosemary, garlic and parsley
1-2 tbsp olive oil
freshly ground black pepper and sea salt
4 pieces of turbot (175g each)
200ml fish stock
fennel trimmings
1 shallot, finely chopped
40g unsalted butter
75ml white wine
4 oysters
Method
Preheat oven to 200C/Gas mark 6
Mix the chopped herbs with olive oil and rub over the surface of the turbot. Season well and set aside.
Place fennel trimmings in the fish stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove fennel from stock and discard. Continue to simmer the stock until it has reduced to half its original volume. Open (shuck) the oysters (a fishmonger will do this for you if need be) and set aside. Sweat the shallot in a little butter; add wine followed by the stock. Add the oyster meat and their juices to the fish stock and allow poach for two minutes. Just before serving whisk the remaining butter into the stock.
Place turbot in a roasting dish and cook in the oven for 10 minutes before you are ready to serve.
Serve the oysters in a shell with a little of the fish stock on the same plate as the turbot.
