Cape Malay Seafood-stuffed Linefish with Pickled Pea Salsa
This feel-good dish is packed with gut-healthy ingredients and feels like comfort food.
Ingredients
For the seafood stuffing
- 250 g Calamari steaks cubed
- 60 ml Olive oil
- 50 g Onion chopped
- 200 g Prawn meat chopped
- 2 Tbsp White wine
- 3 Tbsp Fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp Butter
- 20 g Sultanas chopped
- 60 ml Cream
- 80 ml Cape Malay curry paste
- 50 g Japanese panko breadcrumbs toasted
- 2-3 kg Firm white fish, butterflied traditionally, carpenter or hottentot
- Oil for brushing
For the pickled peas
- 250 ml Verjuice
- 125 ml White wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Black peppercorns
- 250 g Raw, fresh peas
For the salsa
- 100 g Jalapeños finely diced
- 100 g Red onion finely diced
- 10 g Coriander chopped
- 250 g Peas blanched and lightly crushed (not mashed)
- 2 Tbsp Verjuice
- 2 Tbsp Olive oil to taste
Instructions
- To make the seafood stuffing, boil the calamari for 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and allow to cool.
- Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion. Once translucent, add the calamari, prawn meat, wine, lemon juice, butter, sultanas, cream and curry paste. Simmer until the liquid has reduced slightly.
- Use a hand blender to pulse the mixture into a coarse paste, then stir in the breadcrumbs.
- Stuff the butterflied fish with the seafood stuffing, then truss using kitchen string. Fry in hot oil until the skin starts to crisp.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and place a tray large enough to hold the fish in the oven. Finish cooking the fish in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the flesh is white and flaky.
- To make the pickled peas, place the verjuice, vinegar, sugar and peppercorns in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour the hot liquid over the raw peas. Allow to cool, then drain the peas before using.
- To make the salsa, combine the jalapeños, red onion, coriander, crushed peas, pickled peas, verjuice and olive oil, and season to taste.
- Serve the salsa with the fish.
Notes
You can use good-quality white wine vinegar instead of verjuice, but remember to add 4 Tbsp sugar. Add blanched mangetout or sugar-snap peas to spruce up the salsa. Instead of Cape Malay curry paste, you can use Thai yellow curry paste.