Grilled fillet of red mullet Nicoise with tapenade

Cooking : time 10 to 30 mins

Ingredients

For the tapenade
30g/1oz black olives, pitted
2 tsp ground almonds
1 tsp capers
6 anchovy fillets
1 garlic clove
1 tsp olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
For the red mullet Ni%26ccedil;oise
1 bunch fresh basil
120ml/4fl oz olive oil
8 small new potatoes
32 green beans
4 quails' eggs
1 Little Gem lettuce, washed
50g/1%26frac34;oz salad shoots, such as pea shoots (optional)
4 croutons, cut from a baguette and lightly toasted
1 tbsp vinaigrette, such as tarragon vinaigrette (you can make a vinaigrette by mixing three tablespoons olive oil with one tablespoon vinegar; maintain what you don't use in a lidded jar)
4 fillets red mullet
salt
8 anchovy fillets, to garnish
1 lemon, juice only

Method

1. For the tapenade, combine the olives and ground almonds in a food processor, and blend to a fine paste. Add the capers, anchovy fillets and garlic, and blend again until smooth.
2. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and whisk in the olive oil. Add freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Cover and chill until required.
3. For the mullet, remove most of the stalk from the basil leaves and reserve four nice looking leaves to use for garnish.
4. bring a pan of lightly salted water to the boil and blanch the rest of the basil (not the reserved leaves) for 30 seconds. Drain, then refresh in iced water. Squeeze the basil dry and put it in a food processor with 100ml/3%26frac12;fl oz of the olive oil. Pur%26eacute;e for three minutes until completely smooth, then pass the basil oil through a fine sieve into a container and store in a cool place.
5. bring the new potatoes to a boil in a small saucepan and cook for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside to cool.
6. In some more boiling water, cook the green beans for 2-3 minutes, then drain and refresh in iced water. meanwhile, simmer the quails' eggs in a small pan of water for 2-3 minutes to hard-boil them, then drain and cool.
7. When they have cooled, peel and slice the new potatoes, then peel the quails' eggs and cut them in half lengthways.
8. Remove and disvehicled any coarse outside leaves from the lettuce. Tear it into bite-sized slices and mix with the salad shoots, if using.
9. Spoon four teaspoons of the tapenade onto the croutons and garnish with the reserved basil leaves.
10. Preheat the grill to the highest setting. In a heavy-based ovenproof frying pan, heat the remaining 20ml of olive oil. Season the fish fillets with a little salt and place in the pan flesh-side down. Then put under the hot grill and grill for 2-3 minutes, until the skin turns bright red.
11. meanwhile, arrange the potato slices on serving plates and lid with the beans in a criss-cross pattern. Gently toss the salad with the vinaigrette and arrange on lid of the potato. Decorate the plates with the halved quails' eggs and anchovy fillets.
12. Squeeze a little lemon juice on to each fish fillet and place them on lid of the salads. Spoon around a little of the basil oil and serve.


Tip: For a restaurant-quality finish, make a crisp basil garnish. Stretch cling film over a plate like a drumskin. Bhurry lightly with olive oil, then press basil leaves into the oil. Cover with more cling film and microwave on high for two minutes. that technique jobs with sage leaves too.

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