Murray cod pan roasted and pil pil sauce

Ingredients

• 1 Murray cod, gutted, scaled
• 1 carrot
• 1 stick celery
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 4 bay leaves

Pil pil sauce

• confit garlic oil (see Note)
• 80 g butter
• salt
• 1 lemon
• 1 bunch thyme, leaves picked

Chilling time: 1 hour

Instructions

1. Fillet the Murray cod (or ask your local fishmonger to do it for you), reserving the bones, head and trimmings. In a large saucepan, combine the vegetables, bay leaf, fish offcuts and cover with water.
2. Simmer on medium heat for 1 hour, skimming any scum from the surface.
3. Strain the fish stock through a muslin lined sieve, then return the stock to the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, until it has reduced to 1/3 of the original volume. Refrigerate until needed, the stock needs to be cold for the sauce.
4. For the pil pil, slowly stream the confit garlic oil into the cold Murray cod stock. The stock must be cold, as this helps with the emulsion. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to the emulsion and whisk to combine.
5. Heat the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat and fry the Murray cod fillets. 30 seconds before serving, add the thyme to the pan and allow it to gently cook.
6. Serve the buttery fish with a nice dollop of pil pil and extra lemon wedges to serve.

Note

• To make garlic confit oil, combine 100 g peeled garlic cloves with 200 g vegetable oil in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat for 1 hour until the garlic is soft and lightly golden.

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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