Mullet

I've been away most of the last few days, so forgive the lack of updates, but I've been spoiling myself and picking up some tasty treats along the way. I feel like I've been on one of Jessies Diets from the Fast Show..........This week I have mostly been eating............fish and seafood! Thursday I picked up a live crab on the way back from Fort William. Thought it would be sacrilige to spoil it, so he was just eaten (after being despatched and cooked!) with homemade mayonnaise, crusty bread and a salad, oh and a few langoustines too. The cat has been going a bit mental with the smells that have been wafting through the flat, but she does get a few treats. Yesterday I was passing through Perth and stopped off at Kerachers for some tuna to cook for the friend I was visiting. They also had some beautiful red mullet and I just had to buy some, so I've cooked that tonight. Few fish can match this for it's beautiful colour, or it's ability to take strong flavours, so when I saw some fennel at the farm shop I visited, just had to get it.

Red mullet with braised fennel.

For 2

1 large fennel bulb
250ml orange juice
juice of half a lemon
1tbsp runny honey
pinch of chilli flakes
pinch of saffron strands
4 red mullet fillets, scaled and pin boned
Olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat the oven to 180c, gas mark 4. Reserve any feathery fronds from the fennel and slice the bulb into 1/2cm slices. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the slices on each side until getting a little colour. Remove them and put into an ovenproof dish. Pour the orange and lemon juice into the pan and add the honey, chilli and saffron (the latter is optional if you don't have it, but does add another dimension to the sauce). Bring this to the boil, add some salt and pour it over the fennel. Cover the dish with foil and place into the oven for about an hour.

Relax and go and have a nice glass of sauvignon blanc!

Check that the fennel is tender, when it is drain off the liquid into a bowl and pop it back into the oven to keep warm. Heat some more oil in a frying pan, over a fairly high heat. Score a few slashes across the skin of the fish fillets and season on both sides with salt and pepper. Pop these in the hot pan skin side down and leave them for about 3 minutes, then turn them carefully and cook for a further 2 minutes. Remove them and put by in a warm place. Put the juices from the fennel into the pan, bring this to a rapid boil and reduce until it's a little syrupy. Check that it has a good sweet and sour balance, add a little more lemon juice or honey if neccessary and adjust the seasoning.

Place the fennel on a plate, top with the fish and spoon some of the juices over. Finish with some of the chopped reserved fennel tops.