Raw Kahawai Dish: best as a starter, or something something to nibble on while the cricket, footie or the Inox Fishing Show is on the tele.

1. Skin and bone one average sized kahawai. Cut out the brown bits on the fillets by slicing them off with a sharp knife. Slice the fillets into thin slithers, put in a bowl and put them in the fridge for about 2 hours to ensure they're nice and cold. Cold is the secret here.

2. Mix the following into a suitable bowl. Half a cup of extra virgin olive oil - half a cup of balsamic white vinegar (or Italian white vinegar) - 1 tablespoon of capers - 1 loosely chopped garlic clove - some loosely chopped square leaf parsley - Mix these ingrediants together. Add the cold kahawai slithers and mix in. Leave the mix to stand for 15 minutes minimum. It's ready to eat after 15 minutes of marinating.

3. Serving this dish is best on a toasted slice of ciabatta bread. once the bread has been toasted and while still hot, cut a garlic clove in half, and rub lightly onto the bread. Put some of the kahawai mix onto the toast and enjoy!

 

Snapper Crumble:

1. Fillet 2 average sized snapper and skin and bone the fillets. Turn on the oven to180 degrees.

2. Into a mixing bowl add 1 and a half cups of breadcrumbs. Add one teaspoon of salt. Add the zest of 2 average sized lemons. (That's rubbing the skin of the lemons off with a 2mm holed grater). Mix together. Add 300 grams butter and knead into the mix to make a crumble.

3. Take a baking dish and add some extra virgin olive oil into it and spread the oil evenly around the bottom of the baking dish. Salt each side of the snapper fillets and lay in the baking dish. Next eveningly spread some of the 'crumble' over each fillet. Once all the fillets have an ample about of crumble, put the dish into the oven and bake at 180 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets. Finish the dish off under the grill until the breadcrubs are nice and golden brown.

4. Serve with a nice summer salad, and some fresh new potatoes. Enjoy!

 

Brandy and Creamed fish. Best with snapper - tarakihi - blue cod.

1. Skin and bone 4 average sized fillets of one of the above fish. Salt the fillets on each side. Next dust with flour.

2. Heat a frying pan on high until it's piping hot. Don't add any oil or butter to the pan. Place the fillets in the pan and lightly brown each side on the bare hot pan. Once both side are lightly browned, pour a third of a cup of brandy over the fillets, followed quickly by half a cup of cream. Let this mixture simmer with the fish until the cream and the brandy form a caramal texture and starts to bubble. This usully takes about 4 to 6 minutes. The fish are now ready to serve.

3. Best served on a bed of rice using the brandy and cream as the sauce.

 

Cubed Kingi / Hapuku / or Trumpeter

1. Fillet your kingi (or haluku / trumpeter) and leave the skin on. Cut the fillet into meal sized squares about 12 to 16cms. This is so they will be able to fit under a grill.

2. Cut the meat side of the fillet into cubes. Do this by cutting along the fillet longways almost to the skin about 2cm apart right across the fillet. Then cut across the fillet the same way, all the way along with the cuts about 2cms apart. When you've finished this, if you pick the fillet up, it will look like a lot of small squares of meat on the skin. The reason for this is so the heat of the grill can get down into the thickness of the fillet.

3. Cover the fillet with a liberal amount of Extra Virgin Olive oil making sure it gets down between the cubes. Sprinkle the fillets with some salt, and add some herbs and spices of your choice. I like Lemon pepper or some crushed garlic. Place the fillet under a grill and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the bottom of the cubes have turned white.

4. Serve with a nice summer salad. It nice and easy to eat, you just pick off a cube wth your fork, and in she goes...delicious!

 

More Soon.