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Recipe: Italian-style mullet

A divine combination of rich tomato sauce, pine nuts and sultanas accompany this wood-fired winner by chef Martin Boetz.
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Serves 2

Chef Martin Boetz puts an Italian spin on this recipe, cooking the fresh mullet fillets with rich tomato sauce, pine nuts and sultanas. The surprise ingredient? Crispy amaretti biscuit crumbs! Follow the method to cook this dish in your wood-fired pizza oven or in your regular home oven. Here’s the recipe.

ingredients

  • 2 mullet fillets, 150g each

  • Salt

  • 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

  • ½ cup loosely packed parsley leaves, chopped

  • 10 (about 150g) amaretti biscuits, smashed into crumbs

Sauce

  • 100ml olive oil

  • 1 medium brown onion, finely chopped

  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed

  • 100ml white wine

  • 3 Roma tomatoes, blanched, peeled & chopped

  • 400g can chopped tomatoes

  • 30g pine nuts

  • 30g sultanas or raisins

  • 1 tsp sea salt flakes

  • 1 tsp sugar

  • Cracked black pepper

  • Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

  • 1 tbsp tomato paste

method

1. To make the sauce, heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring until translucent but not brown. Add white wine and simmer to cook down.

2. Stir in chopped tomato and can of chopped tomatoes. Bring to a simmer. Add pine nuts and sultanas or raisins. Season with salt, sugar and pepper. Stir in zest and tomato paste. Bring to a simmer. Simmer for 8-10 minutes or until thickened.

3. To prepare mullet, season fish fillets with salt. Heat oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Place fish, skin-side down, in hot pan then press firmly with a fish slice to crispen skin and keep the fillet flat for 3 minutes.

4. In an oven dish, spoon some of the prepared sauce over the base, place the fish skin-side up on the sauce. Spoon more sauce over the fish.

5. Mix parsley and crushed amaretti biscuits. Sprinkle on top of the sauce-covered fish, then drizzle with more olive oil and place in wood-fired oven for 5-6 minutes or in a 220C preheated oven for about 10 minutes until cooked through.

6. Serve immediately.

Watch the episode:

Two chefs, two delicious ways to prepare fresh fish

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