Meagre confit in brown butter

With orzo cooked like in a fish soup, and sweet garlic - By Chef Alexandros Tsiotinis

Serves

Ingredients

For the fish

1 Greek farmed Meagre, weighing 1.5kg
Saltwater (7%)
Clarified butter (brown butter)

For the fish soup

1kg shrimp (with heads)
2 garlic heads
250ml tomato purée
500gr chopped tomatoes
2 sliced onions
1 sliced fennels
1 sliced celery
8-10 thyme twigs
1 rosemary twig
10 saffron flowers
2gr hot pepper
Parsley stems
1 bottle of white wine
200ml cognac
300ml pernod
1.5ltr chicken broth
500ml water
Bones and heads from 6 Meagres
250gr olive oil

For the sweet garlic

1 garlic head
Milk
100ml fish soup

For the orzo

250gr orzo
50gr chopped onions
5gr chopped garlic
450gr fish soup
60gr white wine
55gr butter
55gr parmesan

Method

For the fish

1. We remove the scales from the Meagre.
2. We fillet the fish.
3. We remove its skin.
4. With a pair of tweezers, we carefully remove any small bones.
5. We place the fillets in saltwater for 25 minutes.
6. We wash the fillets off.

We spread clarified butter on top, and steam the fillets.


For the fish soup

1. We pour some olive oil in a pot that’s already hot.
2. We sauté the shrimp.
3. We add the tomato purée and cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. We add the chopped tomatoes.
5. We later add the vegetables and herbs, and quench the mixture with cognac and ricard.
6. We increase the heat of the stove for the alcohol to evaporate, and pour the white wine in the mixture.
7. We later add water and broth to the mixture.
8. We add the fish bones and bring the pot to a boil.
9. We reduce the heat, and then add the saffron and hot pepper.


For the sweet garlic

We remove the cloves from the garlic head.
We place the cloves in milk, and bring the mixture to a boil.
We strain the mixture three times.
We place the cloves in some fish soup and cook them in low heat.


For the orzo

We heat a pot.
We add some olive oil and sauté the garlic and onion.
We pour in the orzo. Using a wooden ladle, we try to separate the mixture for a couple of minutes, so it cooks evenly.
We quench the mixture with white wine and cook it risotto-style along with the fish soup.
We add butter and parmesan in the end for the mixture to thicken.