Winter 2019

Recipe: Bruno’s Fennel Tarte Tatin With Marinated Kingfish

While in town and catching up with old friends, well-known cooking couple Bruno and Catherine Loubet also hosted Masterclasses in the Festival Village. We grabbed the recipe for one of the standout dishes. Give it a try!

Fennel Tarte Tatin, Marinated Kingfish

Serves 4

Ingredients

160g puff pastry
400g fennel
400ml orange juice
1tsp Rosemary
Olsson’s sea salt
Ground pepper
2 cloves of garlic
6tbsp of olive oil
30g butter
Kingfish:
200g kingfish fillet
Olsson’s sea salt
¼ lemon zest finely grated
Ground black pepper
½tsp sugar

Garnish

4tsp of diced seeded tomatoes or 1 large tomato
1tsp of bronze fennel tops

The Fish

1. Needs to be marinated for about 6 hours.
2. Lay the fish fillet on a greaseproof (already over an aluminium paper) large enough to wrap it in.
3. Season generously with salt, pepper, lemon zest and sugar all around.
4. Wrap the two layers of paper around the fish tightly and place on a plate in the fridge for at least 6 hours (or overnight).
5. After 6 hours slice very finely against the grain and place in the fridge.

For the Tatin

1. Cut the tops of the fennels and then cut in small wedges. Arrange the seasoned wedges in a frying pan with 4 tbsp of olive oil and place on strong heat to colour to a nice golden brown, then turn around to get colour on all sides of the fennels.
2. At this stage, add the rosemary and the orange juice. Bring to the boil then lower the heat to simmer. Cover with a lid. It should take around 20mins for the fennel to be cooked soft enough.
3. Check after 15mins with a small knife. When the fennel is cooked, drain in a colander over a bowl to collect all the cooking liquid.
4. Pour this liquid back in the frying pan on the heat to reduce to a thick syrupy consistency. Then take the pan off the heat and add the butter. Swirl the pan to emulsion the butter in the syrup.
5. Divide the syrup into 4 small tart tins with a fixed bottom. Arrange the fennel tightly over the syrup. Cut 4 discs of puff pastry the size of the tin and place over the fennels.
6. With the handle of a spoon, push the pastry tightly to the sides of the fennel making sure the pastry touches the syrup.
7. Make a very small hole in the middle of the pastry then place in the oven at 180˚c for about 15mins or until the pastry is golden brown and crisp.

To serve

Turn the tart tins upside down on the middle of small serving plates. Arrange the sliced kingfish over. Garnish with the diced tomato and fennel tops. Drizzle a little olive oil over and serve.