Baked fish with leeks and olive pie

Russell Jeavons

Baked fish with leeks and olive pie

Ingredients

Bones from snapper, cleaned
Tops of a bunch of leeks, washed
carrot
parsley
fennel trimmings
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
water
150 grams per person of snapper, or any firm white-fleshed fish.
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper mix (ratio is 4:1 salt:freshly ground black pepper)
1 tablespoon chopped fennel fronds (taken from tops of fennel bulbs)
continental parsley, coarsely chopped
1kg potatoes, the best you can buy, never use green potatoes
250g SA kalamata olives (Russell recommends those grown at Coriole. The olives should be fresh, good texture and not oxidised)
1 bunch leeks

Method

To make the stock, put 2 litres of cold water in a stockpot on to boil.

Add carrot, bay leaves, peppercorns, washed leek tops, fennel trimmings and parsley trimmings.

Boil stock for 10-15 minutes.

Add fish bones without skin and boil until flesh falls off bones.

Do not overboil, the stock must be kept fresh, if it reduces it gets a 'dead' taste.

Combine oil, salt and pepper mix, and fennel fronds and mix over and through the fish to coat it thoroughly.

Leave it aside for a couple of hours.

By coating the fish, you do not need to use any oil or fat in the pan, and certainly never put olive oil on a barbecue or hot plate - it is too valuable a resource.

Cook on a hot plate or in a hot pan .

Garnish with parsley.

Fish Sauce

Make a butter and flour roux and then add some of the fish stock.

Cook a few minutes, do not reduce. Season and put aside.

To make the pie, cut the white part of the leeks into lengths 6-7 cm long. Cut in such a way that you leave the core of the leeks together and then slice long ways into 4.

Blanch leeks for about 5 minutes. They need to be soft and white.

Split and remove olive pips.

Put blanched leeks and pitted olives in the bottom of a baking dish.

Add some of fish sauce.

Boil, then mash potatoes with olive oil, pepper and salt plus a little of the fish stock.

(Russell says that you can use butter if you prefer the taste, but, in his opinion, it's a short term gain. It may taste OK but you "lose their hearts" in the long term, so he prefers the low-fat solution.)

Cover leek and olives with potato and bake until brown on top.

This can be served with a sprinkling of dukkah.

NB. A variation of this is to put fish into the dish on top of leek and olive mix, cover with sauce and potatoes and bake as a pie.