Tempura King George whiting with sauce gribiche

This recipe is from season 1, episode 4 of Paddock to Plate.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 9 King George whiting, gutted & scaled
• Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 2 cups tempura flour (see note)
• 1½ cups iced water
• 1 cup ice cubes
• Lemon cheeks or wedges, to serve
• Flat-leaf parsley sprigs, to serve

Sauce Gribiche

• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 cup good quality mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon capers, drained in vinegar, finely chopped
• 8 cornichons, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• ½ tablespoon each of tarragon and chervil, finely chopped
• 1 lemon, finely grated rind and juice

Directions

• For sauce gribiche, cook the egg in a saucepan of boiling water for 7 minutes (until hard-boiled), drain, cool under cold running water. Peel, then finely chop and combine in a bowl with remaining ingredients. Season to taste and set aside until needed.
• To fillet the whiting, place your filleting knife behind the fin/gills and cut down till you hit the bone. Run your knife all the way along the spine and remove the fillet.  Once this is done remove the rib cage (by doing this you should remove all the bones from the middle of the fillet). Refrigerate until required.
• Fill a deep fryer or a heavy based saucepan with vegetable oil and heat to 180⁰C (see note). While the oil heats, make the tempura batter by whisking tempura flour, iced water and ice cubes in a bowl to combine (don’t worry if the batter isn’t completely smooth). Dip whiting fillets into batter to coat well, drain off excess then deep-fry in batches of 3 or 4, turning occasionally for 2-3 minutes or until crisp (the batter should still be pale white, not golden brown; be careful as you add the fish to the oil as hot oil may spit). Drain whiting on absorbent paper, season to taste.
• Scatter the parsley sprigs over the whiting and serve with sauce gribiche and lemon cheeks or wedges to squeeze over.

Note: tempura flour is available in the Asian section of most supermarkets and at specialist Japanese grocers. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can check the temperature of the oil by dropping a cube of bread into the oil. If it quickly bubbles and rises to the surface, the oil is hot enough; if not allow more time to heat and re-test. If the cube of bread browns too quickly, remove oil from heat and allow to cool slightly before testing again.