Red Roman poached in a clay pot

Red Roman is a fine sea bass that swims in southern African waters. The flesh is mildly flavoured, not strongly “fishy”, and is worth considering for a simple poached recipe such as this. Ask your fishmonger to scale, gut and clean it for you.

Rather than a court-bouillon such as this recipe, I poached it with ginger, garlic, coriander and chilli in my clay pot which was a real find at my local second hand goods palace.

(Serves 2)

Ingredients

1 whole Red Roman, gutted and cleaned

2 whole garlic cloves, bashed

1 x 2 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled

6 coriander sprigs, rinsed

2 green chillies, seeded and sliced

A little salt

Water to cover the fish

Noodles

Method

Prepare the clay pot ahead of time. Make sure it is clean, then fill a sink with cold water and submerge both halves of the pot in it. Let it soak for at least half an hour. Let it drain and dry before use.

Be sure not to turn the oven on before you start to cook the fish, and allow time for the oven to heat up with the pot inside.

Lay the whole cleaned fish in the pot and cover with enough cold water for the fish to remain submerged while poaching. Add the garlic, ginger, coriander and chillies to the pot. Salt it very lightly.

Put the lid on and place it in the cold oven, then turn it on to 170℃. Give it half an hour to reach its temperature, then poach for about half an hour. You can turn the oven off after 20 minutes of cooking and let it continue poaching while you prepare the noodles.

Serve with Asian noodles which are simply covered in boiling water and, after 5 minutes or so, drain them. You can toss them in aromatics such as soy, ginger and garlic, perhaps a splash of mirin, or leave them plain. If you like, strain the poaching liquid into a pot and reduce to a sauce,  which you can enhance with wine, which is reduced again, and finally a dash of cream, to be simmered until thickened. DM

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.