Christmas – fried fish with agrodolce

by Leah Halmagyi

Ingredients

  • 600g blue eye trevalla
  • sea salt flakes and freshly-ground black pepper
  • 1 cup plain flour
  • ½ cup ground rice
  • ¼ cup currants
  • 4 eschalots, sliced
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • ½ bunch thyme leaves
  • 1 lemon, segmented and diced
  • 1 orange, segmented and diced
  • 2 limes, segmented and diced
  • 6 sprigs dill, torn
  • 2 radishes, shaved
  • vegetable oil, for shallow-frying
  • grilled ciabatta, to serve

Instructions

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4-6

1 Slice the blue eye trevalla into fine strips, season with salt and pepper, then toss in a mixture of the flour and ground rice, then set aside.
2 Place the currants in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Stand for 5 minutes. Sauté the eschalots in a medium saucepan in the olive oil for 5 minutes, until lightly browned, then add the vinegar, sugar, thyme and currants. Boil until thickened, then season with salt and pepper.
3 Fry the fish pieces in hot (180°C) vegetable oil in batches for 3 minutes until golden and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper, then arrange on plates and top with onions, citrus, dill and radishes. Serve with grilled ciabatta.