VERMICELLI WITH FILLETS OF RED MULLET

COOKBOOK: PASTA & ITALIAN - Super Cookery

RATE: ❤️❤️👌🏻👌🏻💲💲

Where do you buy red mullet? I don’t think even my local fish market has any! Paul insisted that I cook it with a different fish as he is not a fan of mullet and I personally do not recall ever having any.

I made it with Bass and it was nice. Not one of my favourite pasta dishes but not bad either. As I have mentioned before, pasta should never be eaten for hours after it has been prepared in the sauce and it will taste even better the day after.

I told the fam that dinner was ‘fish in pasta’ and they all cringed…..but hey, I don’t cheat! Thats what was chosen for the week and that’s what we’re eating!

It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Could have had some other ingredients to have given it a stronger more defined taste. Admittedly I didnt use the anchovies due to some pressure from my girls!

I could see this dish more like a starter rather than a main meal.

RECIPE: I changed the method in the recipe because it sounded way too dry for a pasta dish.

There is no way that the remainder of the liquid will need a further 35mins to reduce in half. To do this, there will be very little amount of liquid left. I didnt feel that it required to be thickened either so there was no cornflour used. I mixed the liquid and cream and tossed the pasta in the sauce with the herbs and the fish (i.e I didnt place the fish on the top of the pasta) .

Good luck if you wish to make this one but I personally wouldn’t make it again.

RECIPE

SERVES 4

1kg of red mullet fillets

300mls of white wine

4 shallots, chopped

1 clove of Garlic, crushed

3 tablespoons of mixed herbs (can be dry herbs)

Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

pinch of nutmeg

3 anchovies, chopped roughly

2 tablespoons of cream

1 tablespoon cornflour

450g vermicelli

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper

Place the red mullet fillets in a large casserole. Pour over the wine and add the shallots, wine , garlic, herbs lemon rind and juice, nutmeg and anchovies. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 35minutes.

Carefully transfer the mullet to a warm dish. Set aside and keep warm.

Pour the cooking liquid into a pan and bring to boil. Simmer for 25minutes until reduced by half. Mix the cream and cornflour and stir into the sauce and thicken.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Add the vermicelli and olive oil and cook until tender, but still firm to the bite. Drain the pasta and transfer to a warm serving dish.

Arrange the red mullet fillets on top of the vermicelli and pour over the sauce. Serve immediately.