North Sea halibut, razor clam and orange oil – Michelin-starred Billy Boyter‘s dish is a great example of Scottish produce at its finest
Ingredients
• 4 x 120g portions halibut
• 50g fine sea salt
• 25g caster sugar
• 250g unsalted butter
• 1 x clove garlic
• sprig lemon thyme
• 1 x lemon
• 4 x razor clams
• 200ml white wine
• 8 x baby turnips
• 100g samphire
• 4 bunches spring onions
• 20g kombu (dried kelp)
• 1 litre spring water
• 20g katsuobushi (bonito)
• 15g kalamansi (lemon juice can be used as a substitute)
• 12g black garlic paste
• 130g unsalted butter
• 4 egg yolk
• 15g hot water
• 100ml olive oil
• 1 orange
Method
1 Mix the 50g salt and 25g sugar together to make the cure, and heavily season the Halibut portions. Leave with the cure on for 10min then wash off and pat dry.
2 To make the noisette for cooking the fish, peel 4 strips from the lemon and juice it. Add the 250g block of butter to a pot along with the crushed clove of garlic, sprig of lemon thyme and lemon peel.
3 Stirring all the time heat until you see the solids in the butter start to turn nut brown.
4 Remove from heat, allow to cool slightly and add the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Once cool remove the garlic, thyme and lemon peel.
5 To make the dashi which is a traditional Japanese stock, add the kombu to the spring water and gently bring the water to a simmer. Remove from the heat and add the bonito flakes.
6 Leave to sit for around an hour then strain. Wash and dry the spring onions and lightly coat with oil. Place them on a tray and grill them until blackened.
7 When cool chop the spring onions in quarters and add them to the dashi. Bring the dashi back to a simmer and leave to infuse for another hour, then strain.
8 To make the orange oils use a microplain or the fine side of a grater and zest the orange. Add the zest to the 100ml of olive oil and gently warm. The leave to infuse for an hour before straining.
9 For the Kalamansi (an Asian citrus fruit) emulsion, melt the 130g butter in a pan and keep warm. Whisk together the Kalamansi or lemon juice with the egg yolks, Black garlic paste and the 15g of hot water over a bain-marie.
10 While slowly pouring in the hot melted butter until the emulsion is thick and smooth. If too thick, let it back slightly with warm water, season. In the restaurant we put the emulsion into gas-charged cream whipper, which gives you a mousse like consistency.
11 Wash the razors and add them to a hot pot followed immediately by the white wine. 12 Place a lid on top and steam until the shells open. Remove them from the pot and leave to cool. Cut the main tube from the shell and slice on the bias. Retain the clam stock for reheating the razors.
13 To make the dish heat a pan and cook the fish in the noisette basting continually until the fish is cooked. Warm the baby turnips in the dashi with the samphire and place on top and around the fish.
14 Add on the Razor Clam slices and the Kalamansi emulsion to the fish. And pour some of the dashi mixed with a little orange oil around the bowl.
Recipe courtesy of Billy Boyter.
PLUS: To read our interview with Billy, click here.
