Turkish style Red Gurnard in a creamy lemon and mushroom sauce

Red Gurnard - a meaty, economic, tasty and sustainable fish, Scale 3 on the Marine Conservation Societies (MCS) list (*See note at end of article)

This type of fish, bony, bottom dwelling, is not usual on the menu - but they are great.
Very common in North African and Middle Eastern cuisine, this recipe is inspired by Turkish and Lebanese food. Good recipe for the more expensive red snapper as well.

I like my fish on the bone - but you can use fillets if you prefer.

The fish is not in great demand in Ireland, I picked these beauties up from Cork cities English Market - Ballycotton seafoods - along with the samphire, for €3.50, with rice can easily feed 4 or a greedy dinner for two.


This meal itself is great with rice, giving it almost a risotto effect.
The rice will cook in about the same time as it takes to cook the fish and veg.

The sauce, with egg, lemon and cream is kind of a Mediterranean hollandaise  - rich and velvety.

You will need a pan or heavy based pot with a lid or plate that can cover the pan.

INGREDIENTS
Good knob of butter
Fish - 2 or 4 red gurnard fish/fillets, or red snapper - meaty white fish.
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
115 grm button mushrooms (about 9)
1 tomato - skinned, de-seeded and peeled
1 tablespoon - good squeeze - tomato puree
1 egg yolk
4 tablespoons cream
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Parsley to garnish                                                .

Melt the butter in a large frying pan.
Cook the onion for 2 - 3 minutes until softened or translucent but not browned.
Add Garlic and cook for another minute, then chuck in your mushrooms, tomato and tomato puree and season to taste.
Cook down for about 5 minutes.

Put the fish fillets on top of the veg and pour over the water.

Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium/low, cover the pan and leave simmer gently for 10 minutes.

There is a trick to this dish.
While waiting for the fish to cook, whisk up the egg yolk and lemon to emulsify- go easy on the lemon juice, you can add more later to taste, After whisking the egg and lemon add the cream and whisk in.

When cooked, remove the fish and keep warm.

Stir the egg/lemon/cream mixture into the veggies and blend, constantly stirring.
Taste the sauce, add pepper and salt to season as wanted, add more lemon juice to taste if you overdo the lemon, a pinch of sugar will bring it back.

Pour sauce over fish and serve.

I served the fish on a sushi rice with tomato and samphire mini salad on the side.
Also very good just with salad.

I hope you enjoy this recipe - please take the time to comment, I really appreciate the time and effort.

OTHER SUSTAINABLE FISH RECIPES
Pollock in wine
Paprika Pollack Almondine with Sephardic style spuds
Fennel poached Pollock
Easy Pea-sy Orangy Mackerel
Super Simple Cider Mackerel
Super Simple Herring 

* MCS scale 3 - eat but not too often.
Red gurnard is a fast growing fish and matures early at a large size. Avoid eating immature fish (less than 25 cm) and fresh (not previously frozen) fish caught during the spawning season (summer).