March recipe: Nathan Outlaw's pan-fried cod with curry sauce

Pan-fried cod with curry sauce, savoy cabbage and baby onions - serves 4

Here's a delicious recipe from Nathan Outlaw Restaurant, Rock near Wadebridge to tempt the palate and well worth having a go to create this meal for you and your friends. Perfect for those days when the sun has faded and there's a chill in the evening.

For the baby onions

• 20ml white wine
• 20ml white wine vinegar
• 20g sugar
• 2ml water
• 10g Cornish rapeseed oil
• 4 baby onions, peeled and cut in half lengthways
• 10g picked, chopped chervil

1. Place the onions in a small roasting tin cut side down and drizzle with a small amount of oil. Place into an oven at 180C for 4 minutes.
2. Make pickling liquor by placing the white wine, white wine vinegar, sugar and water into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered for 1 minute.
3. Remove onions from the oven and cover with the pickling liquor, the rest of the oil, the chervil and a pinch of salt. Leave to cool.

For the curry sauce

• 15g curry powder
• 500ml rapeseed oil
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 capful white wine
• 2.5 g green chillies
• ¼ small Granny Smith apple
• 100ml fish stock

1. In a small bowl, combine the curry powder and the rapeseed oil.
2. In a second bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and white wine vinegar then very slowly add 400ml of the curry oil taking care not to split the mixture. Retain the rest of the curry oil for serving.
3. Deseed and roughly chop the chillies. Roughly chop the apple.
4. Place all the ingredients in a blender and add the fish stock. Blitz until smooth and pass through a fine sieve. Cover and leave in a cool place until ready to use.

For the savoy cabbage

• 1 savoy cabbage
• 25g unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper
• Water

1. Remove the outer leaves and stalk of the cabbage then slice into thin strips.
2. In a large pan, melt the butter then add the cabbage.
3. Cover and sweat for 3 minutes until just tender. Add a tiny amount of water if the cabbage begins to stick.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

For the cod

• 1 cod (sustainably caught), approximately 1kg, wash, gutted and scaled
• 16 slices pancetta
• Cornish sea salt
• Rapeseed oil for frying

1. Take the cod off the bone and cover with salt then cover it with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Remove from the fridge and wash the salt off. Dry the fish thoroughly with kitchen paper.
3. Heat the oven to 180C.
4. Cut the fish into 4 portions then lay the pancetta on a chopping board so that it is slightly overlapping. Wrap each portion of fish in pancetta.
5. In a large, oven proof frying pan, heat some oil on a medium heat then place the wrapped cod seam side down and cook until sealed. Remove the pan from the heat and put in the oven for 3 minutes.

To serve

1. Warm four dishes and heat the curry sauce gently in a small pan. Divide the sauce between the dishes.
2. Carefully place a good spoonful of the cabbage in the centre of each dish.
3. Drain the baby onions and arrange them on the dishes.
4. Carefully place the cod onto the cabbage.
5. Finally, drizzle with curry oil and serve immediately.

NB: You will have extra mayonnaise and curry oil but these can be kept covered and refrigerated for use within 3 days.