Alain Ducasse: Küstenfisch im Ofen

A recipe according to Alain Ducasse. The great master’s chicken stock is a must, so if you plan to prepare one of his recipes, always have a stock of this nature at hand.

The lemon pulp gives the dish a wonderful acidity, quite different from “ordinary” lemon juice.
The original recipe calls for dried cod, which I unfortunately didn’t have in the house, but it tastes excellent as it is. Piment d’Espelette adds a refined piquancy to the fish. Preheat the oven to the highest setting and baste the fish with the jus.

Preparation time: 60 minutes

Ingredients for 3 people:

3 sea bream or dorade
3 slices of country ham, thinly sliced

For the jus

1⁄2 onion
1 fresh clove of garlic
250 ML chicken stock
4 stalks parsley
4 leaves rocket
10 G brown butter
Salt, pepper
1 sprig dried fennel
100 ML white wine

For the lemon pulp

3 lemons
20 G sugar

Preparation:

Jus

Leave some olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the finely chopped onion until translucent and the very thinly sliced garlic.
Pour in the wine and chicken stock. Add the dried fennel and season with salt and pepper. Add the parsley. Reduce slightly and put to one side.

Lemon pulp

Cut one lemon into pieces. Squeeze the other two. Puree everything together with the sugar in a blender. Then cook slowly over a low heat until all the liquid has evaporated.

Fish

Salt the inside of the fish and place it in a dish. Pour in the jus and add the ham.
Preheat the oven to 250°C and cook for 15 minutes. Baste 3 times during cooking. Check the cooking, transfer to a plate and leave to rest for 8 minutes.

Transfer the cooking juices from the mould to a sauté pan and heat briefly, add a little more chicken stock and season with the lemon purée. Add a pinch of piment d’Espelette at the end and serve immediately.