Stonebass tartare

May 03 2023

Make this beautifully vibrant dish at home, courtesy of Penelope's, an Israeli-Spanish fusion restaurant at the Amano hotel in Covent Garden

Ingredients

750
g cherry tomatoes, halved
80
g cucumber, peeled
80
g red pepper, chopped
10
g garlic, peeled
¼
red chilli, stem removed
15
g tomato purée
½
lemon, juiced
25
ml sherry vinegar
100
ml olive oil
10
ml tarragon oil, plus extra for drizzling (make it by blitzing 20g tarragon with 80ml neutral oil, then strain through a square of muslin)
micro leaves or cress and caviar or fish roe, to serve
175
g habanero chillies, deseeded and chopped
125
g red chillies, deseeded and chopped
20
g dried nora chillies, rehydrated in warm water, stems removed and deseeded, roughly chopped
135
g green tomatoes, chopped
10
g garlic, peeled
45
g tomato purée
50
g caster sugar
25
ml sherry vinegar
20
ml fresh orange juice
15
g flat-leaf parsley
200
g skinless, boneless, stonebass, finely chopped
1 ½
tsp harissa oil (you can use the oil on the surface of a jar of harissa or blend harissa with oil)
1
lemon, juiced

Step 1
To make the charif, fry all of the chillies, the tomatoes and garlic in a pan over a medium heat for 15 mins until soft. Add the tomato purée and sugar, and cook for 15 mins more until you have a thick paste. Stir in the vinegar, orange juice and parsley, then remove from the heat and blitz using a hand blender (or do this in a food processor) until smooth. Cool, then chill until ready to serve.
Step 2
Tip the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, garlic, chilli, tomato purée, lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, tarragon oil and 1/2 tbsp of sugar into a large blender, and blitz until very smooth. Strain, then chill until ready to serve.
Step 3
Mix the stonebass with the harissa oil. When ready to serve, dress the stonebass in some of the lemon juice and salt, then spoon four small piles of the fish each into six shallow bowls. Ladle in the gazpacho, then dot over the charif, garnish with the cress and some caviar, and drizzle with tarragon oil.