This dish from Newington Green's Perilla ticks all the flavour boxes: delicate sweetness from the red mullet, saltiness from the lardo, bitterness from the radicchio leaves, and umami from the kombu sauce – and you can whip it all together in about half an hour. Easy.
Make Perilla's red mullet with lardo and radicchio
It's a blessing when a recipe is impressive, quick and simple, like this flavoursome red mullet from Ben Marks at Perilla
Serves 2
Preparation time 10 mins
Cooking time 15 mins
Ingredients
- 2 fillets of mullet
- A head of radicchio
- A mixture of radicchio leaves
- 1 slice of lardo
- 1 piece of kombu seaweed
- A few sprigs of wild fennel
- A few leaves of purple and green basil
- ½ pomegranate
- 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 1 tbsp good olive oil
- 1 tbsp vinaigrette
Method
- Infuse the kombu in 100ml of water at 60°C for an hour
- To make the sauce, grill the head of radicchio in chunks on both sides until black, then blend half into the kombu stock with the pomegranate seeds. Pass through a sieve, add the olive oil, and season with lemon juice.
- Chop the remaining grilled radicchio finely and season with sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Grill the mullet until just cooked; spoon on a teaspoon of the chopped grilled radicchio and lay a few sprigs of wild fennel on top.
- Place the lardo on top and melt it quickly under the grill.
- Make a salad with the mixed radicchio leaves and basil, then dress with the vinaigrette.
- Warm the sauce and drizzle over the plate. Then place the cooked mullet on top, and scatter over the radicchio and basil leaves.
Recipe by chef Ben Marks; perilladining.co.uk
