A festive fish supper

This Christmas, be sure to try this delectable recipe from the training chefs at Truro and Penwith College’s Senara restaurant.

As Truro and Penwith College trains the big-name chefs of tomorrow, the team at Senara Restaurant share a delicious alternative to the classic Christmas dinner recipe.

The Senara team is passionate about food and outstanding service, opening for lunch from 12pm until 2pm, Tuesday to Friday, as well as on Friday evenings from 6pm (during term time).

Pan fried hake with devilled butter, Christmas inspired sprout tops with pancetta and cauliflower puree

Ingredients

Hake

• 4 180g portions of hake
• 20ml light rapeseed oil
• Pinch of Cornish sea salt

Devilled butter

• 150g Cornish salted butter
• Pinch of chilli powder
• Pinch of Spanish smoked paprika
• Pince of mace
• Zest of ½ lemon
• 8 chopped capers
• 3 shakes of Henderson’s sauce

Pancetta sprout tops

• 4 pieces air-dried pancetta
• 200g sprout tops
• 20g Cornish salted butter

Cauliflower puree

• 1 cauliflower cut into florets
• Enough milk to cover
• 1 bay leaf
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 50g Cornish salted butter

Method

• Devilled butter

Mix all the ingredients together before rolling into a log using cling film and storing in the freezer.

• Cauliflower puree

Sweat the cauliflower in butter until lightly caramelised. Add the milk and bay leaf and leave to simmer until the cauliflower becomes soft. Remove the bay leaf, blitz and pass through a sieve. Season to taste.

• Pancetta sprout tops

Prepare by removing any woody external leaves and pull any remaining leaves away from stalk. Cut out the woody stem from each leaf and set aside. Next, put the pancetta on a baking tray and grill until crispy, then thinly slice.

• Hake

Season, using salt on the skin, which will draw out some of the moisture. Place the hake skin-side down onto a non-stick frying pan with 20ml light rapeseed oil. Cook the fish on a medium heat and watch the hake turn from pink to white halfway up the flesh.

At this point, warm up the cauliflower puree, blanch the sprout tops in boiling salted water for two minutes. After two minutes, take the sprout tops out and drop into a pan with the salted butter and sliced cooked pancetta. Turn the fish over to flesh-side down, add the devilled butter to the pan and baste the fish until the butter is foaming. Finally, remove from the heat and serve.

EXPERIENCE

Prices start at just £6 for two courses and £8 for three at lunchtime. You can pick up daily takeaway lunches for a mere £2.50, and on Friday evenings, three courses are still only £16!