Pan Fried Red Mullet with Potatoes & Aioli

Red mullet if not a fish I tend to see often in supermarkets in London; you have to head to a fishmongers usually. Which is a shame as its a beautiful fish. Much loved in the Mediterranean, I decided to make this as a sort of tapas dish - simply pan fried, served on some garlic and lemon potato with a lovely garlic aioli. Serve either as part of a mixed platter of tapas, or just have for lunch with some salad, bread and a glass of crisp white wine. Delicious!

Ingredients:

Red mullet fillets, scaled and boned
2 tbsp. flour
salt & pepper

Dip the fish into the flour and shake off the excess. Heat the oil to hot in a large frying pan and pan fry the fish. Skin side down first for 2 minutes, then the other side until crisp. Keep warm.

For the potatoes:

1 large potato, peeled and sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
juice of 1/2 lemon
1-2 tbsp. olive oil

Set the oven to 190 C. In a bowl, gently mix together the potatoes with the garlic, lemon and oil. Season and put onto a baking sheet. cook for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice to toss in the oil, until cooked. Serve on a plate with the fish on top.


For the garlic aioli:

4 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp. sea salt
2 egg yolks
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup (240ml) extra virgin olive oil

Crush the garlic on a board with the salt until a paste. Put into a bowl with the egg yolks and using a hand blender on a low speed, slowly add the oil in a steam until incorporated. Do the same with the lemon juice until you have a creamy mix.