Serves 4
Ingredients
200g butter
400g fresh ceps, cleaned and roughly chopped
50g shallots
700ml milk
Zest of 1 unwaxed organic lemon
2 bay leaves
Espelette pepper
400g cod fillet, cut into 4 equalsized thick chunks
70g cooked and peeled chestnuts, quartered
1 teaspoon maple syrup
70g fresh walnuts salt and freshly ground blackpepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 100C. Put 40g of the butter in a frying pan and place over a medium heat. Add the ceps and fry until golden brown. Add the shallots and season with salt and pepper. Add the milk and simmer over a low heat for 25–30 minutes until soft. Strain the ceps, reserving the milk. Transfer the ceps to a blender and blend, gradually adding the warm milk until you have a velouté with a foamy consistency. Set aside. Melt 130g of the butter in an ovenproof casserole dish and stir in the lemon zest, bay leaves and a pinch of Espelette pepper. Place the cod chunks in the melted butter and baste. Place in the oven for 12–15 minutes, basting regularly until opaque. Meanwhile, melt 30g of the butter in a frying pan over a gentle heat and fry the quartered chestnuts. When golden, stir in the maple syrup. Set aside. Pour the cep velouté into a saucepan and reheat gently over a low heat, stirring all the time. Ladle the velouté into 4 deep serving bowls. Carefully place a piece of fish in the centre of each bowl (it will be extremely fragile after coming out of the oven). Mix the walnuts and chestnuts with a little butter from the fish pan, then scatter around the fish.
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