Shay Cooper's glorious crusted brill recipe coats the delicate flatfish in a textural hazelnut crust and serves simply with Jerusalem artichoke purée and ceps. A dish that will excel on an autumnal evening.
Begin by preparing the crust. Sauté the sliced button mushrooms in a hot frying pan with 10g of the butter until soft and tender. Remove and allow to cool
Place the sautéed mushrooms in a food processor along with the hazelnuts (reserving a few hazelnuts for garnish) and blitz until coarsely chopped. Add the remaining butter, breadcrumbs and truffle oil and blitz until smooth
Remove the mix from the blender and place onto a sheet of baking parchment. Place another piece of baking parchment over the mix and roll out to a thickness of 2mm. Place the sheet of crust into the freezer for 2 hours, or until completely frozen
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For the Jerusalem artichoke purée, place the sliced artichokes in a heavy-based saucepan with the cream and cook over a gentle heat until tender - this should take approximately 45 minutes
Remove from the heat, strain and reserve the cooking liquid. Place the cooked artichoke in a blender with a dash of cooking liquid and blitz until smooth. Season, add lemon juice to taste and set aside
Before serving, remove the sheet of nut and mushroom crust from the freezer and discard the top sheet of baking parchment. Place onto a chopping board and lay the brill fillets on top of the crust
Use a sharp knife to cut around the fillets and through the crust to create perfectly fitting portions of crust for each fillet. Turn the fillets over so the crust is facing upwards
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Place the fillets onto a baking tray greased with olive oil and cook in the oven for 6-8 minutes
olive oil for greasing
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Meanwhile, place a non-stick pan over a medium heat and add a dash of olive oil. Once the oil is hot, sauté the ceps until golden, season with salt and pepper and set aside
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ceps, firm, 'bouchon', sliced in half lengthways
Reheat the Jerusalem artichoke purée in a pan until warmed through
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Spoon a nice mound of the purée across the centre of each plate. Top with the brill fillets, arrange the sautéed ceps around the fish along with the remaining hazelnuts and leaves. Serve immediately
One of England’s up-and-coming, ultra-talented chefs with Michelin pedigree, Shay Cooper started cooking as a commis chef in 1997, before he was even out of school.
