A sweet and sour sauce of modish verjuice, honey and elderflower complements delicately flavoured black cod in this elegant recipe from Pascal Aussignac. The chef's signature crunchy grapes round off this glazed black cod recipe with aplomb.
To prepare the verjuice sauce, boil the lemon juice with the honey and elderflower syrup for a minute, then add the verjuice and simmer for approximately 10 minutes until reduced by half. Remove from the heat and add a small pinch of the grated beetroot. Leave to stand for 30 minutes, then strain through a fine sieve into a small bowl and set aside
Add the sugar to a frying pan and place over a medium heat. Once the sugar has melted, add the grapes to the pan, followed by the powder mix, then stir until the grapes are nicely coated
Tip the grapes out onto a sheet of baking paper, making sure that they are well spread out and do not clump together. Leave to cool and crisp up
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For the artichoke purée, cut the artichokes into evenly sized chunks and boil in lightly salted water with the lemon juice for 10-15 minutes until tender
Pour the mixture into a food processor or blender and blitz until smooth. Using the back of a ladle, rub the purée through a sieve into a heatproof bowl and keep warm
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Once ready to serve, preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
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Rub the fillets in olive oil and add to a roasting pan, skin-side down
olive oil
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Season, pour over the verjuice sauce and place in the oven. Cook for approximately 10 minutes, spooning over the sauce twice during cooking so that the fish is nicely glazed and the flesh feels firm when pressed
Reheat the artichoke purée and divide onto 4 warm plates. Top with the black cod fillets and garnish with the crunchy grapes. Drizzle the remaining sauce around each plate and serve immediately
