Dory on Fregola

INGREDIENTS

serves 4

FREGOLA PASTA

you can substitute fregola with store bought risoni or Israeli couscous, or any short pasta you like. or rice.

1 cup semolina flour

1/2 cup water

DORY WITH FREGOLA

1 punnet cherry tomatoes, or baby truss tomatoes

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp salt

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped

3 anchovies, finely chopped

1 tbsp chilli flakes

zest and juice of 1 lemon (1 tbsp of zest set aside)

1/2 cup white wine

Knob of cold butter

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated

1 bunch English Spinach, thoroughly rinsed

6 small dory fillets

Method

Fregola Pasta

This is an abbreviated recipe from Saturday Night Pasta by Elizabeth Hewson. You can find the full version in her book.

Preheat oven to 150’c.

Place semolina flour in a wide, shallow bowl.

Using one hand, sprinkle about 1 tbsp water over flour.

With your other hand, use tips of your fingers to drag the water through the flour. Add a little more water while you keep dragging your fingers through, but not too much. It’s a slow process, more than 15 minutes. Small irregular-shaped balls will start to form as you continue dragging and stirring.

Once you have small, peppercorn-ish sized fregola (no more than 1cm diameter), place them in a single layer on a baking tray. 

Toast in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until it feels dry to the touch. 

Sift through a sieve to seperate any tiny grains.

Dory with Fregola

Preheat oven to 200’c.

Toss tomatoes, 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt and place on a paper lined tray. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, until slightly split.

Place a large frypan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. add parsley, anchovies and chilli flakes and toss well. Cook for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook fregola in boiling, salted water for 8-10 minutes, until al dente.

Add the lemon juice, lemon zest and wine to the aromatic mix. Toss through the cold butter to emulsify. 

Once ready, scoop the fregola straight from the boiling water into the frypan.

Add parmesan cheese to the mix and toss well.

Add 1/4–1/2 cup pasta water to the pan to loosen everything.

Place fregola mix in a large, warmed serving bowl.

In the now empty frypan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and increase heat to high. Add English spinach and toss until just wilted (less than 1 minute). remove from the frypan and Place on top of fregola mix.

Sear dory skin-side down in the frypan for 3 minutes, using a fish weight to prevent the fish curling. (if you don’t have a weight, use a saucepan full of water that sits inside the bigger pan).

Flip fish once and sear the top side for 1 minute. Place on top of spinach in the fregola bowl.

Add the roast tomatoes to the bowl. Add remaining tablespoon of lemon zest and season well.