InterContinental Abu Dhabi’s Belgian Café is excited to introduce their new sous chef, Daragh Lawlor. Chef Lawlor says this dish uses a local fish for a delicate taste and “represents a fusion of European and Middle Eastern cuisine”.

Ingredients:

• 200g hammour fillet OR for a sustainable alternative to hammour, why not try Yanam (sordid sweetlips).
• 14g pommery mustard
• 56g fresh breadcrumbs
• 7g fresh tarragon
• 2g salt and 1g black pepper
• One tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Light cream sauce:

• 250 ml fresh cream
• Juice of one large lemon
• 1g salt
• 1g white pepper
• 28g finely chopped shallots
• Garnish:
• Ten asparagus spears
• Two medium sized new potatoes
• Plum tomatoes julienne
• Lemon wedge

Method:

1. Season hammour with salt and pepper
2. Place in pan, cook at high heat for one minute on each side until golden brown. Remove pan from heat.
3. Place fish on an oiled baking tray
4. Spread pommery mustard over fish
5. Mix fresh breadcrumbs, tarragon, salt, black pepper and virgin olive oil. Use this paste to cover the fish
6. Place in oven, at 180C for ten to 12 minutes, until the fish is cooked all the way through
7. Sautee shallots until transparent, add fresh cream, reduce by two thirds and squeeze in juice of one whole lemon
8. Place asparagus spears into a pan of boiling salted water for one or two minutes until they are tender to the bite
9. Cut new potatoes into quarters, coat with a small amount of virgin olive oil, add salt and pepper, roast in oven 170 C for nine to 12 minutes
10. Cut an X on top of plum tomatoes, drop in a pan of boiling water for ten to 12 seconds, remove from pan, place in a bowl of cold water, remove skin, cut into quarters, remove seeds and julienne (slice into thin strips)
11. Place sauce on plate, fan out asparagus spears, lay fish on top, roasted potatoes on left side, julienne tomatoes on right, garnish with wedge of lemon

Check out our very own Tried and Tested review of this recipe below.

Tried and Tested: Mustard Crusted Hammour

Being big seafood lover's we were excited about testing out Chef Lawlor's recipe. We even managed to locate everything at the store without any major fuss except for fresh tarragon and instead opted to use dried. We also used seasoned breadcrumbs as that was all we had on hand. The process itself was pretty straightforward and easy to replicate.

We were a bit surprised that the recipe called for us to pan fry the fish first before coating it with the breadcrumbs but convinced ourselves it must make it healthier. And indeed when the fish came out of the oven the crust was just as crunchy without being oily.

Once the fish was golden brown we spread the mustard over the fish and then dunked it into the bread mixture. We would suggest using less breadcrumbs or to just use as much as required to coat your fillets nicely as we ended up having more than our fair share of it leftover and had to bin the rest.

The fillets of hammour we had purchased were quite thick and so the cooking time did take much longer than the recipe listed. If you end up using a large fillet or one that is thick, do adjust the cooking times accordingly to ensure the fish cooks all the way through. Otherwise you may just end up having to tuck your tail under your chair and pop some undercooked fish back into the oven after you've already had your guest sample it. Not that we're speaking from experience or anything...

We served our hammour with baby corn, asparagus and bread on the side. It was quite tasty and the mustard flavour really did pair nicely with the lemon cream sauce. Due to the fact that we did end up making a real mess of the cooking times we'd have to give it three out of four spoons.