Introduction
This dish fully embodies our mission to serve food that is Serving food that is always seasonal, always cooked from scratch and whenever possible, always local. The cod is caught locally and landed on Hastings beach. The foraged rock samphire is brought to us every few days by one of our heroes, Dave the Forager. The wealth of goodies on our local shorelines is remarkable and Dave never lets us down. The tomatoes are local and pickled by our chefs and then the dish is finished with garlic croutons, which we make from stale bread. We try to waste nothing.
Method
For the Brine
Combine ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil. Wait until all salt is dissolved. Chill for at least 24 hours.
For the pickled heritage tomatoes
Slice the tomatoes into chunks. Add the vinegar, sugar, roasted thyme and garlic. Allow to macerate for 1 hour. Chill and set aside.
For the croutons
Break the sourdough into chunks while heating butter in a frying pan. Add thyme and garlic, then add the bread and cook until crispy and golden. Season with salt and set aside.
For the chive oil
Roughly chop chives and blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds. Add to food processor with extra virgin rapeseed oil and blitz on full power for 1 minute. Strain through fine muslin cloth. Chill and set aside.
For the red onion
Dice and pan fry in rapeseed oil until tender. Season with salt.
To serve
Brine cod portion for 45 mins then pat dry. Pan fry in rapeseed oil skin side down until golden brown. Finish in oven 180C for 4-6 minutes until fully cooked. Add pickled heritage tomatoes, olives, red onion and baby capers to a hot saucepan and fry for 1 min until warmed through. Blanch rock samphire in boiling water for 10s and add to the mixture. Add garlic croutons and a splash of lemon rapeseed oil. Plate up with cod on top and finish with chive oil.
