Roasted King George Whiting
with spicy gazpacho and pearl barley salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 8 fillets King George Whiting (can use other whiting fillets if you wish)
• 1 cup pearl barley
• 1 kg ripe tomatoes
• 1 large heirloom tomato (beefsteak are good)
• 6 baby cucumbers
• 1 continental cucumber
• 2 red capsicums
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 red chilli
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 10 stuffed green olives
• 1 clove garlic
• 4 slices of sourdough rye bread (must be sourdough – can use a white sourdough)
• parsley
• spring onion
• olive oil
• salt
• 30 ml sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 1 lemon

Method:

Preparing the whiting fillets

1. Using a knife, remove the section of small bones from the whiting fillets, season with salt and pepper.
2. Placing skin-side up, roll into parcels from the tail end of the fillet.
3. Cover a roasting tray with baking paper and place each fillet join-side down on the tray.
4. Put in the fridge for an hour.

The Salad

1. Slice the baby cucumbers lengthways, and season with salt and set aside for 10 mins.
2. After 10 mins, rinse off the salt. The cucumber should become more pliable to roll up into little cylinders.
3. Blister the capsicum skin, then place in a bowl and cover with cling film and let sit for 10 mins to cool down.
4. After 10 minutes, peel and deseed the capsicum.
5. In a saucepan, add 1 and ½ cups of water and the pearl barley. Cook over a low to medium heat until water is absorbed. Once cooked, put a lid on and set aside.
6. Next prepare the gazpacho. Using a spice grinder, blend the cumin and coriander seeds. Add cumin and coriander to a blender along with roughly chopped 1kg ripe tomatoes, continental cucumber, roasted capsicum, chilli, garlic, sherry vinegar and 30 ml olive oil, blend until you have a liquid. Remove the crusts from the bread, roughly cut and add to the blender, and blend once more until all combined. Season with salt. Optional: For a more refined finish you can pass through a sieve. This step wasn’t used for the photo shown above.
7. Leave gazpacho at room temperature until ready to serve.
8. Once the pearl barley has cooled, dress with a little olive oil, salt, sliced green olives, parsley, sliced spring onion and a squeeze of lemon.

Cooking the whiting and plating

1. When your whiting is ready to cook, pre heat your oven to 180 Celsius, drizzle with a touch of olive oil and bake for 10-15 mins until done.
2. Slice the heirloom tomato in four, and season with salt and pepper.
3. Add one slice of heirloom tomato in the middle of a shallow bowl, top with the pearl barley salad and carefully place the whiting on top.
4. Generously spoon the gazpacho around the bottom of the bowl, and then add the cucumber cylinders.
5. Garnish with a little sliced spring onion and olive oil.