pan-seared sable with cucumber and carrot salad, fried rice croquette, barrel-aged soy and lemon oil
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pan-seared sable with cucumber and carrot salad, fried rice croquette, barrel-aged soy and lemon oil

By January 24, 2024

Recipe courtesy of Andrew Haapala, Executive Chef, The Country Club of Virginia (Richmond, Va.)

Ingredients

Instructions

Procedure for sable:

  1. Clean the fish, leaving the skin on, and season lightly with salt and white pepper.
  2. Sear skin side down until crispy.
  3. Finish in oven.

Procedure for fried rice cake:

  1. Fold the rice, vegetables and pork belly together and season with salt and pepper to taste. Optionally, add more sushi vinegar and sesame oil as a dressing. The rice should resemble a ‘salad’ rather than a traditional fried rice.
  2. In a blender, purée the panko and chlorophyll until the breadcrumbs turn a bright, pastel green and become extremely fine.
  3. Press the rice mixture into a silicone mold of choice and freeze it.
  4. Once frozen solid, coat the rice cake first in the fine breadcrumbs, then in egg white, and finally in fresh breadcrumbs until it is completely covered.
  5. To cook, let the rice cake rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, then fry it at 320°F until it is crispy and maintains a bright-green color.

Procedure for char siu pork belly:

  1. Begin by curing the pork belly for 8 hours using the char siu cure. Combine all the ingredients for the cure, except for the pork belly, and set aside.
  2. After the pork belly has been cured for 8 hours, rinse off the cure and pat the pork belly dry.
  3. Place the pork belly in large cryovac bags. Pour a generous amount of the marinade into each bag with the pork belly.
  4. Seal the cryovac bags, ensuring that the seals are clean and secure. Let the pork belly marinate for 24 hours.
  5. After 24 hours, prepare an immersion circulator and set it to 180°F.
  6. Once the circulator reaches the desired temperature, place the pork belly in the water bath, making sure it is completely submerged. Cook for 6 hours.
  7. After cooking, remove the pork belly from the circulator and allow it to cool down.
  8. Once cooled, place the pork belly in a hotel pan. Cover it with another hotel pan and weigh it down overnight.

Procedure for sushi rice vinegar:

  1. Heat the mixture gently, stirring until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved.
  2. Allow the mixture to cool before use.

Procedure for chlorophyll:

  1. To make chlorophyll powder, start by washing 500 gms. (1.1 lb) of fresh, fully developed, and healthy leaves of your choice. Add 1 liter (4 cups) of cold water to a blender. Blend the leaves and water together and then strain the purée through a cheesecloth, collecting the liquid extract. Squeeze the cheesecloth with your hands to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard any solid particles left in the cheesecloth. (Chef’s note: Blending is easier if you use at least twice as much water as the volume of the leaves.)
  2. Simmer the collected liquid extract over medium heat. This will curdle the chlorophyll-holding proteins in the extract. Look for green curdles containing chlorophyll to appear atop the clarified reddish liquid. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes until the curdles form. Strain out the chlorophyll curdles and press them to squeeze out excess liquid. Discard the reddish-brown liquid.
  3. Rinse the chlorophyll curdles gently in cold water and strain them again through a cheesecloth, squeezing out excess liquid by hand. This step helps remove water-soluble red pigments, resulting in a brighter-green chlorophyll powder. Spread the wet, green curdle in a thin layer on wax paper and place it in an oven or dehydrator to dry at 130°F for 1-2 hours, or until completely dry. The extract is sufficiently dry when the granules are rock hard and dark, almost black.
  4. Finally, grind the dry extract in a coffee grinder until you achieve a fine powder. The resulting chlorophyll powder will be a forest-green color.

Procedure for cucumber salad:

  1. Use a Japanese spiralizer without the shredding blades to create delicate, 4-inch-long ribbons from the cucumber.
  2. Blanch the carrots in salted water until they are al dente, then shock them in cold water. Shave the carrots into delicate ribbons using a peeler or a French mandolin.
  3. Fold all the ingredients together 30 minutes before serving and season to taste. Strain off any excess liquid before plating.

Procedure for tuile:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the egg white and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the butter until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in the chlorophyll powder.
  2. Spread the mixture into the mold of choice and bake for 2 to 4 minutes.

To assemble:

  1. To assemble the dish, start by placing the warm fried rice croquette in the center of the plate.
  2. Next, carefully arrange the cucumber salad in a complete circle around the croquette.
  3. Lightly brush the sable with a bit of lemon oil and place it on top of the croquette, ensuring the skin side is facing upwards.
  4. Finish by topping the fish with the tuile.
  5. Vigorously shake the remaining lemon oil and barrel-aged soy together, then drizzle this mixture around the plate.
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