To prepare the confit oil– preheat an oven to 95°C. Place all the ingredients into a deep roasting pan, cook for 1 hour then remove from the oven and leave to cool. Strain the oil and discard the aromatics. The oil is now ready for use.
To prepare the trout – place the pieces in a tray and pour over the sugar and salt. Mix together well, ensuring all sides of the fish are covered and refrigerate for 1 hour.
To make the roasted eggplant – preheat an oven to 160°C. Split the eggplant lengthways, score the flesh with a knife and rub with olive oil and sea salt. Place the eggplants flesh side down onto a baking tray lined with paper and roast for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly then scoop the flesh out into a bowl. Zest and juice the lemon into the eggplant. Add some olive oil, season with sea salt, stir to combine and set aside.
To confit the trout – preheat an oven to 70°C. Pour the confit oil into a deep roasting pan and put in the oven to warm. Remove the trout from the fridge, wash off the sugar and salt mix and pat dry with a towel. Place the fish pieces into the warm oil making sure that they are fully submerged. Place in the oven for 30 minutes, remove from the oil and set aside.
To make the vinegarette – gently caramelise the honey in a saucepan. Add the orange juice, zest, vinegar, salt and pepper. Reduce the liquid until it’s slightly syrupy. Whisk in the grape seed oil and saffron. Remove from the heat, let cool slightly, place in an air tight container and set aside.
To serve – start by placing some of the eggplant onto 6 plates or a large platter. Scatter over some salad leaves and arrange around some tomatoes and radish slices. Flake the confit trout over the top and finish with some orange segments and a drizzle of the vinegarette.
6 radishes, thinly sliced
250g green salad leaves
3 oranges, segmented
600g heirloom tomatoes, chopped into various shapes
oil for confit
1L grape seed oil
1L extra virgin olive oil
1 fennel bulbs, sliced
2 lemons
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
4 fresh bay leaves
confit trout
1 large ocean trout fillet, skin removed, pin boned and cut into 6 pieces
500g table salt
500g white sugar
roasted eggplant
4 medium eggplants
1 lemon
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
orange and saffron vinegarette
zest of and juice of 1 orange
80ml honey
80ml Banyuls vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
½ teaspoon pink pepper, ground
120ml grape seed oil
a pinch of saffron