Mussel man (From Living Northeast)

Mussel man

1:15pm Monday 19th July 2010 in

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Restaurateur Rob Green has been hooked on cooking since he was young, he tells Ruth Addicott.

THE scent of the sea fills the air as Rob Green makes light work of peeling a lobster. He adds the normally tricky blighters to a steaming, ruby-rich stock as fillets of sea bass and scallops bubble ferociously in a nearby iron skillet.

Rob doesn’t just cook fish: the owner of multi-awardwinning Green’s Restaurant in Whitby lives it.

He scurries around the kitchen, guiding us through the intricacies of his signature dishes. The secret of filleting, he says, is having a go. “Don’t be afraid of getting some fish and practising. Get a knife that you feel comfortable with – and that doesn’t necessarily mean the most expensive one. I only use two or three knives in the kitchen, but I’ve been filleting for 15 years so I’m very comfortable with them.”

The recipe Rob demonstrates appears intricate, but once the scary task is achieved, it’s surprisingly easy to cook. And that is something that fits well with Rob’s approach to food.

“You need to keep it relaxed, keep things simple and use good-quality local ingredients. For me, 90 per cent of good cooking is about good shopping and I’m fortunate because the fish from Whitby is outstanding. The trawlers only go out on short trips so everything is really fresh.”

Rob has been based in Whitby for ten years and having been interested in seafood cooking since he was young, his career choice was an obvious one. He gets the majority of fish – squid, langoustines, halibut and turbot, fresh off the quay every morning – and is keen to support the local economy.

“It’s perfect because we’re supporting the local fishing community,” he says. “The fleet isn’t as big as it was, but that is more down to quotas than stocks of fish.”

Rob says he would like to see an increase in more responsible fishing and for fishermen to get paid well for what they do.

Since he opened the restaurant in Whitby ten years ago, he has also noticed the impact of climate change.

“We are getting things off the quay now that we’ve never had before, like red mullet,” he says. “We wouldn’t have got that ten years ago.”

Times are good for Rob; he’s the national seafood chef of the year, was asked to represent Yorkshire at April’s Enjoy England awards and Green’s was named best restaurant in the 2010 Northern Hospitality awards.

So what’s his secret?

“I think consistency is the keyword and there is an honesty which runs throughout our business. Yes, there’s always a bit of French going on in any restaurant, but over the years we have grown into our own style of cooking to produce simple, quality, local seafood.

“We don’t put a label on the style of food on our menus; we just use the best of everything on our doorstep. Combining a blend of flavours with culinary imagination is at the heart of it all and the big thing is to make sure the main ingredient shines.”

He believes presentation is important and not just in restaurants. Food may be all about taste, but people eat with their eyes to some extent. It’s about first impressions and to prove the point Rob pulls together all the ingredients with a complex mix of melt-in-themouth sea bass and robust lobster, countered with delicate queen scallops suffused in sublime lobster stock; the beer-battered crispy claw is a revelation.

It’s a masterpiece to look at… and it tastes divine.

■Greens of Whitby, 13 Bridge Street, Whitby.

greensofwhitby.com

Fillets of sea bass with a little lobster salad, crispy claw, lobster sauce and poached scallops

Serves 2

2 fillets of wild sea bass

1 cooked lobster, split in half, tail meat removed, claws cracked and shells reserved

10 queen scallops, taken from the shell, cleaned and rinsed

2 little gem lettuce leaves

1 tablespoon of good mayonnaise

For the batter

Half-pint of lager

25g self-raising flour

Good pinch salt

1 tablespoon malt vinegar

For the lobster sauce

Shells and head of the lobster

3 tablespoons olive oil

Half a medium onion, finely chopped

Half a celery stick, chopped

One small garlic clove

One lemongrass stem, chopped

Pinch saffron strands

One teaspoon Cognac

100ml Noilly Prat, or dry vermouth

Half-litre fish stock

Two plum tomatoes

Two teaspoons tomato puree

One basil sprig

One tarragon sprig

One parsley sprig

One small bay leaf

50ml double cream

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

METHOD

To make sauce

Chop up lobster shells and head, using heavy knife – the finer you chop, the more flavour. Heat half the olive oil in a large saucepan and saute lobster head and shells for five minutess. Remove and set aside. Heat remaining oil in the pan, then add vegetables, garlic and lemon grass. Saute for about five minutes until softened. Sprinkle in saffron and cook for 30 seconds. Deglaze with the cognac, add the Noilly Prat, and bubble and reduce by half. Return shells to pan. Add stock, tomatoes, tomato puree and herbs. Season with pepper to taste. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 mins. Strain liquor through large sieve into another pan, pressing shells with a ladle to extract as much flavour as possible. Bring strained liquor to the boil and simmer until reduced to about 300ml. Stir in cream and bring to gentle simmer. Check seasoning, adding salt to taste.

To make batter

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth

Cooking sea bass and lobster claw

Place a non-stick pan on a medium heat with a little olive oil. When hot, add small knob of butter and put in seasoned seabass fillets, skin side down. Cook for two-three minutes, depending on thickness, and turn over and cook for a further minute. Pre-heat a deep fat-fryer to 180C. Dust lobster claws in flour, dip into batter and cook until golden brown. Warm sauce and place the queen scallops in for two minutes.

Putting it all together

Place the lettuce leaves together on the plate and top with some of the tail meat. Top with a spoonful of mayonnaise. Place cooked bass fillets on the plate and place a claw on top. Take scallops from sauce and place around the plate. Spoon sauce around the scallops.