Crispy skinned-fish is easier than you might think. Robbie has a few tips to help you create a restaurant-worthy meal in your own kitchen, any night of the week. Start by drying the fish fillet carefully with some paper towel and season generously with salt; you need to use salt not only for flavour but also to help dry the surface out, getting you much closer to crispy skin. You can do this earlier in the day and leave it uncovered in the fridge if you have the time.

Another hot tip (see what we did there) is to make sure you pre-heat the pan so it’s already to go when you add the oil and fish. Cooking the salmon fillet skin-side down for most of the way through insulates the delicate flesh from the direct heat, resulting in a moist interior and a crispy skin.

Ingredients

• 1 small leek, sliced medium-thin and washed well
• 100g butter
• Olsson’s Sea Salt Flakes, freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• extra virgin olive oil
• 150g salmon fillet, skin on, lightly oiled and salted both sides
• 2 tablespoons Gutsy Ferments Organic Apple Radish Kimchi

 Method

1. Begin by sautéing the slice leek in a generous amount of butter, seasoning well with salt flakes and freshly cracked black pepper. Stir regularly until they soften and cook down but without taking on much colour.
2. Bring the temperature of the pan up to a medium-high heat for several minutes before adding a small amount of oil. Lay the fish fillet down gently but confidently skin side down and hold it flat with a weight of some sort (a plate works just fine) for 20 seconds. This ensures the entire bottom surface makes good contact with the pan. By keeping an eye on the side of the fillet, you can see the colour changes from the outside towards the interior as it cooks.
   When it’s mostly cooked but still with a rare interior (3-4 minutes), flip it over and finish on the second side (1-2 minutes). Avoid moving the fish around too much, lest it begin to break apart. To cook a fillet to medium-rare (the generally preferred result) should take 5-6 minutes all up.
3. To plate, add a couple of heaped spoonfuls of Apple Radish Kimchi onto a plate, a small pile of cooked leeks and place the fish skin side up upon the leeks. Carefully spoon some of the delicious buttery leek liquor around.