You can use just about any fish for this recipe, including sea
scallops, and any spring vegetable such as spinach, chard, or soy beans.

Pan-Fried Pickerel and Char
Serves 2

Ingredients

2 x 3 ounce fillet of char, boneless and trimmed
2 x 3 ounce fillet of pickerel, boneless and trimmed
½ tsp butter
¼ cup fresh garden peas
¼ cup fava beans
Handful of fiddleheads
6 green asparagus, peeled and trimmed
Handful of freshly chopped mint
Handful of pea shoots
Chopped chives
Salt and pepper to taste

Pea purée

1 ½ cups garden peas
1 tbsp minced shallots
¼ cup chopped mint
¼ cup plain yoghurt
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

First, prepare the pea purée by gently simmering peas and shallots for 3 – 4 minutes, until fully cooked.  Add in the mint, drain ? of the water, and purée in a food blender.  Add the yoghurt, adjust the seasoning, and keep warm to one side.  

Next, take a non-stick pan over medium-high heat, and gently sauté the seasoned fillets of fish, skin side down first.  Once the skin has become brown and crisp, turn, continue to cook for one more minute, remove, and keep warm off to one side.  In the same pan, add the blanched green vegetables and sauté quickly using the remaining butter.   Add the freshly chopped mint and pea shoots, and cook for one minute longer.  To serve, place a good amount of the pea purée in the centers of two plates.  Spoon over with the vegetables, add the pan-fried fish, and sprinkle with chopped chives.   Garnish with a quarter of a lemon, and serve.

 Recipe courtesy Michael Bonacini