Recipe: Rene Redzepi's Sweet Water Pike Grilled with Summer Cabbage

Adapted from Rene Redzepi: A Work in Progress

 Phaidon Press, www.phaidon.com

Ingredients

Pike and cabbage parcels

4 small skinless pike

dill oil

salt

dill

verbena leaves

4 large green summer cabbage leaves

Cabbage stems

4 large summer cabbage leaves

Pike bone sauce

bones from 1 pike

grapeseed oil

50g butter, plus extra

4 thyme sprigs

500g white wine

salt

reduced white wine

Verbena Sauce

350g redcurrant wine

120g butter

3.5g honey

salt

10g verbena leaves

70g baby spinach

50g spinach puree

Serving

verbena leaves

rocket (arugula) flowers

ground elder leaves

Instructions

Pike and cabbage parcels

Brush the pike with a little dill oil. Season with salt and cover with dill and verbena leaves. Blanch the cabbage leaves for 10 seconds. Refresh in ice water and dry well. Fold the cabbage leaves around the pike and trim to create a round parcel. Keep at room temperature.

Cabbage stems

Trim away the cabbage leaves from the central stems and discard the leaves. Refresh the stems in ice water.

Butter emulsion

Boil the water. Emulsify the butter into the water.

Pike bone sauce

Rinse the pike bones, dry well and chop. Heat a little oil and sauté the pike bones over high heat. Add a little butter and continue to sauté until evenly colored. Add the thyme and drain off the fat. Add the white wine and reduce by half. Strain and return the sauce to the pan. Add 50g butter and blend with a hand-held blender until frothy. Season the sauce with salt and reduced white wine.

Verbena sauce

Simmer the red currant wine for 2 minutes. Add the butter and honey and cook for another 2 minutes. Blend and season with salt. Cool to room temperature. Blend 200g of the red currant wine sauce base, verbena and baby spinach together. Strain, thicken with the spinach puree and season with salt.

Serving

Warm 4 plates. Chargrill the pike and cabbage parcels for approximately 2 minutes on each side. Brush one side with dill oil. Heat the butter emulsion, add the cabbage stems and cook for 1 minute. Season the stems with salt. Swirl the verbena sauce around in circles on the plates. Place a pike parcel on each plate and arrange a cooked stem next to it. Decorate with verbena leaves, rocket flowers and ground elder leaves and finish with the frothy roasted bone sauce. Serve immediately.