Some cooks have signature dishes, and some cooks have a signature style which underpins everything they cook, and some lucky cooks have both. Susan Holland, chef at The Customs House in Baltimore, west Cork, has both. For proof, you only have to eat the brilliant fish cookery this chef produces, to see a culinary intelligence and adaptability which is thrilling.
She has, for example, completely revitalised the idea of brandade de morue - the classic salt fish dish - by taking the process right back to basics and beginning by salting her own fish. The result is a lightness and freshness which delights.
But then, lightness and freshness are the words which you can't stop yourself from repeating when you eat Sue Holland's food. We had dinner with some Australian friends in the restaurant earlier this year, and they described the fish cookery as "real Australian", by which they meant the utter concentration on fresh, zinging, flavours.
But if Sue Holland's Aussie background has gifted her with this focus on bright, fresh flavours, she has in fact successfully plundered a European repertoire to create her cookery. The recipe for salmoriglio originates in Sicily. One of her other signature sauces - served with fillets of john dory and brill - is the classic sauce vierge, a great French staple. She is unusual in serving the provencale tapenade with fish, but the combination is age-old, and magnificent.
And yet acknowledging the sources doesn't in any way do justice to the magic of the sauces. They succeed because they are so direct, so simple, so appropriate. The very lack of complication, and their ability to work perfectly with fresh fish, is the secret of their success - they are almost more like dressings than sauces, and when you use them, you will find that your fish is perfectly dressed. Marcella Hazan, writing about using salmoriglio with grilled swordfish - the Sicilian fish of choice - describes it perfectly when she writes that "there can be no simpler way to sauce a fish than with this clear, silken wash, wherein are dissolved the cool zest of lemon and oregano's sultry fragrance. There is certainly none more enticing to the nose and palate". When that salmoriglio hits the hot pan in which the fish has been cooked and is then poured over cooked turbot fillet, then the very best sort of culinary alchemy happens - this is an irresistible combination.
But the citrus and herb dressing, the lively saltiness of the tapenade, and the splendidly simple herb oils which are also a feature of the food in The Customs House, are just as enticing to the nose and palate. This is cooking full of urgent, immediate flavours, just the sort of food to seize upon in summertime. With ingredients such as red mullet and tapenade, and grilled salmon and fennel, and roast cod with basil, and turbot or tuna with salmoriglio, you only need the tiniest bit of sunshine, and good rose wine, and you have a little bit of culinary heaven.
The Customs House, Baltimore, west Cork (028-20200)
Salmoriglio
This sauce can be brushed over thin steaks of grilled fish such as tuna. Sue Holland serves it with oven roasted turbot. She writes: "After removing the fish to a hot plate, I add the sauce to the cooking pan to mingle the flavours of the fish and sauce (this can splash if the pan is very hot - be careful!) The mixture is then poured over the fish, which is then garnished with the capers and oregano."
pinch of salt
juice of two lemons (about 30ml)
zest of two lemons
60ml extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
To make the sauce: put the salt, lemon juice and lemon zest into a bowl, whisk until salt is dissolved. Add oil slowly, blending well with lemon juice and zest. Add pepper.
Citrus and Herb Dressing
This sauce is especially good with monkfish, which is what Sue Holland recommends, but I found that if any is left over, it is also very successful as a dressing for warm haricot beans. When buying your fish, ask for some bones from white fish for making the stock. The main rule about fish stock is that it should never be cooked for too long, or else it will turn bitter: don't simmer it like a meat stock.
60ml extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
juice of 11/2 oranges, 1 lemon and 1 lime plus zest
pinch of salt
ground pepper
200ml fish stock
1 teaspoon pink, dry peppercorns
Handful of mixed, fresh herbs: basil; tarragon; flat-leaf parsley; marjoram; chives; sage.
Gently heat the olive oil and citrus juices with garlic in a small saucepan. Add 200ml of fish stock. Reduce by half. Add cold, diced butter to mount the sauce, shaking the pan all the time. When thick, add the zest and peppercorns. Chop the chives and tear the other herb leaves into small pieces. Add to the sauce, then pour over grilled fish.
Tapenade
Named after the capers (tapeno in Provence) which go into it. This is delicious over red mullet served with new potatoes.
200g pitted black olives
4 anchovy fillets
30g capers
cloves of garlic (to taste)
100ml extra virgin olive oil
pepper and a little lemon juice to taste
No salt!
Puree all the ingredients, and then add more oil to thin to desired consistency.
Herb Oils
BASIL OIL:
Susan Holland serves this drizzled over grilled salmon, accompanied by braised fennel.
125g basil
250ml extra virgin olive oil
Liquidise the ingredients in a blender. Add salt and pepper. Add more oil if the basil oil is too thick.
PARSLEY OIL:
This goes well with roast cod and in mashed potatoes.
125g flat leaf parsley
250ml extra virgin olive oil
Liquidise the ingredients in a blender. Add salt and pepper. Add more oil if the parsley oil is too thick.