German haute cuisine dishes, inspired by nature, that’s the signature style of chef Nils Henkel. With his ‘Pure Nature’ approach, he plays with textures and flavourful surprises, putting seasonal herbs and vegetables in the spotlights. Henkel’s kingfish, coriander and grapefruit dish, showcases the true value and variety of flavours of the main ingredients. And we are lucky enough to share this recipe with you so you can have some great home cooking adventures.
Recipe: Kingfish with a coriander biscuit, grapefruit gel and coriander oil
Ingredients & preparation: Coriander Biscuit
Ingredients:
- 180 g egg white
- 65 g macadamia puree
- 25 g almond semolina
- 20 g sugar
- 4 g salt
- 40 g flour
- 15 g egg white powder
- 100 g spinach, blanched
- 75 g coriander leaves
- 1 tbsp ground coriander grains
- 1 tsp Hacoweiß
- chlorophyll, liquid
- 10 g lime juice
- pepper, white
Preparation:
- Mix all ingredients in the Thermomix for about 2 minutes to a smooth dough and season to taste.
- Pass the mixture through a sieve and pour into an ISI siphon (0.5 litres).
- Add two N2O capsules and chill for 12 hours.
- Fill one third of each paper cup with the sponge cake from the siphon, place on a plate and bake in the microwave at 900 W for about 40 seconds.
- Slide the sponge cake out of the cup and wrap immediately in cling film to prevent the dough from drying out.
Ingredients & preparation: Grapefruit gel
Ingredients:
- 120 g grapefruit skin
- 750 g grapefruit juice
- 150 g sugar
- 15 g Agar Agar
- 50 g grapefruit vinegar
- 8 g salt
Preparation:
- Blanch the grapefruit skin four times in light sugar water.
- Bring the grapefruit peel, grapefruit juice, sugar and Agar Agar to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Add the grapefruit vinegar and salt and puree finely in the Thermomix.
- Pour through a sieve into a deep vessel and allow to cool.
- Then mix smooth in the Thermomix and put into squeeze bottles.
Ingredients & preparation: Coriander Oil
Ingredients:
- 50 g spinach leaves
- 200 g rapeseed oil
- 50 g coriander leaves
Preparation:
- Cook the spinach leaves in highly salted water for about 1 minute and then quench in ice water.
- Squeeze well and puree with the rapeseed oil and coriander leaves for about 3 minutes at 75°C in the Thermomix at maximum speed.
- Place the puree on ice, leave to cool for 24 hours and then run through a micro sieve.
Ingredients & preparation: Kingfish (5 pers.)
Ingredients:
- 250 g kingfish fillet (yellowfin mackerel)
- 250 g celery sticks
- 1 chilli
- 1 grapefruit
- grapefruit gel
- coriander biscuit
- coriander oil
- Coriander stain:
- 100 g celery sticks
- 100 g sea salt
- 50 g raw cane sugar
- 20 g fresh coriander
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander grains
- 5 peppercorns
- 1 lime juice and peel abrasion
- Ceviche vinaigrette:
- 5 g lime juice, freshly squeezed
- 40 g celery juice
- 5 g Sushi Seasoning Vinegar
- 5 g lime leaves
- 1 chilli, fresh
- 1 lemongrass sticks
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- Celery sorbet:
- 25 g water
- 30 g glucose
- 125 g celery juice, freshly pressed
- 5 g lime juice
- 5 g rice vinegar
- salt and pepper from the mill
- sorbet stabilizer
- Celery marbles:
- 25 g port wine, white
- 9 g sugar
- 50 g buttermilk
- 1 g agar agar
- 95 g celery juice, freshly squeezed
- 5 g lime juice
- 5 g xanthan gum
- 2,5 g salt
- Piment d’ Espelette
- chlorophyll
Preparation:
- Halve the kingfish fillet and place one half in the stain for about 2 hours and keep cool.
- Then rinse with cold water and dab dry with kitchen paper.
- Cut four 3mm slices of the remaining fillet and dice with 5mm edge length.
- Marinate the kingfish cubes with finely diced chilli and the ceviche stock for about 30 minutes.
- Drain the stock and season with salt, pepper and freshly chopped coriander.
Coriander stain:
- Chop the celery coarsely and then mix finely with the remaining ingredients.
- Place the fish fillets in it for about 2 hours, depending on their size, and keep cool.
- Then thoroughly wash and dry the fish fillet.
Ceviche vinaigrette:
- Mix lime juice, celery juice and vinegar.
- Finely chop the lime leaves, chilli and celery and add to the juice mixture.
- Use the vinaigrette to marinate the kingfish and lightly bind the rest with some xanthan gum.
Celery marinated:
- Vacuum five celery sticks with some Ceviche vinaigrette and cook in a steam cooker at 90°C for about 10 minutes.
- Cut three more sticks into thin strips with a potato peeler.
- Use the remaining celery for the stain and the yellow leaves as garnish.
Celery sorbet:
- Bring water and glucose to the boil and allow to cool slightly.
- Add the celery and lime juice and rice vinegar and mix with Pro Sorbet.
- Season with salt and pepper, pour the mixture into a Pacojet cup and freeze.
- Pacoose in the Pacojet as required.
Celery marbles:
- Bring the port wine to the boil and reduce to half, add sugar and buttermilk and dissolve the instant gelatine in it.
- Mix the celery juice with lime juice and xanthan gum.
- Then mix in the buttermilk mixture and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Pass the mixture through a fine sieve, if necessary colour with some chlorophyll and fill into silicone ball mats of 1.5 cm Ø.
- Shock-freeze the filled mats and press the balls out of the moulds.
- The mass is enough for about 1.5 mats with 32 balls each.
Plating:
Toast the stained, tempered Kingfisch fillet with a blowtorch and cut into 10 finger-thick slices. Place one slice in each deep plate. Marinate the thin fish slices with salt and some Ceviche vinaigrette and arrange. Also place the ceviche cubes. Cut the marinated celery sticks into 3cm long pieces and arrange three each. Wrap the celery strips round and arrange three on each plate. Arrange three pieces each of the coriander sponge cake, grapefruit gel and grapefruit fillet. Now place a few celery leaves and coriander cress and at the last moment stir the coriander oil into the ceviche vinaigrette. Pour the vinaigrette into the middle of the plate at the table. Enjoy!
Read the full reportage of Nils Henkel and restaurant Schwarzenstein here.
Recipe: Nils Henkel
Photography: Adriaan Van Looy
