Pan-Roasted Brill with Mussel and Saffron Velouté

⏱ 60 min · Serves 4

A restaurant-plate classic: thick brill fillets roasted golden in foaming butter, resting in a silky velouté built from the mussels' own liquor, cream and saffron. Sweet, briny, faintly aniseed from a splash of Noilly Prat — the sort of dish that makes a dinner party go quiet for a moment.

Per serving: 615 kcal · 45.0g protein · 9.0g carbs · 42.0g fat

Ingredients

• 4 brill fillets, skinned, about 160g each (ask for thick fillets from a large fish)
• 800g live mussels, scrubbed and debearded
• 1 large shallot, finely diced
• 1 celery stick, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 150ml dry white wine
• 50ml Noilly Prat or dry vermouth
• 1 generous pinch saffron threads (about 0.3g)
• 200ml double cream
• 40g cold unsalted butter, diced, plus 30g for frying
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp plain flour
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 200g baby spinach
• Sea salt and white pepper

Method

1. Discard any mussels that stay open when tapped. Heat a wide pan over high heat, add the mussels and the white wine, cover and steam 3–4 minutes, shaking, until just opened. Tip into a colander set over a bowl to catch every drop of liquor. Pick the meat from most of the shells, keeping 12 in the shell for garnish. Cover and set aside.
2. Strain the mussel liquor through a fine sieve or muslin, leaving the last gritty spoonful behind. You want about 200ml.
3. Warm the saffron in the Noilly Prat in a small pan for 30 seconds, then leave to infuse off the heat.
4. In a saucepan, melt 10g butter and gently sweat the shallot, celery and garlic with a pinch of salt for 6–8 minutes until soft but not coloured. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute.
5. Whisk in the mussel liquor and the saffron vermouth, bring to a simmer and reduce by a third. Add the cream and simmer 5 minutes until it coats a spoon lightly.
6. Blitz the sauce with a stick blender until smooth, pass through a fine sieve back into a clean pan, then whisk in the remaining cold butter a piece at a time. Season with white pepper and a squeeze of lemon — it rarely needs salt. Keep warm, do not boil.
7. Pat the brill completely dry and season. Heat the oil in a heavy non-stick pan over medium-high heat, lay in the fillets presentation-side down and cook 3 minutes without moving. Add 30g butter, let it foam, baste for 1–2 minutes, then flip and cook 1 minute more until just opaque. Rest on kitchen paper.
8. Wilt the spinach in the fish pan with a knob of the butter and a pinch of salt, 1 minute. Squeeze out excess liquid.
9. Warm the picked mussels and the shell-on ones gently in the velouté for 30 seconds, then stir in the chives and parsley.
10. Spoon spinach into warm shallow bowls, sit the brill on top, pour the mussel velouté around and finish with the shell-on mussels. Serve at once with new potatoes or crusty bread.