Serves 4

I got the idea of poaching fish in olive oil from chefs in New York. It is not as extravagant as it first appears because you can strain the oil, chill and use it again for fish another time. It keeps the fish beautifully moist and doesn’t taste oily at all. After poaching, you need to sear the fish in a non-stick pan to colour it golden brown. Leaves of little gem lettuces cooked in an intensely flavoured fish stock scented with some fenugreek seeds are the flourishes that made this meal so memorable for me. Fenugreek seeds can be bought from good food halls or local Asian food shops where it might be labelled “methi”. The seeds can also be sprouted for salad cress.

500ml fish stock, preferably homemade
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
4 little gem lettuces
1 x 500ml bottle pure olive oil (not extra virgin)
4 thick cut fillets fresh halibut, about 125g each, skinned
4 tbsp vinaigrette (preferably homemade)
½ large red chilli, seeded and sliced thinly
¼ red onion, sliced very thinly
A little extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Boil the fish stock with the fenugreek seeds until reduced by half, then strain, check the seasoning and set aside.
2 Remove the outer leaves of the lettuces until you reach the inner cores. Use these elsewhere. It’s the leaves you want. Heat about 3 tablespoons of the pure olive oil in a large shallow pan and sauté the leaves gently until wilted. Pour in the stock and add seasoning. Bring to the boil, and then simmer for 3 minutes until the stock reduces by a third. Set aside.
3 Place the remaining oil in a medium frying pan to a depth that will cover the fish. Heat it for about 2 minutes (if you have a deep fat or sugar thermometer this should read 70C) then slide in the halibut steaks. They should barely simmer. You are poaching the fish not frying it. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the fish feels just firm but not solid, when pressed with the back of a fork.
4 Remove and drain then heat a nonstick frying pan until it feels quite hot and cook the fish quickly on each side to colour a light brown. Season and take care not to over cook. Remove the pan from the heat.
5 Season the lettuces and toss in the vinaigrette, chilli and onion then divide between four warmed plates. Sit a halibut steak on top and drizzle any lettuce juices around. Serve drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Times Recommends

• How to season a wok
• Chicago Rib Shack hits back at its critics
• Gordon Ramsay: Indian barbecue