Pickled garlic
1. Put the water, vinegar, sugar and
salt in a pan and bring to the boil,
then remove from the heat. 2. Place
the garlic in a separate pan, add
3 litres of cold water and bring to
the boil. Drain, and repeat twice.
3. Transfer the garlic to the pickling
liquor, which should be warm.
4. Add the bruised red perilla and
leave overnight. The perilla will stain
the garlic pink.
Braised celery
1. Peel the celery, cut it into 7cm
batons and place in a bowl. Bring
the water and salt to the boil
and pour them over the celery.
Leave to cool, then drain.
Sauce
1. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the
shallots and 2g of the salt, then cover
and sweat for 5 –10 minutes, until soft.
2. Add the mushrooms, another
2g salt and the lemon juice, mix well
and sweat for another 5 minutes
to release the juices from the
mushrooms. 3. Season the halibut
bones with the remaining salt,
add to the pan, cover and sweat for
5 minutes. 4. Bring the wine to the
boil separately, then add it to the pan.
5. Boil for 30 seconds, then add the
Noilly Prat and boil for another
30 seconds. 6. Add the milk and
cream and simmer very gently for
5 minutes. Remove from the heat,
add the lemon verbena and infuse
for 2 minutes. 7. Pass through a fine
sieve, pressing down hard on the
solids. Chill immediately over ice
then transfer to the fridge.
Halibut
1. Season the halibut very lightly.
2. Place each piece in a vacuum bag
with 50ml of the sauce, seal and cook
in a waterbath at 46°C for 12 minutes.
Alternatively, heat the sauce and very
gently braise the halibut in it for about
5 minutes, until just cooked through.
To assemble
1. Remove the halibut from the bags
or the sauce, place it on a baking
tray and flash under a hot grill for
a few seconds. Squeeze over a little
lemon juice. 2. Lightly dress the pink
purslane with the lemon dressing.
3. Place each piece of halibut in a
serving bowl on top of 2 oyster leaves.
Top with the celery, pickled garlic and
pink purslane. 4. Reheat the sauce,
lightly froth it with a hand blender
and generously pour it over.