Gurnard, truly one of the prehistoric masterpieces of the ocean, is a firm white fish with a flake not unlike kingklip, and lends itself well to a miso marinade. The recipe would work well with kingklip and other similar firm, white fish. Matsuhisa’s recipe calls for white miso, so of course use that if you prefer. His recipe also requires much longer marination of something like three days. So this is a simpler alternative; a cheat if you like, for a home cook.

Ingredients

4 gurnard fillets

¼ cup dark miso paste

2 Tbsp mirin

1 tsp sesame oil

2 cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated

3 Tbsp coconut oil

Method

Mix together the miso, mirin, sesame oil and grated ginger in a bowl. Rinse fillets under cold running water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Brush the baste on both sides of the fillets and marinate in the fridge for up to 24 hours, or at least 3 or 4 hours if in a hurry.

Preheat oven to 180℃. Heat coconut oil in a frying pan on moderately high heat. Remove fillets from their container and gently wipe off the excess marinade with your hand but do not damage the fish – only wipe off the excess to prevent the fish stewing in the pan. Using a pan that can go in the oven, fry on one side at a high temperature until you can see that parts of it are blackening if lifted carefully to check. Turn for another minute or two. Pop the pan into the oven for five minutes.

Serve with wok-fried mushrooms and noodles and top with fresh sliced chilli and spring onions. DM/TGIFood

Our Thank God It’s Food newsletter is sent to subscribers every Friday at 6pm, and published on the TGIFood platform on Daily Maverick. It’s all about great reads on the themes of food and life. Subscribe here.

Send your Lockdown Recipes to [email protected] with a hi-resolution horizontal (landscape) photo.

Thank God It’s Food is sponsored by Pick n Pay.