To thaw or not to thaw?

I'm often asked whether our fish & meat should be defrosted prior to cooking. The vast majority of Regis dishes can be cooked from frozen, in fact they are better cooked from frozen. The fish, meat and poultry specialities should ALWAYS be cooked from frozen and in most cases that is oven cooked.

There are some fish that I would always recommend are thawed before cooking, namely:

Salmon fillet

Tuna loin steak

Monkfish

Swordfish

These fish are "meaty" and if cooked from frozen, there is a tendency to overcook them. I prefer instead to allow them to defrost completely, then if I am pan-frying, I would always use a heavy bottomed pan (I prefer to use a griddle pan) and always oil the fish, not the pan. Heat the pan dry, oil and season the fish with a good quality light oil such as grapeseed, rapeseed, peanut or olive oil. Don't use extra virgin olive oil, it's a waste for frying. Extra virgin olive oil has a high degree of olive pulp and it burns, tainting the oil. Use extra virgin for salad dressings, buy ordinary light olive oil for frying with.

Once the pan is hot, simply place the previously oiled and seasoned fish in the pan and watch the edges, they will show you how the fillet is cooking. After no more that 3 or 4 minutes, flip it over and give it no more than 2 more minutes - don't forget to oil and season that side too. One thing to bear in mind is that once you remove the fillet from the pan, it will continue cooking for another couple of minutes. So gently part the fillet and make sure it is cooked to your preference.

The same basic principles apply to many of our meats too, especially the ribeye, sirloin, fillet and gammon.

Just remember: oil the fish/meat, not the pan.

I'll soon be publishing some of my favourite recipes, so please keep checking back.