Scallop hot dog, anyone? The fanciest upgrades to your favourite classic meals

Classic dishes are classics for a reason – but it’s always fun to put a new spin on things. And who better to do that than a chef who’s world-famous for his creative, groundbreaking techniques?

Aussie food icon Josh Niland is back with a new cookbook, Saint Peter: Chapter & Verse, to mark 10 years of his acclaimed Sydney fish restaurant Saint Peter and the game-changing cooking philosophy behind it.

The book includes a selection of recipes, many of which take dishes we already know and love and turn them into something a little (OK, a lot) more fancy.

A prawn cocktail gets a flavour update courtesy of witlof, mango, cucumber, sorrel and apple; scallop gets to moonlight as a hot dog; and the go-to pub snacking classic that is salt and pepper calamari is upgraded with salt and pepperberry. Meanwhile, Niland turns the humble croissant into a decadent savoury brunch with the addition of spanner crab meat.

If you’re after an ambitious seafood cooking project this weekend, read on.

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Scallop Hot Dog

Makes 10

Fermented onions

• 250 g (9 oz) brown onions
• 5 g (¼ oz) fine salt

Frankfurts

• 250 g (9 oz) roe-on scallop meat, cleaned
• 125 g (4½ oz) raw, shelled and cleaned prawn (shrimp) meat
• 100 g (3½ oz) skinless, boneless salmon belly
• 60 g (2 oz) rendered fish fat
• 8 g (¼ oz) table salt
• 1 egg white
• red collagen casings

To serve

• hot dog milk buns
• tomato sauce (ketchup)
• American mustard

For the fermented onions, slice the onions to about 3 mm (¼ in) thickness, weigh and place in a vacuum bag. Multiply the weight of the onions by 0.02 to determine the exact amount of salt needed for a 2 per cent fermentation (for example, 250 g/9 oz of onions x 0.02 = 5 g/¼ oz of salt). Add the calculated amount of salt to the bag and seal.

Store the sealed bag in a cool, dark place at room temperature. Check the bag daily as it will likely inflate with carbon dioxide as fermentation progresses. If the bag becomes too inflated, you may need to cut a small corner of the bag to release the gas, then reseal it again in the vacuum sealer. The onions can be tasted after about 7 days. Fermentation time varies with temperature and desired flavour. Once they have a cheese/lactic flavour and the onion is tender, transfer the finished fermented onions to an airtight container in the refrigerator where they will keep for months.

To make the frankfurts, combine the shellfish and fish meat, Rendered fish fat and salt and blend in batches in a Robot-Coupe until almost smooth. To each batch add in a portion of the egg white and continue blending until the mixture is smooth and moussy, then remove to a bowl. Using a sausage filler, fill the red collagen casings with the fish mixture and tie off into about 12 cm ( 4¾ in) lengths. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours prior to cooking.

To cook the frankfurts, place in a pot of cold water over a low heat and slowly bring the water to 60°C ( l 40°F). Turn off the heat, separate the frankfurt links with scissors and let the frankfurts sit in the hot water for 5 minutes. Drain the sausages from the cooking water and refrigerate on trays covered with a damp, clean cloth for up to 3 days.

When ready to serve, place a grill pan over a medium heat and carefully roll the milk buns over to create even grill marks. Turn 90 degrees and repeat the process to create crosshatching. In a steam oven or a steamer basket set up on a double boiler on the stove, steam the grilled buns for about 2 minutes or until soft. Hold warm in readiness to serve. 

Place the frankfurts back into a pot of cold water over a low heat and slowly bring the water to 70°C (160°F). Turn off the heat and let the frankfurts sit in the hot water for 5 minutes. 

Add a generous pinch of fermented onion to each warm milk bun. Drain the frankfurts from the cooking water and position on top of the onions. Squeeze mustard and tomato sauce in a crisscross pattern over the frankfurt. Serve immediately.

Spanner Crab Croissant

Makes as many as you like

Start by placing whole spanner crabs into the freezer for an hour prior to cooking (a 500 g/1 lb 2 oz) crab would be more than enough for two people). 

Place a large pot of water seasoned with enough salt that it tastes like the sea over a high heat and fit with a lid.

Remove the crabs from the freezer and weigh each on a set of digital scales to determine exactly how long you will cook them for. The rule of thumb that I follow is 1 minute per 100 g (3½ oz) plus 2 minutes, then rest for 2 minutes post-cook before picking. For example, an 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) crab would cook for 8 minutes + 2 minutes = 10 minutes in rapidly boiling water, then remove and rest on a clean work surface for 2 minutes before picking the meat from the shell.

(This task is always better executed with multiple people so that the crabmeat is still hot and simply falls away from the shell.)

Always pick crabmeat with clean hands, not gloves, as you need the sensitivity of your fingertips to find loose shell. Be gentle when you pick as crabmeat is very fragile and can turn to mush if handled too firmly. Once the meat is out, it is important to repick the meat using a UV light to aid in identifying any shell fragments that you may have missed on the initial pick.

Once picked through thoroughly two times, the meat is never stored in the refrigerator. The crab we cook and pick is only enough for one service – obviously if there is a lot left at end of service, it can be chilled and used in a vastly different application than the one that follows.

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The perfect thing about this dish preparation is that no dairy is required to make a sauce and there is no long-winded recipe, just the pure taste of the crab. To serve, we take 75 g (2¾ oz) of hand-picked spanner crabmeat and place the portion in the centre of its upturned head that is sitting on a little mound of wet salt as a nice presentation.

The sauce that sits around the meat is the liquid that comes from the head of the crab, which is decanted through a small sieve and into a saucepan when picking through the meat. Bring this liquor to the boil and spoon around the crabmeat.

On the side we serve a freshly baked croissant that fortunately gets made for us by the bakery we work with. The instruction to the guest is to take a generous spoonful of the sauce-coated crab and pile it into the croissant.

Prawn Cocktail, Witlof, Avocado, Mango, Apple, Cucumber and Sorrel

Serves 2

• 8 king prawns (shrimps), approx.100 g (3½ oz) each
• 1 green apple
• 1 ripe Kensington Pride mango
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 Lebanese (short) cucumber
• 12 mint leaves
• 6 sorrel leaves
• 6 perilla leaves
• 12 yellow witlof leaves
• pinch of espelette pepper
• 30 ml (1 fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil
• lemon juice to taste

Cocktail Sauce

• 130 g (4½ oz) mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon tomato sauce (ketchup)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh horseradish, very finely grated
• 1 tablespoon vodka
• dash of Tabasco sauce
• pinch of espelette pepper
• juice from prawn (shrimp) heads to taste

To cook the prawns, place a large saucepan of water on the stove over a medium heat and season heavily with fine salt, about 10 per cent salt to water. Once rapidly boiling, prepare a bowl of ice water in readiness to chill the prawns after cooking. Add the prawns to the pot, cover with a lid and cook for 3-4 minutes, depending on the size, until cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon to the ice water until completely cold, then drain well.

Remove the heads from the prawns and squeeze the contents of the heads into a bowl, then set this aside in the refrigerator to be added to the cocktail sauce if it is of good quality. Peel the prawns completely, setting aside the shells for another application. On a clean chopping board, cut each prawn along the back to open into two even sides, cutting all the way through to make two halves. Once cut open, remove the intestinal tract from both sides but leave behind any delicious cooked coral. Keep the prawns at room temperature while you prepare the rest of the dish.

For the apple, slice off the two large round sides and then cut each into about 2 mm thick slices. Cut the two large rounds off the mango and remove the skin from the outside with a sharp knife to sculpt two neat hemispheres of fruit. Slice the mango into the same thickness half-moons as the apple. Halve the avocado and peel, then slice into the same size half-moons as the mango and apple.

For the cucumber, peel and then split in half lengthways. Use a small spoon to scrape out the seeds, then slice at an angle that matches the profile and thickness of the other cut fruits. Prepare all the picked leaves and trim the witlof at its base to match the length of the other ingredients.

To make the cocktail sauce, mix together all the ingredients in a bowl. If the head juice of the prawns is of good quality, stir through to taste. Set the sauce aside in a squeeze bottle in the fridge until needed.

On two serving plates, squeeze about 2 tablespoons of cocktail sauce in the centre in a large egg shape. Place a half of a prawn on top followed by a single slice of apple, mango, avocado and cucumber with leaves of mint, sorrel, perilla and witlof throughout. Repeat to make more layers.

You will likely have too much of the sliced ingredients, but it’s better having a little more than less for this dish so you achieve the right aesthetic.

Once the salads are built, fill in any gaps with a little more of the cocktail sauce and finish with a light dusting of espelette pepper and a touch of flake salt. Before serving, drizzle over a little extra -virgin olive oil and small squeeze of lemon.

Salt and Pepperberry Calamari

Serves 4 as a snack

• cottonseed oil, for deep-frying
• 10 g (¼ oz) ground pepperberry
• 100 g (3½ oz) fine salt
• 2 lemons
• 300 g (10½ oz) calamari tentacles and wings
• rice flour, for dusting

Mayonnaise

• 40 g (l½ oz) egg yolks
• 25 ml (¾ fl oz) water
• 8 ml (¼ fl oz) white-wine vinegar
• 5 ml (¼ fl oz) lemon juice, plus extra to season
• 4g salt
• 5 g (¼ oz) dijon mustard
• 5 g (¼ oz) ground pepperberry
• 275 ml (9½ fl oz) grapeseed oil

Batter

• 250 g (9 oz) rice flour
• 150 g (5½ oz) tapioca flour
• 6 g (¼ oz) xanthan gum
• 1 litre (34 fl oz) ice-cold water

To make the mayonnaise, put everything except the oil in a Thermomix and blend on speed 10 for 90 seconds, then turn down to speed 7. Slowly add the oil to emulsify. Adjust the seasoning to taste with further lemon juice and salt. Store in the refrigerator until required.

For the batter, place all the ingredients in a tall, cylindrical container and blitz with a hand-held blender. Refrigerate until required (this batter is best used soon after it is made). 

Preheat a deep fryer or large pot filled with cottonseed oil to 180°C (360°F).

Combine the ground pepperberry with the salt in a bowl. Cut each lemon into six even wedges and burn them in a dry cast-iron frying pan set over a medium heat, about 45 seconds each side.

Cut the wings into even bite-sized pieces and separate the tentacles. Dust the calamari lightly in rice flour, then add to the chilled batter. Make sure they are all evenly coated and then add one at a time to the hot oil. Fry for 3 minutes or until very crisp. (This batter will remain white, so its doneness is not contingent on colour but crispness.)

Remove from the fryer, drain well and then season liberally with the pepperberry salt.

Assemble in a serving bowl to share alongside a ramekin of the mayonnaise and wedges of lemon. Serve immediately.

Curried Fish Pie

Note For this recipe you will need four pie dishes measuring 13 cm (5 in) in diameter and 9 cm (3½ in) in depth.

Makes 4

• 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) skinless, boneless white fish trim (any white, flaky and mild variety works well)
• 1 litre (34 fl oz) milk
• 100 g (3½ oz) unsalted butter, diced into 2 cm (¾ in) cubes
• 25 g (1 oz) Keen’s curry powder
• 100 g (3½ oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
• pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• Healthy Boy brand mushroom soy to taste
• freshly cracked black pepper
• 125 g (4½ oz) fresh corncobs, husks on
• 250 g (9 oz) mixed green leaves, cut into bite-sized pieces (e.g. cime di rapa, wild garlic, kale, cavolo nero)
• 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz) Sour cream pastry (page 330), rolled to 4 mm (¼ in) thickness and chilled
• 4 egg yolks, beaten, for egg wash

Cut the fish trim into 1.5 cm (½ in) bite-sized pieces and place on a tray in a single layer, cover and refrigerate.

Put the milk in a pot over a low heat until it just comes to the boil. Take care not to let the milk boil for longer as it will begin to reduce and the filling will end up too thick. Meanwhile, place the butter and curry powder in a saucepan set over a medium heat. Once the butter has fully melted, add the flour and combine into a roux, stirring for 2-3 minutes or until the rawness of the flour is cooked out. Remove from the heat momentarily until the milk has just come to the boil, then place the roux back on the heat and begin ladling in the hot milk, whisking after each to incorporate evenly and create a smooth finish.

Once the last of the milk is added, continue to whisk until the sauce begins to bubble. Keep whisking while you allow it to cook out for a further 5 minutes to avoid scorching the bottom. Mix in the nutmeg and season with salt, the mushroom soy and cracked black pepper to taste. Transfer your finished sauce into a deep container or tray, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to cool.

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and blanch the whole, unpeeled ears of corn for 4 minutes. Strain the corn from the water and remove the husk, then strip the kernels from the cob using a sharp knife. Refrigerate until required.

To make the filling, combine the corn kernels and raw mixed greens with the chilled sauce, then taste and season with further mushroom soy, salt and cracked black pepper if needed. Set aside.

Lay out the pastry on a clean and cold work surface. Cut a circle of pastry larger than your pie dishes and allow a further 3 cm ( 1 ¼ in) of overhang to assist in sealing the pie.

Spoon 250 g (9 oz) of filling into the pie dishes and top with 125 g (4½ oz) of diced raw fish. By adding the fish per pie, you ensure each gets an equal amount. Place the round of pastry directly over the top of the dish and crimp the overhanging pastry to its sides. Repeat to produce a further three pies. With a pastry brush, paint the tops with the egg yolks, ensuring an even layer.

Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to dry the egg glaze. Add another coat of egg wash to the pastry before baking to create a bronzed finish. Bake in a 185°C (365°F) oven for 25-30 minutes.