03 Magazine: October 02, 2023

36 Magazine | Recipe
BREAKFAST OF KINGS: WHITEBAIT ON TOAST
WITH TARTARE & FRIED EGG
This is probably my favourite dish in the book. It just speaks volumes to me of New Zealand on many
levels. It’s a dish made with one of our most precious seasonal delicacies, but served in such a
humble, no-fuss sort of manner. A similar version of this dish would have been eaten hundreds of
thousands of times on the riverside or in baches and cribs up and down the country,
ever since we figured out how to catch these slippery, mysterious little fish.
Serves 6
TARTARE SAUCE
1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup finely diced red onion
¼ cup roughly chopped capers
⅓ cup finely diced gherkins
⅓ cup finely chopped parsley
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon,
plus 1 tablespoon juice
Flaky sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper
TO COOK AND SERVE
Cooking oil, for frying
Butter, for frying
6 eggs
500g fresh whitebait
Plain flour, to dust
Flaky sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper
6 pieces toast-slice bread
Lemon wedges, to serve
To make the tartare sauce, mix all the ingredients except the salt and
pepper together in a bowl. Taste and season accordingly with salt and
pepper. Refrigerate until required.
Turn on your warming drawer or preheat your oven to 90°C.
Place a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add a little
oil and a knob of butter and fry your eggs. Remove and place on a
tray lined with kitchen paper, and keep warm in the oven or warming
drawer.
Wipe clean the pan, then place back over medium-high heat and add a
liberal amount of oil. Pat your whitebait dry with kitchen paper. Place
a large sieve over a large bowl. Add a handful of whitebait to the sieve,
then cover with a liberal amount of flour.
Shake the sieve and, with clean hands, toss the whitebait until the
excess flour falls through the sieve and there is just a micro covering of
flour on the individual whitebait.
Sprinkle the flour-dusted whitebait over the bottom of the pan and
season with salt and pepper. Let the whitebait cook for at least a
minute, so it starts to caramelise, before turning. Add a knob of butter
and continue cooking for a further minute or so. Place the cooked
whitebait on a tray lined with kitchen paper, and place in the oven to
keep warm while you repeat the process with the remaining whitebait.
Toast and butter your bread.
To plate, place a piece of toast in the centre of each plate. Schmear
over a liberal amount of tartare sauce, divvy up the cooked whitebait,
then top each with a fried egg. Lemon on the side and you’re good to
go. Eat now!