Perfect catch

SUSTAINABILITY TAKES ON NEW MEANING FOR THIS INVENTIVE CHEF.

Describing himself as a somewhat “troublesome teenager”, it wasn’t obvious when Paul Farag left school at 15 what his future career would be. However, Paul says he “always had an interest in the world of cooking and the people that produced the food I loved eating”. Fast-forward through stints behind the burners at Sydney’s Four in Hand and Monopole, and Gordon Ramsay’s Pétrus fine diner in London, and he’s now chef and captain of the ship at Sydney’s Fish Butchery, opened last year by Josh Niland, of Saint Peter fish eatery. With a laser-like focus on using “sustainably caught, underutilised” fish species, Fish Butchery is a fishmonger and takeaway (think charcoal-grilled Shoalhaven red gurnard and chips) and also supplies fish to Saint Peter. “Working with Josh, we feed off the energy of Saint Peter. We take the complexity and standards of his cooking and we create dishes with integrity – we’re all pretty obsessive about what we do,” says Paul. “We try and start with a classic recipe and play around and brainstorm from there. We’re constantly evolving with new ideas all the time and we really have only scratched the surface.”

For this recipe, he’s selected marron from Western Australian Marron in Donnybrook, Western Australia. “It’s one of the best shellfish you can eat both texturally and, of course, for its taste,” says Paul. “The recipe is relatively easy to do at home and can really make you look like a star in the kitchen if you follow the steps.”

SEAFOOD COMES INTO ITS OWN WITH A COOKER THAT DELIVERS THE RESULTS YOU WANT WITHOUT FUSS.