Recipe: smoked herring with beurre blanc

Anyone who knows Tobias Camman a little knows that he would love to eat at Michelin-star level every day and enjoys going all out in the kitchen. In his new book Visvoer, specially for lovers of fish and shellfish, he shares his best recipes. Beautifully designed, clearly written and filled with the necessary humor. Seriously delicious: his smoked herring with beurre blanc.

Tobias: ‘It used to be a special moment when my father brought me a new herring after doing the Saturday shopping. In one of those paper bags with onions. He would ride into the backyard on his heavily laden men’s bicycle with a smile from ear to ear. He had probably been looking forward to it throughout the entire bike ride. I felt oh so special then, because he only brought it for me. The only problem was that I didn’t like herring at all. I really tried, but unfortunately I never enjoyed it.

If only he had brought smoked herring, because that’s a completely different story. It’s a type of herring, but larger and cold-smoked. It tastes almost like eel. Wonderfully fatty, with a light smoky flavor. Even if you’re not a fan of herring, this is highly recommended. Trust me.’

• Make the onion pickle: peel the pearl onions, put all the ingredients for the onion pickle in the pan and bring to a boil. Cook the onions for about 15 minutes until translucent. Pour everything into a clean jar, put the lid on immediately and leave to cool. That is absolutely too many onions for this recipe, but you can use the rest with a cocktail stick on a cube of cheese.
• For the beetroot jus, you need pure beetroot juice without artificial additives. Ideally, put some beetroot through the slow juicer yourself, but you can also buy an organic version.
• Gently simmer the beetroot juice together with a bay leaf over low heat for an hour, until you have a thick syrup. This will yield around 60 ml of syrup. Pour the syrup into a squeeze bottle and refrigerate.
• Don’t let filleting a fish yourself intimidate you. Fillet the smoked herring until you have 4 clean fillets. In Visvoer, Tobias explains how to do this. You can also buy 4 clean fillets from your favorite fishmonger.
• Then make the beurre blanc. Here Tobias explains how to make a beurre blanc.
• Cut the onions in half lengthwise and separate them layer by layer.
• Now plate the dish. Divide the beurre blanc over the preheated plates. Squeeze a few drops of beetroot jus into the sauce with the bottle and create a nice pattern by dragging a teaspoon through it. You can optionally add a few extra drops, leaving them as they are. Divide the fish over the plates and finish with the onions and, optionally, a sprig of one herb or another.