Recipe #1: Barramundi pan-fried in butter topped with garlic chili mushroom sauce over a bed of pasta

Ingredients

• Fillet of barramundi, skinless
• Creamy Tasmanian butter (unsalted or salt-reduced)
• Fresh mushrooms
• Chili (large red chili for color; hotter ones if preferred)
• Garlic (whole)
• Parsley
• Olive oil (extra virgin)
• Salt (table salt will do although sea salt is preferable)
• Pasta

Pasta
Bring to boil water in a pot, then toss in pasta and a generous dash of olive oil and salt. Turn down heat and allow to simmer slowly.

Garlic Chili Mushroom Sauce
Chop a whole garlic coarsely and slice chili at 45-degree angle. If sliced cross-sectionally, chili looks too round & small.
Toss into warm fry-pan before slowly adding olive oil and bring to a gentle simmer until garlic is soft and chili turns orangey red.
Then toss thinly sliced mushrooms and allow juice from mushrooms to simmer with olive oil, in very *low* heat.
Slowly turn up heat, while spreading mushrooms in a single layer on pan, so they will brown nicely.
Then add a generous chunk of butter. Briefly turn heat up before allowing it to simmer again.

Barramundi fillet
Move garlic chili mushrooms to edge of pan, leaving enough space to place fillet of barramundi and allow to simmer in butter.
Be careful *not* to overheat butter or it will brown excessively & fish will stick to pan.
Barramundi should slowly brown as bottom layer begins to crisp a little.
Carefully turn over fillet to brown other side of fish.

To serve
Drain excess water from pasta and toss onto plate.
Then gently place barramundi fillet over it and top with garlic chili mushroom sauce.
Sprinkle finely chopped parsley.
Allow excess butter sauce to gently bathe pasta beneath.

Complement with a White Burgundy, subtly oaked, with matching complexity. A Chablis Premier Cru makes an excellent match.

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