(Recette également disponible en français)

A margat is a little bit like squid, and is a delicacy fished off the Atlantic coast of France.

Each year the coastal town of Pornic hosts a fête de la Margat.

The festival includes a cooking competition, and in 2023 I took part. Here's the recipe for the dish I cooked.

The idea of this dish was:

1. To create a dish for early autumn, reflecting the season
2. To ‘zig’ when my fellow competitors ‘zag’’. I noticed everyone else selecting bright citrus flavours, so I picked more earthy umami flavours from the ingredients table, then spent some time thinking about how to use them. I took a while to select the ingredients, then about 20 minutes of the 90 minute cooking time to generate ideas and decide which to use. I think the compère was worried that I hadn’t started cooking! But the preparation of the dish is then quite simple.
3. To experiment with cooking margat differently. Like squid, it is usually fried very quickly, or slow-cooked for hours in a sauce. I decided to try cooking it very gently in a bain-marie, coated in just a little oil.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 1 Margat, prepared, with the ink reserved
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Some sea vegetables to garnish (as available)
  
  For the diced vegetables:
• 1 small aubergine
• 1 small courgette
• 1 small onion
• Some mushrooms
• 1 Garlic clove
• Zest of ½ lemon
• Thyme leaves
  
  For the tomato essence:
• Roughly 500g selection of ripe tomatoes (at room temperature, not from the fridge)
• 1 small shallot
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 fresh chives
• 2 sprigs fresh parsley
• 1 sprig thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon good sea salt
• Dash of red wine vinegar

Instructions

1. Score the Margat in 1cm-wide strips, and rub in a little sea salt. Set aside.
2. Make the tomato essence:
   1. Chop the tomatoes, shallot, garlic, and herbs to be very small.
   2. Sprinkle lightly with the salt
   3. Mix well. Cover and leave in a bowl for a few hours (I didn’t have time for this stage in the competition). Don’t put them in the fridge.
   4. Place in a muslin cloth (in the competition I just used a clean tea towel)
   5. Hang over a bowl, to catch the liquid that drains off (Because of the time limit of the competition, I squeezed this from time to time to speed it up, but the best is if you can leave it to drip naturally for a few hours)
3. Make the diced vegetables:
   1. Dice the vegetables and mushrooms into 1cm squares
   2. Press the garlic over the vegetables
   3. Add the lemon zest and the thyme leaves
   4. Place in a frying pan, with lots of olive oil, over a low heat.
   5. Cook slowly, turning gently. The aim is to soften and sweeten, but keep the shape of the vegetables.
4. Make the ink oil:
   1. Mix the ink of the Margat with extra virgin oil and a squeeze of lemon juice
   2. Shake to combine
5. Cook the Margat:
   1. Rinse the margat well to remove the salt, and pat dry
   2. Cut into 1cm dice, and coat lightly with olive oil
   3. Place into a bowl (in the competition I used a small saucepan), and put this over a saucepan of gently simmering water.
   4. Stir gently
   5. As soon as the margat begins to turn from translucent to white, remove from the heat.
6. Assemble
   1. Place a ring in the centre of the plate and spoon in a layer of the diced vegetables, pressing them down gently to form a base.
   2. Then spoon a layer of the margat on top. Remove the ring.
   3. Pour some of the tomato essence onto the plate.
   4. Drip the ink oil into the tomato essence and use a spoon to create swirls of the black oil into the essence, creating a ‘stormy seas’ effect.
   5. Place some sea vegetables for garnish on top of the margat.