Start by seasoning the Cod fillets heavily with salt and leave to cure in the fridge whilst you prepare the celeriac puree and the crispy potatoes. Feel free to do this the day before if you’d prefer, but this can be done day of if you’re short for time.

Start by peeling the celeriac. I remove both ends, to create a flat surface to work on, then slice the skin from top to bottom in sections using a medium sized, sharp knife. Using the correct sized knife will make this a lot easier. Attacking it with one too small/too large will make it hard work. 

Cut into 2/3cm wide, even slices, then using the same width repeat in the opposite direction to create chunky cubes.

Place the celeriac cubes and milk into a wide bottomed pan. I use this style of pan because it allows the celeriac to cook more evenly. Then cover with a tight fitting lid, or like me you can cover with cling film. This pan of mine does have a lid, but I choose to use cling film anyway because it doesn’t let any of the steam escape meaning everything cooks faster. It also allows you to keep an eye on what’s happening inside the pan! Bring the milk to a gentle simmer over a medium heat. Cook until the celeriac is tender, which usually takes about 15-20 minutes, but check after 10 to see where it’s up to and adjust the time needed accordingly.

Once the celeriac is tender, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool so it’s still warm, but not hot. Use a slotted spoon to transfer into a bowl or jug of your blender.

You can use a stick blender, a traditional blender or food processor to puree the cooked celeriac, all will work in the same way. Add a splash of milk and blend. Repeat until you have a thick, smooth consistency. Add enough milk, a little a time until you get there, you might not need it all. Zest and juice your lemon, and then add both to the puree. Blend again to incorporate the lemon flavour. 

Add the diced unsalted butter into the blender while it’s running. As the puree will be still warm, the butter will melt and combine. Continue blending until the butter is fully incorporated, giving you a rich, glossy and creamy texture. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then pass the puree through a conical sieve. Don’t worry about it going cold after this stage, as we’ll warm it up again later. 

Preheat your oven to 190°C and peel a medium potato so it is ready to spiralize.

I own a spiralizer with a turning handle. They’re pretty inexpensive at around £20, but if you don’t want it taking up the room in the cupboard or you want a cheaper alternative, you can buy and use this ‘pencil sharpener’ style from amazon. For me, it wasn’t as easy as my more traditional version, but for £3 it did the job with a little trial and error.

I found making sure there were no corners on my potato pieces worked best, and using a fork stabbed into the end gave me a good purchase for tuning. 

With the correct pressure you’ll get a nice, long coil of strands. Separate them carefully from one another, and then dab with some kitchen towel to remove excess moisture.

In a small saucepan, melt the unsalted butter over low heat. Add minced garlic, a spring of thyme and a teaspoon of salt to the melted butter. Toss your spiralized potatoes into your flavoured butter mixture. 

Grab a muffin tin and arrange the butter-coated spiralized potatoes in each cup, creating little potato nests. Season the top of each potato nest with salt and bake for 8 mins before carefully turning them over. You can use a fork to encourage them to stand taller and then bake for a further 8 mins or until golden brown and crisp.

Butter poaching is a great, almost foolproof way of cooking fish while imparting lots of flavour and keeping it moist. We’ll be making a butter emulsion infused with aromatics, citrus and savoury flavours and poach the fish in it until it comes up to 55 degrees.

First you need to chop the shallot, and add it to your pan.

Now add the fish to cook. The fish should take around 4 minutes either side. Using your thermometer, probe the centre of the fillets and gently cook until the temperature reads 55 degrees, At this point remove from the heat and set aside to rest.   

Whilst the fish is resting, reheat the puree on a very low setting and pop your crispy potato nests in the oven to warm. Then melt the remaining butter on a medium heat in a pan. This will begin to turn the fat solids a light brown colour, so at this point add the shrimps, garlic, capers, lemon juice and grate half the fresh nutmeg in with your butter. Gently cook for around 4 more minutes then take off the heat. Add a teaspoon of salt and it’s ready to serve.

Spoon the now warm puree into a piping bag. You can buy these online in various sizes. Tie the end of the bag and trim off any excess to leave a tight, neat bag ready for you to snip the end off and plate. 

Pipe the puree into a 10 cm diameter circle in the centre of your pasta bowl or plate and place the fish on top. Add a crispy potato basket on top of that and then spoon over your brown butter shrimp sauce and we’re done! 

Enjoy x