When we put the call out for favourite recipes from Australia’s top chefs, we didn’t expect a response quite this special – but we’re delighted it landed, even a little late to the party.

This week’s recipe comes from Mike McEnearney, one of Australia’s most respected chefs, restaurateurs and hospitality consultants, who currently leads the kitchen at From Here By Mike, the hatted signature restaurant at 1 Hotel Melbourne. With a career spanning more than 35 years – from Sydney’s Chez Oz and Rockpool, to over a decade in London working under Michelin stars at Pied à Terre and leading kitchens at Mezzo, Bluebird and Scott’s in Mayfair – Mike has built a reputation for produce-driven food that celebrates seasonality, simplicity and generosity. He returned to Australia in 2006 to head the kitchen at Rockpool before launching his own ventures, including the much-loved Kitchen By Mike, and now From Here By Mike, which opened in 2025 and quickly earned a Chef’s Hat within its first six months.

But the recipe he’s chosen to share with us isn’t a flashy showpiece from the restaurant menu – it’s a family favourite. Mike’s Baked Flathead with Braised White Beans & Romesco Sauce was picked by his own children as the dish they most love him cooking at home, and it’s easy to see why: it’s the kind of recipe that brings restaurant-level flavour to a simple midweek dinner.

We hope you enjoy cooking (and eating) it as much as the McEnearney family clearly do.

Baked Flathead with Braised White Beans & Romesco Sauce

Serves 4

This recipe was inspired by the many trips my family and I have made to Portugal over the years. The combination of simply cooked fish, smoky peppers and creamy white beans is something I kept returning to, and it has become one of my favourite ways to cook flathead.

This recipe can be made with one large fish or four smaller ones, and if flathead isn’t available, rock cod, bar cod or rockling would also work well. Piquillo peppers are available in jars from specialist food shops, and terracotta roof tiles can be found in most hardware stores – I got mine from the local tiling shop. Just make sure they are pure terracotta (glazed or unglazed), rather than concrete or cement. Before using the tiles, wash them well and leave them to soak in water overnight so they won’t crack when exposed to heat. Remember to soak the beans overnight too.

The very best way to cook this fish is gently over hot embers on the barbecue, where the terracotta diffuses the heat and imparts a subtle smokiness to the fish. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, or you can’t find a terracotta roof tile, simply cook the fish on a heavy-duty baking tray in a hot oven—it will still produce a beautiful result.

Ingredients

Fish
1 × 1.2 kg flathead, or 4 × 400 g flathead, scaled and gutted, fins removed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
240 g lardo or pancetta, thinly sliced
60 ml (¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil
½ bunch chives, cut into 4 cm lengths
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Romesco Sauce
Makes approximately 400 g
10 g ñora chilli (or guindilla chilli), stemmed and seeded
100 g piquillo peppers
100 g ripe truss tomatoes
100 ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for frying
10 g garlic cloves
50 g blanched almonds, toasted
50 g hazelnuts, toasted
25 g country-style sourdough
15 ml Cabernet vinegar or good-quality red wine vinegar
¼ bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Braised White Beans
125 g great northern beans or cannellini beans
Pinch of bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp duck fat or olive oil
80 g piquillo peppers, cut into strips
½ small onion, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 tsp smoked sweet paprika
100 ml white wine
Pinch of saffron threads
About 500 ml (2 cups) chicken stock
4 thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
5 garlic cloves, crushed
Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
Handful baby spinach leaves
Handful dill fronds, chopped

Method

Romesco Sauce
Soak the ñora chilli in warm water until softened.
Roast the tomatoes until the skins blister. Peel, remove the skins and seeds, and roughly chop the flesh.
Toast the almonds and hazelnuts until golden, then cool.
Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and fry the sourdough until crisp and golden.
Place the garlic, softened chilli and piquillo peppers into a food processor and blend to a smooth paste. Add the roasted tomatoes, toasted nuts and fried bread and blend again until smooth.
Add the vinegar and season with salt and pepper. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the sauce emulsifies to a thick, mayonnaise-like consistency.
Fold through the chopped parsley and adjust the seasoning with additional salt, pepper or vinegar as required.

Braised White Beans
Soak the beans overnight in 1 litre (4 cups) of water with the bicarbonate of soda.
The following day, drain and rinse the beans well. Place them in a saucepan, cover with fresh water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes before draining and rinsing once more.
Heat the duck fat or olive oil in a heavy casserole over medium heat. Add the piquillo peppers, onion and carrot and cook until lightly coloured. Stir in the paprika and cook for 30 seconds before adding the wine and saffron. Simmer until the wine has reduced by half.
Add the beans and enough chicken stock to cover by about 2 cm. Add the thyme and bay leaves and cook gently, covered, for about 2 hours, adding more stock as required, until the beans are tender.
Stir through the garlic and parsley and season well with salt and white pepper. Fold through the spinach and dill and allow the beans to stand for 20 minutes before serving.

Cooking Fish in the Oven
Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Season the flathead generously with sea salt and black pepper. Wrap the fish with overlapping slices of lardo or pancetta and place onto a soaked terracotta roof tile sitting on a baking tray, or onto a heavy-duty baking tray if you don’t have a tile.
Drizzle with olive oil and roast for 10–15 minutes, or until the flesh is just cooked and yields gently when pressed with your finger.
Rest the fish for 5 minutes before serving.

Cooking Fish on the Barbecue
Prepare a barbecue with a generous bed of glowing embers. You are looking for gentle, even heat rather than flames.
Place the soaked terracotta roof tile over the embers and allow it to heat slowly for 10–15 minutes.
Season the fish with sea salt and pepper, wrap with the lardo or pancetta and drizzle lightly with olive oil before placing it onto the hot tile.
Cook gently for 10–15 minutes, rotating the tile occasionally if required so the fish cooks evenly. The melting lardo will baste the fish as it cooks, while the terracotta protects it from the intensity of the fire and imparts a subtle smoky flavour. Keep an eye on flare-ups as the rendered fat drips onto the coals.
The fish is ready when the flesh just begins to separate under gentle pressure. Remove from the barbecue and rest for 5 minutes.

To Serve
Scatter the fish with the chives and place it in the centre of the table with the braised white beans alongside. Serve with generous spoonfuls of the romesco sauce and lemon wedges for squeezing over the fish.