Recipe: Sea Bass

Seabass fillets with gravadlax rosti and sauce verge

Ingredients

Serves 4

For the rosti:

2 large main crop potatoes (about 300 g/10 1/2 oz each), peeled
70 g/21/2 oz gravadlax chopped
2 spring onions, finely sliced
3 tsp olive oil

For the sauce vierge:

1 beef tomato, peeled, deseeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 tbsp chopped mixed herbs (basil, parsley, tarragon, coriander)
75 ml/2 1/2 fl oz olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon

For the seabass:

4 x 140 g/5 oz seabass fillets, pin boned
2 tbsp olive oil
4 sprigs of parsley, to garnish

Method

1 For the rosti: Par-boil the potatoes for 5-7 minutes. Drain and leave until cool enough to handle, then grate coarsely into a bowl. Add the gravadlax and spring onion, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix well. Shape into 4 rounds using 9 cm/3 1/2 in cooking ring. Chill until ready to cook.

2 For the sauce vierge: place the tomato, garlic, herbs and olive oil in a pestle and mortar. Crush together. Stir in the lemon juice to taste and season .Leave for at least 15 minutes to let the flavours develop.

3 To finish and assemble the dish: Heat the oil for the rosti in a large non stick frying pan set over a medium-low heat, add the rosti and fry for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown and cooked through in the centre. Drain on kitchen paper. Keep warm. Wipe out the pan and add the oil for the seabass. Place the fillets in the pan skin side down and fry for 2-3 minutes until crispy, turn over and cook for a further 1-2 minute the other side. Working quickly place a rosti in the centre of each serving plate. Slide the seabass fillets on top. Spoon some of the sauce vierge over each fillet and around the plate. Garnish with sprigs of parsley and serve immediately.