Fillet of seabass with spring onion mash - Recipe

Ingredients

4 x 6oz fillets of seabass (de-scaled but skin on)
Mashed potato (enough for four people)
1 bunch spring onions (trimmed and finely sliced)
150ml extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon (finely grated zest and juice)
20 cherry tomatoes (halved across the equator)
12 black olives (stoned and halved)
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon cocktail gherkins (sliced)
1 small bunch fresh tarragon (picked and finely chopped)
60g butter

Method

Heat a non-stick saucepan until very hot.  Douse the seabass fillets in a little vegetable oil, then place in the dry pan (skin side down) and leave to crisp up a little for about 2-3 minutes.  Flip the fillets over and cook the other side.

For the sauce Vierge, warm the olive oil slightly then whisk in the lemon juice. Add the lemon zest, cherry tomatoes, gherkins, capers and black olives, finally add the chopped tarragon. Check the seasoning and adjust as necessary.

Heat the mashed potato in a pan until piping hot, adding the 60g butter to keep the consistency good.  Add the sliced spring onions just before serving – the residual heat will cook them sufficiently.

To serve, place a metal ring into the centre of each of four plates, add some of the spring onion mash and compact down well with the back of a dessert spoon.

Place a fillet of seabass on top of each portion of potato (skin side uppermost), then spoon the sauce around the outside of the plates, and eat at once.

Chef's tips

Make sure that you don’t ‘fry’ the fish. The fish should be lightly oiled, seasoned and placed into a very hot, dry pan – resulting in the fish being seared rather than fried. To avoid over cooking, the fish should be cooked 70 per

Credit

John Benson-Smith, consultant executive chef at the City of Manchester Stadium.