Sea bass with new potatoes cooked in milk and watercress salsa
matt tebbut recipes

Sea bass with new potatoes cooked in milk and watercress salsa

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Preparation time
less than 30 mins

Cooking time
10 to 30 mins

Serves
Serves 2

Sea bass gets a fresh, spring treatment in this easy recipe.

By Matt Tebbutt
From Saturday Kitchen
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Ingredients

  • 2 x 150–200g/5½–7oz sea bass fillets
  • olive oil, for frying
  • knob of butter
  • squeeze lemon juice
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the watercress salsa

  • 100g/3½oz watercress, torn into leaves
  • 1 tbsp baby capers
  • handful flatleaf parsley leaves
  • small bunch dill, roughly chopped
  • 6 anchovy fillets, drained
  • 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 4–8 tbsp olive oil

For the new potatoes in milk

  • 50g/1¾oz unsalted butter, softened
  • 1kg/2lb 4oz new potatoes, scrubbed
  • 500ml/18fl oz milk
  • 2 bay leaves
  • ½ fennel bulb

Method

  1. Blend the salsa ingredients together in a food processor until roughly chopped, then set aside.

  2. To make the potatoes in milk, spread the butter onto the base of a wide, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put in the potatoes, season well and cover with the milk. Add the bay leaves and fennel. Cut a circle of baking paper the size of your pan and place it on the milk. Cook over a medium heat for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and turn up the heat until the milk has reduced and the potatoes have slightly caramelised. Set aside to rest.

  3. Meanwhile, to cook the fish, heat a dash of oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the fish flesh-side down for 3–4 minutes, pressing the fillets down to stop them from curling up for the first minute. Turn the fish over and cook skin-side down for 2 minutes, or until cooked through. Add a knob of butter and a squeeze of lemon.

  4. Divide the fish between two plates, drizzle with the salsa and serve with the potatoes.