Sea Bass with Panzanella Salad
Crispy skinned sea bass served with a Tuscan panzanella salad with tomatoes, roasted red peppers, garlic, sourdough croutons and tarragon. Traditionally made with stale bread, I have crisped up chunks of sourdough for extra texture in this flavoursome dish.
Ingredients
- 4 Sea Bass fillets
- 250 g Tomatoes A mixture of varieties and colours work best
- 200g Sourdough Ripped into chunky croutons
- 3 Garlic cloves crushed
- 1 Lemon Zested and juiced.
- 2 tbsp Capers
- 1 tbsp White wine vinegar
- 1 Small bunch fresh tarragon finely chopped
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Dice the tomatoes and place in a bowl with a teaspoon of salt. Toss to combine and allow to sit for 30 minutes
- Meanwhile, heat the oven to 180C. Toss the sourdough chunks with a good drizzle of oil, a pinch of salt and one of the crushed garlic cloves. Bake for 10 minutes until crisp. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- Once the tomatoes have released some of their juices after 30 minutes, sieve and drain into a bowl. Mix in the juice of the lemon, 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar and the capers. Whisk to combine.
- Add the remaining crushed garlic and the tarragon to the tomatoes. Season with plenty of black pepper.
- Heat a frying pan over a medium high heat. Season the skin of the sea bass fillets with salt and black pepper. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Once the pan is hot, add the sea bass fillets one at a time. Add the sea bass skin side down and press on the flesh for a couple of seconds. This prevents the skin from curling up. Cook on the skin side until crisp and golden, around 4-5 minutes. Flip over and cook the flesh for another minute or so until just cooked.
- Mix together the dressed tomatoes, croutons and dressing. Add to a a serving plate and top with the crispy sea bass. Sprinkle over some more tarragon leaves and the lemon zest. Serve straight away.
