Seabass with Preserved Lemon, Tomato and Olive Sauce

Seabass with Preserved Lemon, Tomato and Olive Sauce. This Mediterranean inspired dish is a perfect summer dinner. The seabass is panfried and served with a chunky sauce of fresh tomatoes, salty olives and tangy preserved lemon. Mopped up with some crusty bread, have this dish on a sunny evening. The quality of the fish is important here and I get my excellent fish from Peterhead Fish Company Not too many ingredients makes this an easy recipe to put together in under an hour!

RECIPE

SERVES 2

DIFFICULTY LEVEL Rookie

Ingredients:

2 seabass fillets
6 pack of vine ripened tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato puree
250ml white wine
2 preserved lemons from a jar (buy here: Al’Fez Preserved Lemons (140g)
150g olives of your choice (I used green olives stuffed with garlic)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley to serve (optional)
Crusty bread to serve

Method:

Begin with making the sauce. Boil the kettle and cut a cross in the top of each tomato with a sharp knife. Place the tomatoes in a snug fitting bowl and cover with the boiling water. Leave for one minute.
Drain the tomatoes and remove the skins (they should easily peel away). Discard the skins, cut the tomatoes into quarters and discard the seeds. Dice the flesh.
Heat a medium frying pan over a medium heat and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Allow to heat before adding the chopped tomatoes, the tomato puree and white wine. Allow to simmer for around 5 minutes until thickened.
Finely chop the preserved lemons and slice the olives. Add to the sauce and heat through. Season with salt and pepper but bare in mind the lemons and olives are salty. Keep warm whilst you cook the fish.
Heat a large frying pan over a medium high heat and drizzle a little olive oil all over the fish fillets. Season with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot, add the seabass fillets one at a time, skin side down. Hold down the fillet with your hand for around 30 seconds until the skin sticks. This will allow the skin to go crisp and ensure it does not curl up. Cook on the skin side for around 3 minutes until you can see the flesh has almost fully turned white. Use a fish slice to carefully turn the fish on to the flesh side to cook for 30 seconds until cooked through.
Place the sauce on to your plate of choice and top with the fish. Scatter over some fresh parsley if using. Serve with some crusty bread. Enjoy!

TIPS

Use tinned chopped tomatoes instead of fresh. You may need a teaspoon of sugar to sweeten them up, though.

Would go well with other white fish such as cod or hake.

Add red peppers and courgettes to the sauce for extra veg.