Jerk Sea Bass with Rice and Peas

Jerk Sea Bass with Rice and Peas . I have made Jamie Oliver’s Jerk Chicken recipe from his 30 minute meals cook book a lot over the years. I then went on holiday to Jamaica and had proper jerk chicken, which was cooked in BBQ huts on the beach and I fell in love with Jerk even more. Usually, bone-in chicken is marinated in the spicy jerk sauce before grilling over hot coals, but I fancied something different so tried out sea bass instead of chicken. I think I might like the Jerk Sea Bass even better than traditional Jerk Chicken. Jerk sauce is meant to be very hot, fragrant and slightly sweet. The must-have ingredients for my Jerk Sea Bass Sauce are scotch bonnet chillies, allspice and thyme . I’ve cracked the combination for a sauce that you will want with everything. Sea Bass was an obvious choice as it goes very well with chilli, like in my recipe for Seabass with Thai Coconut Broth. If you make my Jerk Sea Bass or any of my other Recipes please let me know on Instagram.

Recipe

Serves 2

Difficulty Level: Home Cook

Ingredients:

For the Jerk Sea Bass sauce :

• 1 red onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1-2 scotch bonnet chillies
• Leaves from 4 thyme sprigs
• Teaspoon ground allspice
• Around 1/4 of a freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 cloves, freshly ground (or 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves)
• 1/2 a large mango, diced
• 2 spring onions

• 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• Juice of one lime
• Salt and black pepper

For the Sea Bass:

• 4 fillets Sea Bass
• Coconut oil

For the rice and peas:

• 400ml light coconut milk

• Tin of kidney beans, drained and rinsed

• Coconut oil

• White rice

• 1 teaspoon allspice

• 3 spring onions, sliced

• Juice of one lime

• Salt

Method:

1. For the Jerk Sea Bass, put all of the ingredients for the sauce into a liquidiser (I used a nutribullet) and pulse to a smooth sauce. You can marinate the Sea Bass at this stage for up to half an hour, but it is not essential.
2. For the Rice and Peas, empty the coconut milk into a jug and add the drained kidney beans. Fill one of the empty tins with the rice. Add a tablespoon of coconut-oil to a pan and add the allspice and then the rice. Stir to coat the rice with the oil. Add the coconut milk and beans, then fill the empty tin up with boiling water and add this too. Season with salt, stir once and put a lid on the rice. Simmer on a medium- low heat until the rice has absorbed the liquid (about 10 minutes)
3. Meanwhile, season the Sea Bass with salt and pepper. Heat a little coconut oil in a large frying pan. Add the Sea Bass fillets, skin side down, and hold down the flesh with your fingers (this prevents the Sea Bass from curling) cook on a medium high heat until the skin is crisp and golden, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from the pan and put on a plate. The flesh should be very slightly undercooked.
4. Add the jerk sauce to the pan and warm through gently. Add the sea Bass fillets back in, flesh side down just to cook the flesh. This should only take 30 seconds.
5. When the rice and peas are cooked, stir through the lime juice and spring onions.
6. Serve the Jerk Sea Bass with the Jerk Sauce and the rice and peas on the side.