Sea Bass with Panzanella Salad
Sea Bass with Panzanella Salad recipe. Crispy skinned sea bass served with a panzanella salad with tomatoes, roasted red peppers and tarragon. Traditional Tuscan panzanella salad is made with chunks of soft bread that soak up the tomato juices and dressing. However, I prefer this version which uses crunchy croutons. This gives the salad a bit more texture but the croutons do still soak up some of the delicious juices. Panzanella is a beautiful Summer Tuscan dish and is best when made with ripe, juicy tomatoes – if you can get a mixture of colours it makes the salad even more vibrant and delicious. The flavours of the panzanella salad work so well with fish. I have used sea bass, but cod or hake would also work really well with this dish.
Traditional Panzanella Salad
Using up stale bread, Tuscany farmers would make this peasant dish in their homes with freshly picked tomatoes. Tomatoes are essential in this recipe. We can’t rival the sweetness of Italian tomatoes, but this dish should be made when tomatoes are at their best to get the most flavour from tomatoes. A firm rustic loaf is traditionally used, something that has a bit of body to it. The bread is traditionally soaked in water, to soften it. Basil is the most common used herb in a panzanella salad and this is unsurprising given it’s unrivalled match with tomatoes. The tomatoes, bread and basil are tossed together with a simple olive oil vinaigrette, allowing the bread to soak up the flavours.
Seabass Panzanella Salad
Although inspired by the traditional, my Sea Bass with Panzanella Salad uses a few techniques and extra ingredients to elevate the dish. Sourdough is used not only for it’s crunchy exterior and firm centre, but because I love the flavour of a sourdough over any other bread. The sourdough is ripped into croutons and baked in the oven with garlic for 15 minutes until crisp. This allows the croutons in the salad to keep their shape, instead of disintegrating. The addition of garlic also adds another dimension and reminds me of the flavours of a bruschetta. Instead of basil, tarragon is used which goes better with the fish in my opinion. Jarred roasted red peppers are also added, an ingredient that I always have in my fridge for their amazing flavour and for the way they so easily add so much to any dish. Finely, lemon juice, chilli flakes and capers just add even more to the final dish. Matched with crispy skin sea bass, this is a great Summer recipe.
Other recipes
If you liked my Sea Bass with Panzanella Salad then you might like my recipe for Goats Cheese Panzanella Salad, Pesto Pasta with Slow Roasted Tomatoes or Aubergine, Tomato and Ricotta Focaccia
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Sea Bass with Panzanella Salad
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.
