Sea Bass with Asparagus, Radish and Jersey Royal Salad with Sorrel Mayonnaise

Beautiful warm Spring evening and my mind turns to fish.. Here’s a little tip about buying fish. If like me you are in a poor place to source your fish (there is no fishmongers in Chelmsford) and you have to rely on a supermarket, pick a good one and regularly check out the fish stall within it. Once you are happy with the Fish stall (I refuse to call it a fishmongers) and of course you fancy some.. Call in that evening to pick it up (on the way home from work), make sure it was brought in that day and hey presto…

Well, it’s as fresh as you’ll get it from a supermarket anyway! This time the sea Bass was freshest in (always ask), so I decided to make this dish..

Sea Bass with Asparagus, Radish and Jersey Royal Salad with Sorrel Mayonnaise

400g Jersey Royal Potatoes (cleaned)

Big ones cut into halves, little ones left whole. Put them in a saucepan with a little Sea Salt and get them boiling. Small Jersey royals really don't take long to cook, after 7 - 8 minutes check. When cooked, drain and coat in a little Olive. Keep warm on the hob. Whilst your potatoes are cooking its time to make your Sorrel Mayonaise.

Sorrel Mayonnaise:

Mayonnaise is real easy to make as long as you are patient!! The trick to not splitting mayonnaise is to pour the oils real slow, I mean a real trickle, extremely slow in the beginning, building up to more of a slow trickle near the end.

150ml of Sunflower Oil
100ml Rapeseed Oil Zest and Juice of a small Lemon (zest from a zester or chopped really fine)
Pinch of Salt
4 Large Sorrel leaves

Place the salt, lemon juice and rind in a mixer. Give them a little blend then pour your oils into a small jug. Pour into the top of the blender really slowly with the blender on full. I repeat really slowly!! When all of the oil is in (and hopefully your mayonnaise is still not split). Chop your Sorrel finely and then add to the mixer for a final blend (you can use any herb if you haven’t got Sorrel, but grow some it works well in those shady patches of the garden that won’t grow anything else edible!!).  Blend and then get it in the fridge. Mayo done!

Buy blenders at the Great Dinner Recipes store

Get a frying pan and place a little water in it, about half a cup. Season with Salt and then prepare your Asparagus by breaking off the tough ends. When the water is boiling, cook the Asparagus for 2 minutes until warmed through and then store with the Jersey Royals to keep warm.

The Sea Bass:

2 Sea Bass (I had small farmed fish, but you could use a large piece of Wild Sea Bass fillet person)
Fresh English Thyme (chopped)

Next prepare your fish, by filleting the Sea Bass. Then season and sprinkle with chopped Fresh Thyme, coat in a little Olive Oil and make sure that the Bass fillets have a nice generous coating of seasoning and herbs.

Discard any water from your Asparagus pan and heat up a little Olive Oil. We are now ready to fry the fish.

Place the Bass fillets in the Frying pan skin side down (once the oil is hot). We are going to cook the fish through on the skin side, so although you wanted the pan hot at the beginning, turn down the heat so you can manage the cooking easier – not too much though.

The Bass Fillets should take 5 or 6 minutes to cook, you should be able to see the cooked white flesh almost all the way to the top of the fillet. When this is nearly achieved, turn off the heat, turn the fillet onto the flesh side and prepare to plate.

5 Radish
Handful of Garlic Chives
3 Big Spring onions

Chop up your Herbs, Radish and Spring Onions, these should all be nice and thin. Toss them through your warm potatoes and Asparagus with a little Olive Oil and a little more seasoning (taste).

Plate up by simply piling up the vegetables in the centre of the plate then place the Bass fillets in a cross formation on top. I topped this with a little finely chopped greens from the top of the spring onions. Lovely dish!