Monday 14 April 2008

Whole baked herb-stuffed sea bass with fennel and potatoes

It's a Saturday nite special courtesy of The (Return of the) Naked Chef: He packed the fish with fresh dill, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves, then lay the sea bass on a bed of sliced fennel and red onion. A few glugs of olive oil, a sprinkling of salt, 40 mins in a hot oven, and we had us a fine feast o' fish.

Not to give the accompaniments short shrift. Pan-fried charlotte potates and last nite's spinach salad refreshed with more leaves filled in the corners most fine, thank you.

HE SAYS: Nice meal that I haven't attempted for a while. The sea bass was cooked perfectly - more luck then skill, as it's always a little bit of a crapshoot as far as timings for the fish go because it's wrapped in loads of foil that you don't want to unwrap until the end to keep in all the flavour-flavs...plus it's super-fiddly. I'm not usually a fan of anything aniseed-tasting, but the fennel seeds and fresh fennel slices give this dish nice subtle aromatic overtones
, while the red onions lend a slighly sweet touch.

The potatoes turned out crunchy and light; cooked 'em forever, it seemed. I always think before I attempt this dish that it has masses of prep work but it's actually a very quick one and easy on the washing up, which always puts a smile on my face after the last bite.

SHE SAYS: I was swooning over the silky texture and clean, oceanic flavours of the sea bass; this is quite possibly my favourite fish dish. The fennel and red onion made for the perfect sharp and sweet contrasts - my only quibble would be that the veg could have been a tad more tender. Potatoes were classically delicious and filling, and the salad just couldn't go wrong.

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