Steamed seabass with tomato sauce, borlotti beans, taggiasca olives & gremolata
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 4
Fresh, simple and full of Italian flavours, this steamed sea bass dish is great for a summer dinner party.
Ingredients
For the tomato sauce
- 1kg/2lb 4oz vine-ripened cherry tomatoes or datterini tomatoes
- 150g/5½oz white bread with crusts removed
- 40g/1½oz cabernet sauvignon vinegar
- pinch saffron
- 180g/6¼oz extra virgin olive oil
- 50g/1¾oz unsalted butter
- pinch sea salt flakes
For the gremolata
For the borlotti bean and olive mixture
- 280g/10oz podded borlotti beans
- 160g/5⅔oz Taggiasca olives
For the sea bass
- 4 x 200g/7oz centre cut wild sea bass fillets from a 1–2kg/2lb 4oz–4lb 8oz fish, filleted and bones removed
Method
To make the tomato sauce, add the tomatoes, bread, vinegar, saffron and sea salt to a blender or food processor. Blend on a medium speed for about 2 minutes, slowly adding the olive oil.
Pass the mixture through a chinois or sieve then set aside.
To make the gremolata, roughly chop all the herbs and combine together in a bowl. Add the garlic and lemon zest, then add the lemon juice, pickle liquor and olive oil and mix well.
To make the borlotti beans and olives, place the borlotti beans in a pan of unsalted cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer until soft and yielding, somewhere between 25–40 minutes.
Drain the beans and mix with the olives.
To make the sea bass, steam the sea bass fillets for 5–8 minutes depending on size.
When ready to serve, gently warm the tomato sauce through in a saucepan (don’t boil it) and add the butter.
To serve, split the tomato sauce between four plates, filling the base of each plate. Top the sauce with a scoop of gremolata and a scoop of the bean and olive mixture.
Finally, top each plate with a steamed sea bass fillet.
