METHOD

Pan-fried Sea Bass with Artichokes and Broad Beans

James Walters & The Arabica Food & Spice Company

“This dish reminds me of the sun blushed shores of the Mediterranean. There are certain vegetables that seem to be made to go together and artichokes and broad beans, which come into season at around the same time, are one such pair".

Ingredients

Serves Four

2 sea bass fillets
1 tbsp olive oil
dill sprigs, to garnish
For the artichoke and
broad bean salad
200g/7oz/1 cup broad beans
4 whole cooked artichoke hearts
1 preserved lemon
2 spring onions
1/2 garlic clove, peeled
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sumac
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1 To pod the broad beans, drop them into a pan of simmering water for 2 minutes, drain and refresh in cold water. Then peel off their thin skins using either your thumbnail or a small sharp knife.

2 Trim the bases of the artichoke hearts slightly, just enough that they sit on your plate without rolling around. Cut the preserved lemon into quarters, remove the flesh with a sharp paring knife and discard and then finely slice the zest.

3 Finely slice the green parts of the spring onions so you end up with lots of tiny discs. Discard the white parts.

4 Put the garlic in a pestle and mortar, sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and puree, gradually adding the olive oil.
Gently mix the preserved lemon zest slices, spring onions, broad beans and sumac with the garlic infusion.

5 Wash and pat dry the sea bass fillets and portion them in to 4 even pieces. Sprinkle the skin of the fish with a pinch of sea salt. Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based non-stick frying pan and once it’s
nice and hot add the fish, skin-side down. Cook for 2 minutes until the skin becomes crispy, then turn the fillets over and cook for a further minute.

6 Place one artichoke heart in the centre of each plate and spoon in the dressed broad beans until they begin to overflow. Place a piece of seabass on the top of each overflowing artichoke heart. Serve
garnished with dill.