Pan-Fried Sea Bass with Crushed New Potatoes and Samphire
Samphire only shows up at the fish counter for a few months of the year, so whenever I spot it I grab a bag without really having a plan for it. It has a lovely salty crunch to it, a bit like a green bean that has been for a swim in the sea, and it goes with white fish better than almost anything else I can think of. This is the way I end up cooking it most often.
The whole thing hangs on getting the skin right. Get your pan properly hot, lay the fillets in skin side down, then press them flat with a fish slice for the first few seconds so they don’t curl up on you. Three or four minutes is genuinely all they need on that side, and barely a minute on the other once you’ve turned them over.
Crushed new potatoes are one of my favourite things to serve underneath a piece of fish. You’re not mashing them, just squashing each one with the back of a fork so it drinks up the butter and the lemon juice. If you can’t get hold of samphire, a handful of green beans or some asparagus will do the job, although you’ll want to season a little more heavily in that case, because samphire brings plenty of salt of its own.
This makes two very generous plates. Matt has never once been happy with a single fillet, so if you’re feeding someone with a big appetite it’s worth buying an extra one. Serve it with a wedge of lemon and get it on the table quickly, while the skin is still crisp. If you like this, my baked whole sea bream is worth a look too.
Pan-Fried Sea Bass with Crushed New Potatoes and Samphire
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2 people
Serving size: 420g
Calories per serving: 433
Fat per serving: 20.5g
Ingredients
- 2 sea bass fillets (around 120g each), skin on
- 400g new potatoes
- 100g samphire
- 25g butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic, finely grated
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon, plus wedges to serve
- Small handful of flat-leaf parsley (finely chopped)
- Black pepper to season
Method
- Put the new potatoes into a pan of boiling water and cook for 15 minutes, until a knife slides into them easily.
- While they're cooking, give the samphire a good rinse under the cold tap and pick off any tough woody ends.
- Pat the sea bass fillets completely dry with kitchen roll and season the skin with black pepper. Dry skin is what gets you a crisp finish, so don't skip this bit.
- Drop the samphire into the pan with the potatoes for the last minute of their cooking time, then drain everything together and leave to steam dry in the colander.
- Place a frying pan on a high heat with the olive oil. Once it's properly hot, lay the fillets in skin side down and press them flat with a fish slice for a few seconds so they stay put.
- Cook for 3-4 minutes without moving them, until the skin is golden and crisp and the flesh has turned opaque most of the way up. Flip them over and give them one more minute, then take the pan off the heat.
- Tip the potatoes back into their pan with the butter, grated garlic, lemon juice and parsley. Crush each potato roughly with the back of a fork so it soaks everything up, then fold the samphire back through.
- Serve the crushed potatoes and samphire onto two plates with a sea bass fillet on top, skin side up, and a wedge of lemon alongside.
