Sea Bass with Braised Courgettes

Sea bass is an enduring favourite with many customers at the Seahorse and it's no wonder as it just has that perfect combination of meatiness in its texture and fresh juicy flavour of the sea.  A lot of sea bass in our country will be farmed but if you can get locally caught bass, this is the best!

Ingredients – serves 4

4 sea bass fillets about 180-200g

4 courgettes

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

good handful basil, torn or torn roughly

100ml olive oil

2 lemons

salt and pepper

Method

Peel, top and tail the courgettes, cut into quarters lengthways then cut into 1 inch chunks.

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan, add the garlic and sweat for a minute without any colour, next add the courgettes and the basil, season with salt and pepper and mix well.

Cook the courgettes for about 15 minutes stirring regularly until most of the water from the courgettes has evaporated and they have stewed down leaving some in chunks and some completely broken down. Remove from the heat and put to one side.

Heat a frying pan with a little olive oil, place the sea bass into the pan skin side down, season with a little salt, cook until the sea bass skin starts to take some colour and begins to crisp.

Carefully turn the fillets over and place the pan into a hot oven and roast for 5 minutes (could be more or less depending on size & thickness of fish)

To serve reheat the courgettes to just warm, add a good squeeze of lemon and put a generous spoonful onto each warm plate. 

Put the sea bass on top and serve with a lemon wedge.