Sea bream with heritage tomato salad and nasturtium pesto
Heritage tomatoes make this salad extra special. Serve alongside the fried sea bream for a mouthwatering supper.
Ingredients
For the salad
- 2 red onions, peeled and kept whole
- rapeseed oil, for cooking
- ½ small loaf slightly stale sourdough, broken into small bite-sized pieces
- 150ml/5fl oz olive oil
- 1kg/2lb 4oz mixed heritage tomatoes, cut into chunks
- 1 strong English onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon thyme leaves
- 2 tbsp rock salt flakes
- 2 tbsp onion seeds, toasted
- 1 bunch chives, finely snipped
- 1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped (white and green parts)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the nasturtium pesto
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú feta, crumbled
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- 150²µ/5¼´Ç³ú nasturtium leaves
- 140ml/4½fl oz good quality extra virgin olive oil
For the bream
- vegetable oil, for cooking
- 2 stalks fresh rosemary
- 2 x 200g/7oz fillets gilt-head sea bream, pin-boned
- plain flour, for dusting
- 40²µ/1½´Ç³ú butter
- 1 lemon, juice only
Method
For the salad, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.
Trim the root end of the red onions and slice them into 5mm/¼in wedges, keeping them intact at the root base. Drizzle with a little rapeseed oil and roast until caramelised. This will take about 20-25 minutes.
Drizzle the sourdough with the olive oil and bake until crispy. Season immediately so it takes on the flavour as it cools.
Put the tomatoes, English onion, thyme and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Drain in a colander, then tip them onto a baking tray and bake for 1–2 minutes.
For the pesto, put the feta, pine nuts and garlic in a pestle and mortar or small food processor and crush to a paste. Add the nasturtium leaves, a few at a time, then the olive oil, and blend to a coarse pesto. Season with salt and pepper.
For the sea bream, heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over a low heat. Put a stalk of rosemary into the flesh side of the fish, where the pin bones were. Dust the skin side of the fish in the flour, then gently put it in the pan, holding the fish down until it doesn’t curl up. Fry until almost cooked through and very crispy. Flip the fish over and add the butter. When it is foaming, add the lemon juice and baste the fish. Cook until cooked through.
Put the tomatoes in a large bowl and add the onion seeds, chives, spring onions, croutons and roasted red onion. Dress with the pesto. Serve immediately, with the fish.