Head Chef Peter Alcroft of Dartmouth’s harbour-front Dart Marina Hotel loves to work with in-season produce, try his beautiful pan fried sea bream recipe and read his interview here.
- 4 fillets sea bream (ask the fishmonger to scale and pin bone them)
- 2 bunches British asparagus (optional, depending on the season)
- 800g purple sprouting
- 1 bunch spring onions
- 4 rosti potatoes (see below)
- sauce vierge (see below)
1. Peel the asparagus, top and tail the spring onion and trim the purple sprouting. To cook the vegetables bring a large saucepan of salted water to a rapid boil. Drop in the vegetables and cook for 4-5 minutes.
2. For the sea bream, heat a little olive oil in a non-stick pan. Score the skin of the sea bream and season the flesh with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Place the fish, skin-side down, into the hot oil. Cook the sea bream for 4-6 minutes on the skin-side according to the thickness of the fish. Turn the fish onto its flesh side briefly to finish cooking it.
4. Reheat the Rosti and gently warm the sauce. Plate as picture garnish with baby basil leaves.
For the Rosti Potato:
- 2 large floury potatoes
- 2-3 tbsp. clarified butter or duck fat
- 2-3 tbsp. sunflower oil
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. For the Rosti, grate the potatoes coarsely into a clean tea towel. Fold the towel around the potato to form a ball and squeeze to remove as much moisture as possible. Season the potato with black pepper and salt, then divide into four equal portions.
2. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat and add two tablespoons of the clarified butter or duck fat and the sunflower oil. Place a metal chef’s ring inside the frying pan and carefully fill with the one portion of grated potato. Using the back of a spoon gently push down to make a compact cake. Remove the ring and repeat with the remaining potato until you have four rostis.
3. Fry the rostis for 3-4 minutes on both sides, or until golden-brown all over and tender all the way through, adding more oil or fat if required keep pushing down the rosti to help it stay together. Then remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper. Place onto a roasting tray and reheat before serving.
For the Sauce Vierge:
- 2 shallots
- 1 garlic clove
- 4-5 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 4 large ripe plum tomato
- 8 large leaves fresh basil
- Half lemon, juice only
- Sea Salt and Black Pepper
1. First blanch the tomatoes. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Score the tomatoes with a small point ended sharp knife and make a light cross on the top of the other end just piercing the skin. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for 10 seconds then place into ice water. Peel off the skin and cut into quarters from the top. Remove the seeds and drain on a clean tea towel or kitchen paper.
2. Finely shred the basil and peel and finely chop the garlic and shallots. Dice the tomato petals and mix all the ingredients together. Season and allow the flavours to infuse while you prepare the rest of the dish.