Garlic Taglierini with pan seared Sea Bass
Sea bass is always a winner, and a regular catch along the east coast of the UK. Its Indonesian cousin is the Asian Sea Bass, 'Bas' in Indonesian and widely known in Australia under its Aboriginal name of 'Barramundi'. The lively pesto from wild garlic and the easy to cook taglierini pasta makes this a quick meal to prepare with great results.
See link below to the Wild Garlic pesto recipe.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
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250 gr taglierini pasta - it is my preference, being quick to cook and absorbs accompanying sauce so well - but choose other pasta varieties, as preferred
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2 tablespoons olive oil
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1 large onion, finely chopped
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5-6 tablespoons of spicy wild garlic pesto
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4 fillets of sea bass
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Juice of1lemon
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Salt to season
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3 tablespoons olive oil for cooking the fish
Steps:
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Fill a large pan with fresh water for cooking the pasta, add salt, and have it ready to bring to the boil. Alongside, heat a frying pan, add the olive oil and cook the onion till soft over a medium heat but without changing the colour of the onion - don't brown it.
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Make sure the skin of the bass is really dry to assure a crispy result. Season the fish with sea salt on both sides.
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It takes only 3 minutes to cook the pasta once the water is boiling. It's important to cook the pasta slightly ahead so that it's ready once the fish is cooked
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Heat a large frying pan with olive oil till hot then place the fish skin down and cook for 3-4 minutes without turning the fillets over. Success lies in managing the heat to ensure the fish is not overcooked. Turn it and cook for extra 2-3 minutes then heat off and keep warm in the pan, skin side down.
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Drain the pasta (keep a little bit of the water) and add to the onion in its own pan, add the pesto and mix well. If the mixture is too dry simply add a couple tablespoons of the water from the pasta. Mix well and taste. Season with salt and black pepper
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Serve the pasta onto 4 warm plates.
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Keeping the fish skin down, squeeze lemon juice across each fillet and sprinkle black pepper. Place each fillet skin up on top of a serving of pasta. Add a teaspoon of spicy pesto and serve!