Sea Bass, Bunting and Jewelled Crowns

This meal isn't quite as eccentric and decadent as the title suggests! The Sea Bass was a present from my Dad who, after a 10 second dash to the fish market in his lunch hour, presented the beauties to me un-gutted, so naturally I left him to deal with the gore and stench of that job over the kitchen sink. No one really likes fish in my family so I made an Italian sauce, rather like puttenesca without the anchovies and chilli, and served that on the side to make it less all about the fish. The salty samphire worked well sautéed with new potatoes as it added seasoning.

As it was a gorgeously warm day we ate outside, complete with some bunting I’d ran up on the sewing machine from old samples. It’s a great way to display any bits of fabric you have – these fabrics all had a bird theme as I’d amassed a hoard from when I worked at H&G.  

For pudding I made some jewelled fruit tarts which are very easy to make as the base is just buttered squares of filo overlapped in muffin trays and then cooked. 

Sea Bass with a Mediterranean Sauce

Serves 4

For the Bass

• Preheat the oven to 190˚C
• Place 2 Sea Bass (each weighing 700-1kg, gutted and patted dry) in a baking tray. Stuff each with a handful of chopped herbs such as parsley, rosemary, thyme and basil. Slit each fish diagonally three times on both sides and rub with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes.

For the Sauce

• Soften 1 Onion and then add 2 chopped cloves of Garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add 1 can Chopped Tomatoes, 1 Tbsp Tomato Puree, 20g pitted Olives, 2 Tbsp Capers, 1tbsp dried Oregano and season. Simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add 10 cherry tomatoes and cook until the skin starts to split. 
• Slide the fish off the bone and serve with the sauce and some New Potatoes sauteed with Samphire. 

Jewelled Fruit Tartlets

Makes 12

• Preheat the oven to 180˚C
• Take 6 sheets of filo pastry and divide into 6 squares each. Cover with a tea towel to prevent drying out. 
• Melt 50g Butter with 3 tbsp Olive Oil. First brush a 12 hole muffin tray with some of the mixture. Then brush one square with the butter/oil and press, buttered side down, into a muffin hole. Repeat with two more squares, placing at an angle to get a crown effect. 
• Do the same for the other eleven holes, then bake for 8-10 minutes. 
• For the filling, chop up any soft fruit such as Strawberries, Blueberries, Nectarines, Peaches and Redcurrants - you'll need about a small bowl full. 
• Boil 200g honey with 1 tbsp Lemon Juice for 4 minutes. Tip the fruit in, quickly stir to coat and then spoon the fruit into the cases. Glaze with the left over honey.
• Arrange a stem of Redcurrants on each. Serve within half an hour with some thick cream.