Taste of the isles

by Marcello Tully
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servings4
2 hours

Ingredients

Fish

  • 4 sea bass fillets, skin on
  • 4 cod fillets, each weighing 80g, skin on
  • 200ml of white wine
  • 16 mussels, cleaned and de-bearded
  • salt
  • black pepper
  • 20ml of sunflower oil

Sauce

  • 110g of large white onions, roughly chopped
  • 45g of white leeks, roughly chopped
  • 100g of celery, roughly chopped
  • 85g of fennel, roughly chopped
  • 80g of carrots, roughly chopped
  • 110g of red pepper, roughly chopped
  • 1 pinch of thyme
  • 15g of anchovy fillets
  • 25g of tomato purée
  • 500ml of fish stock
  • 250g of plaice
  • 50ml of double cream
  • 1 saffron strand
  • Tabasco to taste
  • Worcestershire sauce to taste
  • 1 tsp white wine vinegar
  • 1/2 garlic, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp caster sugar
  • 20ml of sunflower oil

To serve

  • crusty bread
  • 4 sprigs of dill

Method

1
For the sauce, in a pan sweat off the onions, leeks, celery, fennel, carrots, red pepper in sunflower oil for 2-3 minutes, adding the anchovies, tomato purée and thyme to the pan
  • 110g of large white onions
  • 45g of white leeks
  • 100g of celery
  • 85g of fennel
  • 80g of carrots
  • 110g of red pepper
  • 1 pinch of thyme
  • 15g of anchovy fillets
  • 25g of tomato purée
  • 20ml of sunflower oil
2
Add the stock to the pan. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour
  • 500ml of fish stock
3
Add the plaice and gently simmer for 10-15 minutes
  • 250g of plaice
4
Transfer the contents of the pan to a food processor and blend for 2-3 minutes. Pass through a sieve into a clean pan
5
Add the cream, saffron, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, salt, sugar, garlic and vinegar. Stir and set aside to keep warm while you prepare the fish
  • 50ml of double cream
  • 1 saffron strand
  • Tabasco to taste
  • Worcestershire sauce to taste
  • salt
  • 1 tsp caster sugar
  • 7 garlic
  • 1 tsp white wine vinegar
6
Place a pan over a high heat and add the oil. Turn the heat down and place the cod fillets into the pan, skin-side down, for 4 minutes. Season and turn the fillets over and cook for a further 3 minutes, or until golden all over. Set aside to keep warm
  • 4 cod fillets
  • black pepper
  • salt
7
Fry the sea bass using a similar method, but fry for 3 minutes, skin-side down, and for 2 minutes, flesh-side down. Set aside to rest
  • 4 sea bass fillets
  • salt
  • black pepper
8
Place a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the white wine and mussels and cook for 1-2 minutes with the lid on
  • 200ml of white wine
  • 16 mussels
9
To serve, divide the cod and sea bass fillets across 4 large soup bowls. Add 4 mussels to each bowl and pour over the sauce. Garnish with some sprigs of dill and serve with some crusty bread
  • crusty bread
  • 4 sprigs of dill