Sea Bass with Salsa Verde

This is an extremely fast supper dish for two people. Salsa verde is a strong-flavoured, quite gutsy sauce that does wonders for any grilled fish. It behaves rather like a very thick vinaigrette and, before serving, always needs to have another mix. Some small new potatoes would make a good accompaniment.

Serves 2

Sea Bass with Salsa Verde

Ingredients
2 sea bass fillets (7-8 oz/200-225 g each) – sometimes farmed sea bass fillets are very small, in which case, use 2 per person (4½ oz/125 g each)
a little olive oil
½ lemon, quartered
salt and freshly milled black pepper
For the salsa verde:
4 tinned anchovy fillets in oil, drained
1 tablespoon capers in vinegar, drained
1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1 small clove garlic, crushed
1½ tablespoons lemon juice
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Method

Begin by making the salsa verde. To start with, chop the anchovy fillets as small as possible and crush them to a paste in a mortar (if you haven’t got a mortar, a small bowl and the end of a rolling pin will do). Put the capers in a small sieve and rinse them under cold, running water to remove the vinegar they were preserved in. Dry them on kitchen paper and chop them as minutely as you can and add them to the anchovies. Next, add the mustard, garlic, lemon juice and some freshly milled black pepper and mix well. Now add the oil and chopped herbs, mix again so that all the ingredients are properly combined and check the taste to see how much salt to add.
To cook the fish, you need to pre-heat the grill to its highest setting for at least 10 minutes. Next, line a grill tray with kitchen foil, brush the fish fillets on both sides with olive oil and place them on the tray, flesh side up. Season with salt and freshly milled black pepper, then grill for 5-6 minutes, turning halfway, or until just cooked through. Serve straightaway with the salsa verde and the lemon wedges to squeeze over.

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