Rick Stein’s Baked Sea Bass with Roasted Red Peppers, Tomatoes, Anchovies and Potatoes
Tender, fresh, sea bass roasted together in one pan with lightly caramelised peppers, sweet tomatoes, salty anchovies and melt-in-the-mouth potatoes. Although this takes over an hour in the oven, it comes together very quickly, and the joy of cooking it in this way, ensures that the flavours concentrate, develop and merge as everything cooks.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 85ml olive oil, divided
- good pinch of saffron strands
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- 900g potatoes. I use a waxy potato such as Charlotte or Rattes. Depending on size, slice them until they are roughly 1cm thick. or halve them horizontally. No need to peel. You could also use floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper. Peel and cut into 1 cm thick slices
- 250g – 400g tomatoes, skinned and halved or quartered, depending on size.
- 50g anchovy fillets in oil, drained.
- 8 plump garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
- 150ml good quality chicken stock. Or fish or vegetable stock, if necessary
- 3 – 4 red peppers/capsicum, deseeded and each one cut into 8 chunks
- 8 sprigs of fresh oregano, or add 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, when you add the salt and pepper.
- ¼ – ½ teaspoon fine salt, ideally sea salt
- ¼ – ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes (optional)
- 1.5 – 1.75kg whole sea bass, cleaned and trimmed. If the sea bass is too big for your pan, remove the head and tail.
Instructions
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Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.
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Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 (fan 180°C). Find a deep sided baking/roasting tin large enough for the fish laid diagonally or lengthwise. Smear the base of the tin with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
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Place the saffron threads in a small bowl or cup and cover with the hot water. Set aside.
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Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the potatoes. Simmer and cook for 7 minutes. Drain and set aside.
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Plunge the tomatoes into boiling water, leave for one minute and drain.Peel the skin from the tomatoes and halve or quarter them, depending on size.
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Peel and slice the garlic cloves. De-seed the peppers and cut each one into 8 chunks.
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Layer the potatoes onto the base of the pan, scatter over the anchovies, tomatoes and garlic.
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Pour in the saffron water and stock and assemble the peppers in the dish, either side of where you will be placing the fish. Scatter over the oregano, drizzle everything with 3 – 4 tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle over half of the salt and pepper and add the chilli flakes, if using.
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Place in the centre of a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.
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5 minutes before taking the vegetables out of the oven, prepare the fish. Remove the head and tail, if necessary, and slash the skin 5 or 6 times on both sides and on one side, slash again in the other direction to make a criss-cross pattern. Rub with the remaining olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
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Place the fish in the dish, criss-cross side up, between the peppers, and pop back in the oven for a further 30 – 35 minutes, or until the fish is cooked and the vegetables are soft and lightly caramelised in places.
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Serve the fish with the vegetables and a squeeze of lemon. A simple green salad on the side, also works well.
Recipe Notes
Equipment
- kitchen scales and measuring spoons
- dish/cup for the saffron and water
- saucepan for the potatoes
- sieve/colander
- bowl for tomatoes
- chopping board and knife
- large baking/roasting dish
Where is this recipe from?
I am not sure where I first saw this Rick Stein recipe, possibly in a magazine. It is featured in his 100 Fish & Seafood Recipes (My Kitchen Table) which was published in 2011 but I have memories of making it well before this. I am a huge fan of Rick Stein recipes. They are bursting with flavour, exceedingly reliable, use accessible ingredients and are generally very doable for the home cook. Not too cheffy at all. This recipe is a perfect example of all of these things.