Sea-Bream with Tarragon & Pastis Sauce, Crispy herb spuds & shredded cabbage

This was good! Definitely one to repeat.

This would be good to cook for friends. The spuds, cabbage, fish stock can all be pretty much prepared in advance & then finished within 10mins.





Enough Sea-Bream for 2.  (1 big one or 2 small ones)


For the sauce:
Knob of butter
2 sprigs tarragon
small handful parsley stalks
Splash of Pastis

For the cabbage:

1/2 Savoy Cabbage, roll up leaves, cut in thin shreds
1/2 Onion, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
Dash of cream
Knob of butter

For the spuds:

A few big spuds
Small handful parsley, chopped
Small handful thyme, chopped
Lemon juice

Served 2
Probably should take 30mins. It took me an hour of faffing about, but I enjoyed every minute.

For the fish:
1. Fillet the fish, keep the head & bones.
2. Slash the fillets a few times on the skin side & season with sea-salt & pepper.
3. Pan-fry the fish for a couple of minutes skin side down until crispy, then turn over for a minute. Keep warm.

For the sauce:
1. Cover fish bones & head with just enough water to cover & simmer for 15mins on a very low heat, with the tarragon & parsley stalks.
2.Strain well & then reduce to just 4 tbsp-ish.
3. Stir in a good splash of cream & whisk.
4. Season with salt & pepper

For the cabbage:
1.Meanwhile, put the shredded cabbage in some salted boiling water for 2mins, then drain.
2. Melt a large knob of butter in a pan & soften the onion & garlic. Then stir in the cabbage. Put a lid on & cook gently for 5-6mins.
3. Season
4. Squeeze a bit of lemon over before serving.

For the spuds:
1. Par-boil for 10mins. Then let cool for 5mins before roughly chopping.
2. Fry slowly in some olive oil until crispy.
3.Stir through the herbs & season, cook for another minute or two.

Put the whole lot on a plate, drizzle with the sauce. Eat.

I made a bit too much stock, so i poured off half of it before reducing. I've frozen the left-over stock & will use next time, if I remember it's there...