Pan-fried sea bass in harissa butter

A super quick, weeknight dinner, using just a handful of ingredients. This recipe shows you how to cook the perfect sea bass fillet, which is then covered in a rich spicy butter.

Ingredients

• 2 sea bass fillets
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 30g/1oz unsalted butter
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
• ½ tsp cumin seeds, crushed
• 1 tbsp harissa paste
• ½ lemon
• ½ bunch fresh coriander, finely chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• freshly steamed Tenderstem broccoli, to serve

Method

1. Pat the sea bass dry with kitchen paper so there is no moisture on the fillets and season generously with salt and pepper.

2. Make sure you have all the rest of your ingredients ready, as it cooks so quickly.

3. Drizzle the oil into a frying pan. Put the sea bass into the cold pan, skin-side down. Put the pan over a medium–high heat. Fry for around 4–5 minutes, until the skin is crisp and golden. Turn the heat up a little and flip the fish over, frying for just a couple of minutes until cooked through and golden all over.

4. Transfer the sea bass to serving plates, then return the pan to the hob. Working quickly, add the butter, garlic, coriander seeds and cumin seeds. Cook for 1 minute then add the harissa paste, stirring together.

5. Squeeze in the juice from the lemon and remove from the heat. Stir in most of the coriander and quickly pour over the sea bass.

6. Garnish with the remaining coriander and serve immediately with the Tenderstem broccoli.

Pan-fried seabass in harissa butter