Pan-fried sea bass with citrus-dressed broccoli
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Pan-fried sea bass with citrus-dressed broccoli

A restaurant-quality fish supper, ready in just half an hour

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 2

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

Gluten-free

Method

  1. Before you start cooking, get everything prepared. Trim each sea bass fillet so they are both the same shape, then score the skin, cutting into the flesh slightly, 5 or 6 times at about 1cm intervals. Set aside.
  2. Segment the orange - slice off the top and bottom, then cut away the skin and pith. Cut away each segment, then squeeze out the juice from the rest of the orange into a bowl. Cut the broccoli into medium-size florets.
  3. To make the warm broccoli salad, cook the florets in a pan of boiling salted water for 1 min until just cooked. While the broccoli is cooking, put a frying pan on to heat. As soon as the broccoli is cooked, drain it, then tip straight into the hot frying pan to 'scorch' out all the moisture.
  4. Turn off the heat, then scatter the orange segments over the broccoli. Toss for a few moments just to heat through, then tip into a bowl and dress with the orange juice and 2 tbsp olive oil. Season with pepper and a small sprinkling of sea salt, then set aside.
  5. Wipe out the pan. Season the fish with a little salt and pepper just before cooking. Heat the frying pan until very hot, then add 2 tbsp oil. Lay the fish fillets in the pan, skin-side down. As soon as it goes in, press each fillet down with your fingers or a fish slice to stop it from curling up.
  6. Reduce the heat to medium, then leave the fish to cook for 3-4 mins, undisturbed, until you can see that the flesh has cooked two-thirds of the way up and the skin is crisp and brown.
  7. Flip the fillets over, then fry on the flesh side for about 2 mins until just done, basting the skin with the oil in the pan as it cooks. Leave to rest on a warm plate, skin-side up, and baste with the hot oil and juices from the pan.
  8. Pour 2 tbsp olive oil into the pan and place it back on a high heat. Scatter in the capers and anchovies, then cook until they start to crisp. Grate over the lemon zest and squeeze in the juice of ½ the lemon. If there isn't enough juices in the pan to drizzle over both plates, add a splash more oil. You are now ready to plate up.
Try

Salt

With this recipe, watch how much salt you use - anchovies and capers are very salty so the broccoli and fish will need only a small sprinkling.

Wild sea bass

I use wild sea bass in my restaurants and, to ensure that it's sustainable, I use only line-caught. Wild sea bass fillets are a lot larger than the farmed ones you get in supermarkets, so if you are using farmed, the fillets will weigh about 100g once trimmed. They won't need to be pan-fried for as long, so take 1 min off the cooking time.

Scales

As the crisp skin is an important part of this finished dish, you need to make sure that the fish has been scaled properly before cooking as fish scales are tough and inedible. Ask your fishmonger to scale the fish for you and, when you get the fish home, wipe the skin with a piece of kitchen paper to get rid of any stray scales that may be clinging on.

PER SERVING

528 kcalories, protein 36g, carbohydrate 10g, fat 39 g, saturated fat 6g, fibre 4g, sugar 9g, salt 2.97 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, February 2009.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo Cosmic Debris

    01 February 2009

    Cosmic Debris rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Fantastic, I'd never have thought to add orange to fish and broccoli - the capers, anchovies and lemon were a great dressing. Not hard to make, but a pretty intense 5 or so minutes..

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  • Binder photo carriedownie

    18 February 2009

    carriedownie commented on this recipe

    Delicious - however, I left out the orange segments in the broccoli and replaced with aspargus! Then used the juice of half an orange along with the lemon - went down a treat!

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  • Binder photo sophiezest

    19 February 2009

    sophiezest rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made this for Valentine's day. It was very fast, easy, and absolutely delicious. It also looked beautiful. We thought it was considerably better food than many restaurants serve. The best thing about the Gordon Ramsay recipes I've tried so far is that he explains the important part of the method in detail, so you can't go wrong.

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  • Binder photo yerots

    19 February 2009

    yerots rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo TJ

    06 August 2009

    TJ rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made this with the suggested lemon and chive butter potatoes. Have lots of plates and bowls out to put everything in and don't forget to pre-heat the oven for the warm plate! It was delicious!

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  • Binder photo Elaine

    18 September 2009

    Elaine rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely delicious!

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  • Binder photo carrotcake

    17 February 2010

    carrotcake rated this recipe

    2 stars

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  • Binder photo graham ashworth

    08 March 2010

    graham ashworth rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo millivanilli

    04 April 2010

    millivanilli rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Have cooked this twice. It's a bit fiddly if you are an amateur - like me :-) but taste is great - of course! Easier with two pairs of hands ! Enjoy !

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  • Binder photo cingor

    08 April 2010

    cingor commented on this recipe

    The recipe below is much easier and much more delicious http://www.simplyrecipes.co.uk/1/post/2010/04/miso-chilean-sea-bass.html

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  • Binder photo Janine

    27 August 2010

    Janine commented on this recipe

    This was my first attempt at Sea Bass and Gordon's recipe was fab. My hubby gave me 10 out of 10!! I'll make this a regular treat now.

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  • Binder photo clparker

    28 September 2010

    clparker commented on this recipe

    Absolutley blooming delicious!

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  • Binder photo mi4ence

    04 October 2010

    mi4ence rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo dreday

    08 November 2010

    dreday rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    genuinely brilliant, well done

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  • Binder photo Aoife

    13 February 2011

    Aoife rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    we celebrate st valentine's day last night with this recipe for mains. i was sceptical about the broccoli-orange combination but i need not have been it was divine. neither of us could stop ummming and awwing over it....the approriate effect for such an occasion! i served alongside buttery potato and celariac mash. will deffinately make again. however i think this really is only suitable for two as it involves a lot of last minute faffing.

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  • Binder photo Maz

    20 February 2011

    Maz rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Fabulous!! The boyfriend & I are pretty novice cooks, but we took the advice of the other comments and got everything ready for the meal then set it to work it together. Had it with the recommended new potatoes and lemon, and BAM, what a hit !!! YUM YUM YUM !!! Few ingrediants that work so well together, and not too difficult to make... it really is all in the prep... can't wait to make it again !!

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  • Binder photo cup cake

    23 March 2011

    cup cake rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    WOW I love sea bass and am always looking for new ways to try it n this was a fantastic comination of contrasting flavours, Although i was nervous of the idea of brocolli and orange but worked so wonderfully well, will be making this again! :D

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  • Binder photo Capt Ahab

    14 May 2011

    Capt Ahab rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Like all celebrity chefs this is an unnecessary fiddle. In my opinion, the cooking time for the Bass is far too long, this, I find, is generally the case in fish recipes All food photography is deceptive and has little to do with reality. Personally I have yet to achieve a crisp skin without it parting company with the flesh and or sticking to the oiled non-stick pan whether on high heat or medium heat. I would like to see that aspect demonstrated. This is recipe is not for me.

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  • Binder photo Lyn

    19 May 2011

    Lyn rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo loobylou

    06 July 2011

    loobylou rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Gorgeous - one of my favourites! Once you have done it a few times it gets easier!! Definitely restaurant fare recipe!

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 2

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

Gluten-free

Ingredients

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PER SERVING

528 kcalories, protein 36g, carbohydrate 10g, fat 39 g, saturated fat 6g, fibre 4g, sugar 9g, salt 2.97 g

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