Sea Bass with Lemon, Capers & Herby Potatoes

Ingredients

• 900g new potatoes, halved if large
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 15g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 15g dill, roughly chopped
• 4 skin-on sea bass fillets
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 2 tbsp capers, drained
• 25g butter
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 60g rocket
• salt and black pepper to taste
• Dressed green salad, to serve
• Crusty bread, to serve
• Tartare sauce, to serve

Method

1. Boil the new potatoes in well-salted pasta-style water — it should taste like the sea — until tender to the tip of a knife, 12 to 15 minutes. Drain and leave them in the colander for two or three minutes to steam dry. Dry potatoes crisp; wet ones sulk.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Lay the potatoes cut-side down in a single layer — don't crowd them, or they'll steam instead of crisp. Fry for 8 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until deep gold and crackling at the edges. Season generously with salt and pepper, then toss through the chopped parsley and dill off the heat.
3. Pat the sea bass fillets thoroughly dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means flabby skin. Score the skin lightly if it's thick, then season the flesh side with salt, pepper and half the lemon zest, pressing it in.
4. Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a stainless or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Lay the fillets in skin-side down and press gently with a fish slice for the first 30 seconds — this stops them curling as the skin tightens. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the skin is properly crisp and the flesh has turned opaque almost all the way up the sides.
5. Flip the fillets for 30 seconds, then drop in the butter, grated garlic and capers. Watch the garlic — you want it fragrant and pale gold within 30 seconds, never brown. Burnt garlic turns the whole pan bitter. Let the butter foam and turn nut-brown, tilting the pan and spooning it over the fish for the final minute so the capers crisp and the garlic perfumes the lot.
6. Squeeze in the lemon juice off the heat — it should hiss and lift the butter so the sauce stays bright rather than heavy. Taste the pan butter, adjust the salt now, not at the table.
7. Pile the herby potatoes onto warm plates and tuck a handful of rocket alongside. Set a sea bass fillet on top, skin-side up, spoon over the lemony caper butter, and serve immediately with crusty bread, tartare sauce and a lemon wedge on each plate.