Tail end fillets of sea bass, roasted beetroot, cottage cheese, carrot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and samphire.
It's a rather effortless mid-week meal, which begins with the beetroot - simply wash, wrap in kitchen foil and commit to the oven set to 200C for 30-60 minutes depending upon size. Mine were large, so 60 minutes. Test that they're ready by inserting a knife - it should be easy to do.
You've been off doing other things, right?
So, back after an hour, put the beets aside just to cool slightly ...
Prepare some veggies. I went with carrot, boiled, Brussels sprouts added after a few minutes, then broccoli towards the end. Samphire in last, just for a few seconds.
Meanwhile, just before you drain the veggies, soften some butter in a skillet and on a good heat, place the fish fillets in, skin side down. Two to three minutes and the translucent flesh should be just turning opaque. Flip them over, turn the heat off and let them finish off in the residual heat.
Aside form the hour roasting the beetroot, cook time for the veggies and the fish is less than 10 minutes.
Peel the beetroot, cut into eighths, drain the veggies and plate up ...
Make a stripe of Cottage Cheese (single ingredient, please - Cottage Cheese is made from milk and that's all you should see on the ingredients and dot the veggies over, laying the sea bass on top, scattered with samphire. Wedge of lemon, and we're done!
What a great set of combinations ... from the fattiness in the fish, gorgeous crispy skin, sweet beets, perfect carrot, sour cheese, green punch of goodness from the broccoli and sprouts, and salty tang from the samphire.
You can always tell a great meal by whether the glass of wine is touched during eating ... this was one such meal and so, afterwards, I enjoyed my glass of Merlot with a Black Forest fruit jelly - simply, frozen Black Forest berries and red wine, set with gelatine.
