Sautéed Sea Bream Fillets

Method

For the tomato sauce

We peel the membranes off the garlic cloves by squeezing them with a paring knife. We place them in a deep pan or a small pot, along with the basil and olive oil. We turn the stove on for a few moments, just for the pan to get hot enough. We then turn the stove off, and start chopping the tomatoes in a small bowl.

We toss the tomatoes in the pan and turn the stove on in medium heat. We add salt and pepper for flavor, along with some ketchup or honey. We cook in medium heat until the sauce thickens. We taste it, and add salt and pepper if necessary.

For the purée

We boil the frozen peas in salted, boiling water. We toss the basil leaves in a blender and begin to mix. We strain the peas (keep the water on the side) and also toss them inside the blender. We add the cream, half of the lemon juice, salt and pepper, and we start mixing.

We slowly add butter inside the mixture. Thanks to it being frozen, once it starts melting, it begins adding a velvety feel to the purée. If needed, we add some of the water in which we boiled the peas, into the mixture.

We taste the purée, and add salt, pepper and the rest of lemon juice.

For the fish

We pour some olive oil on the fish and start salting the side of its skin. We score it twice with a sharp knife. We turn the stove on and place the pan on top WITHOUT ANY OLIVE OIL. We sauté each side of the fish for a couple of minutes, depending on the intensity of the heat and the size of our fish. When we flip it over, we also salt the other side. We serve the fish atop the purée and spread the sauce on top.

TIP: The purée and sauce must be kept frozen for any future use. Just heat them up a little before serving (and possibly strain the sauce if it’s too liquid).