Sea bass with parsley and anchovy ‘pesto’
Serves: 2
Prep time: 20 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Ant Duncan
Sea bass with parsley and anchovy ‘pesto’
Recipe by Annie Bell
This lighter fish supper comes in at just 417 calories per serving
Serves: 2
Prep time: 20 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
417Kcal
Fat
20gr
Saturates
4gr
Carbs
23gr
Sugars
4gr
Fibre
6gr
Protein
33gr
Salt
0.3gr
Annie Bell
Annie started her career as a chef, and is now an award-winning food writer who has written more than a dozen cookbooks. Her recipes are always as beautiful as they are delicious.
Annie Bell
Annie started her career as a chef, and is now an award-winning food writer who has written more than a dozen cookbooks. Her recipes are always as beautiful as they are delicious.
Ingredients
- 200g baby new potatoes
- 2 sea bass fillets, skin scored diagonally at about 3cm intervals
- 100g mangetout, trimmed and very thinly sliced
- 100g frozen petit pois
- 2 lemon wedges
For the pesto
- 1 x 30g pack flat-leaf parsley
- 1 small garlic clove
- 1 tsp roughly chopped red chilli
- 4 salted anchovy fillets
- 2 tbsp extra- virgin olive oil, plus about 2 tsp for frying
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 tbsp capers, rinsed
Step by step
- Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water for 15-20 minutes until tender.
- To make the pesto, whiz three- quarters of the parsley with the garlic, chilli and anchovies in a food processor until finely chopped. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the vinegar and continue to whiz to a paste, then add the capers and briefly pulse until coarsely chopped.
- For the sea bass, heat a teaspoon of oil in a large nonstick frying pan over a medium heat. Season the fish on both sides, then fry skin-side down for 2-3 minutes until golden and crisp and the flesh is cooked through by about two thirds, then turn and cook for 1 minute longer on the flesh-side.
- Meanwhile, in a separate frying pan, heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil over a high heat and stir-fry the mangetout for 2 minutes. Add the frozen petit pois and cook for another minute. Drain the potatoes and crush lightly. Toss with some of the pesto.
- Serve the fish on a bed of potatoes, topped with a dollop of the pesto, and the veg alongside. Roughly chop the remaining parsley, scatter over the fish and serve with the lemon wedges.
