From Cook with Jamie
Serves 4
Ingredients
for the tomato salad
3 big handfuls of mixed tomatoes, chopped into irregular chunks
good-quality extra virgin olive oil
red wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a small bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked and finely chopped
a small bunch of fennel tops or dill, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 red mullet fillets, scaled and pin boned
flour, for dusting
olive oil
for the crispy breadcrumbs
olive oil
4 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked and finely chopped
200g stale breadcrumbs
2 dried red chillies, crumbled,
zest of 1 lemon
Put your chopped tomatoes into a big bowl with a couple of generous glugs of extra virgin olive oil and a splash of vinegar. Season generously with salt and pepper. Bow taste, tweak, taste, tweak…I usually add a bit more vinegar, salt or live oil until the tomatoes and their juices sing in my mouth. This is a normal thing to do, so just be confident! Add the basil and fennel tops or dill to your tomato salad and mix in.
Season the fish fillets, then dip them in a little flour to dust them on both side,s shaking off any excess. Heat a glug of olive oil in a medium hot frying pan and , once hot, place the fish skin-side down in the pan, lightly pressing the fillets down using a dish slice. Fry for 3 minutes or until the skin is bright orangey golden and crisp. Turn the fish over and fry for a minute on the other side until just cooked.
Remove your fish to a plate while you make your crispy breadcrumbs. Add a little extra oil to the juices in the pan, then add your thyme, breadcrumbs, chilli and lemon zest. Toss around and fry until lightly golden and crispy; this will take around 3 or 4 minutes.
Divide the tomato salad between four plates and ether lay 2 of your fish fillets over the top of each salad or break the fillets up and scatter over the tomatoes.
Sadly, I couldn’t find any red mullet at Waitrose; I had to make do with trout which I think works as well. I like his style of food, it’s recipes that one can easily cook at home. I like the combination of ingredients in this recipe, the fish is complemented by the sweet and sour flavours in the tomato salad and the crispy spicy taste of the bread. I prefer to use generous chunks of bread. Just remember to use a warm plate for the dish as the fish loses its heat really quickly.