Pan-fried Seabass with Pesto Tomatoes, Kale, Roasted Carrot & Butternut Squash

My mum is a pescetarian (meaning she eats fish but not meat) while her partner is a confirmed vegetarian  He is out of town for work for a few days, so I thought I'd be a good daughter and go round and cook up a fishy dinner as a treat for her. She likes to eat healthily, so sadly beer battered fish with chunky chips was out! Instead, I bought us two fillets of sea bass and then headed round to my mum's to see what I could whip up while she was at work.

I ended up making pan-fried sea bass with oven baked pesto tomatoes, kale, roasted carrot and butternut squash. I got the idea for the pesto topped tomatoes from Healthy Food Guide, though I fiddled with the recipe a bit to accommodate what I did and did not have in the cupboard and I also baked rather than grilled the tomatoes. Dinner was delicious, and considering that it was thrown together with what was in the cupboard and fridge it was quite economical too!

I'm sorry to say that I don't have a photo of the finished dish - we were so excited to tuck in I forgot to record the plate for posterity! I'm afraid you will just have to trust me when I tell you it was a plate bursting with colour and flavour!

If you want to make it, here's what you'll need:

Ingredients

• 2 Sea Bass fillets
• Olive Oil
• 1/2 Butternut Squash (peeled and cubed)
• 2 Carrots (peeled and chopped)
• 3 Tomatoes (if using regular sized tomatoes like I did - if you use cherry tomatoes then you will need a lot more!)
• 1 Slice Bread (I used brown wholemeal because that was what was in the cupboard, but you could easily use white bread instead)
• 2 tbsp Basil Pesto
• Curly Kale
• Freshly ground Sea Salt & Black Pepper

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4

2) Toss the cubed butternut squash and chopped carrot in 1 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Put on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 40 mins, turning the cubes occasionally.

3) Slice the tomatoes in half and place on a baking tray. Bake in the oven for twenty minutes.

4) Mix together the breadcrumbs and pesto and then spread the mixture over the flat side of the tomatoes. Place back in the oven and bake for a further twenty minutes.

5) Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and add the Kale. Cook for approximately five minutes or until wilted. 

6) Heat 1tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan. Score the skin of the sea bass to stop it curling up while it cooks and then place the fillets skin side down in the pan. Cook on a medium heat for four minutes (though if you have a nice chunky fillet you might want to cook it for a few minutes longer) and then turn the fillets over and cook for one more minute.

7) Serve immediately, chow down and enjoy!

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There are lots of variations that you could do with this recipe, from switching sea bass for another kind of fish to adding herbs and spices to the squash. Experiment with whatever takes your fancy and let me know how you get on!