Jon Watts has just started a new catering company in St Albans. He will be providing weekly menus for Review readers to enjoy. 

 

Main course:

Sea bass is arguably the tastiest of supermarket fish out there.

This gorgeous seafood recipe will suit any type of fish - however I recommend a nice fillet of sea bass with a crispy skin.

Celeriac is the ugly looking root vegetable that most people will avoid. It is the root of celery. If you are a lover of seafood then give this a go, the combination of sea bass, creamy celeriac, brown shrimp and mussels is phenomenal. And with the cheeky addition of samphire you will be sure to leave guests drooling.

 

Serves 4 people

Preparation time 1 hour

 

Ingredients:

4 fillets of sea bass (skin on)

500g celeriac

1 pint of milk

25g anchovies

25g capers

10g thyme

60g brown shrimp

16 mussels

10g samphire (sea asparagus)

2 lemons

 

Method:

Start by preparing the celeriac mash, peel the ugly skin off and dice into two inch pieces.

Place in a saucepan and pour in the milk, add the anchovies and capers and leave on a low heat until the celeriac is soft.

To prepare the samphire, boil the kettle and pour boiling water onto the samphire, leave for 10 seconds then cool with cold water

When the celeriac is soft, drain half the liquid out.. But leave the rest.

Use a food processor or stick blender to blitz the celeriac to a smooth mash. Squeeze the juice of one lemon and leave.

Use a frying pan, put a little oil in the pan then place baking paper into the pan. Drizzle a little oil onto the baking paper and leave to get hot.

Place the sea bass fillet onto the paper skin side down and season the flesh.

Leave to fry for 3-4 minutes, If the skin is sticking then add a little Knob of butter in, this will melt under the fish and ease it off.

In a separate pan add a small glass of water Throw the mussels and shrimp into the pan.

Cook until all the mussels shells are open, discard any that don't open. Make sure the skin of the sea bass is crispy, turn the fish over.

Cook for a further 2 minutes.

Place the celeriac mash onto a serving plate.

Carefully place the sea bass on top being careful not to break it.

Place 4 mussels around the plate along with the shrimp.

Garnish with the samphire and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

 

Dessert:

Kicking off the first week of simple and delicious recipes are these unbelievably tasty Oreo dumplings.

You would be forgiven for thinking these are just for kids, but oh how wrong you would be, kids will like them, adults will love them.

They are pretty rich, but so worth the 30 minutes afterwards of feeling sick from a chocolate overload. Anyone you feed these too will beg you for the recipe, so here it is; the way to a chocolate lovers heart.

 

Serves 6 people

Preparation time 20 minutes

 

Ingredients:

180g soft cheese

154g Oreos (1pack)

100g white chocolate

100g milk chocolate

 

Method:

Firstly smash up the Oreos, use your hands or alternatively put them in a sandwich bag and use a rolling pin.

In a bowl mix the soft cheese with the smashed up Oreo's, fold the mix until the Oreo's are well mixed in.

Have a small saucepan of boiling water, place a bowl on top, but not inside. You want to use the steam not the boiling water.

Put the white chocolate in, keep stirring until it's fully melted.

Take the white chocolate off and repeat the process with the milk chocolate.

Use a spoon to make a small ball with the Oreo mix.

Dip the Oreo ball into the White chocolate, then place onto baking paper.

Repeat the process.

Now use the melted milk chocolate to drizzle over the dumplings, it gives it a cool effect.

Place the Oreo dumplings into the fridge and leave to set for 1 hour.

When you are ready to serve these gorgeous dumplings, heat up the remaining milk chocolate.

In a saucepan, pour it into serving bowls.

Place the Oreo dumplings into the bowl.

Finish with crumbled Oreo over the top.

 

Serve and enjoy !