Braised Sea Bass With Spinach

Ingredients

• 2 red peppers, halved, deseeded
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 250g cherry or baby plum tomato, halved
• small handful capers
• 12 large black olives, stoned and roughly chopped
• 20 basil leaves
• 50ml white wine
• 100ml tomato juice
• 2 whole sea bass, about 600-700g each, gutted, scaled and cleaned
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 250g spinach

Preparation

1. heat the grill to high. put the peppers, skin side up, on a baking tray, then pop them under the hot grill for about 10 mins until the skins blister and blacken. drop them into a bowl, cover with some cling film and leave until cool enough to handle. peel away and discard the skins, then roughly chop the peppers.
2. heat the oil in a pan. add in the shallots and garlic and sweat briefly until soft. stir in the tomatoes, peppers, capers, olives and half the basil leaves, then sweat for a few mins until the tomatoes soften.
3. pour in the wine and tomato juice. stir and gently simmer for 10-15 mins, adding a splash of water if the sauce becomes a bit dry.
4. while the sauce is simmering, slash each side of the fish a few times. when the sauce is ready lay the fish on top cover with a lid. leave to cook on a low heat for 12-15 mins until the flesh feels firm when pressed.
5. whilst the fish is cooking, melt the butter in a large pan, then fry the spinach until wilted, serve the fish over a bed of spinach with wild rice, drizzle over the sauce.