My Low Fat Twist on Classic Fish and Chips.... Pan Fried Stone Bass with Pea Puree, Potato Peel Scra

I thought I would do a fish recipe for this month's health and well being newsletter for the Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust. I used Stone Bass but you can use any fish you want. Sea Bass is probably the nearest to Stone Bass. Stone bass seems to be everywhere at the moment, so I decided to cook a fish I have never cooked before. I asked my boyfriend who is the chef patron at The Clarendon Hotel in Hebden, near Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales National Park to order it for me. Previously I used to use Neil Priestley from Priestley fish in Bradford. He delivers if it's over £20. I used to order loads, eat the live stuff first and freeze the rest.

The recipe is perfect for a weekend dinner party. It looks impressive but it's really easy to prepare. I used an actifry for the chips and potato scratchings but you could use and oven instead. It will probably take you 40 minutes to make but none of it is difficult.

I got the idea for potato scratchings when I was making crinkle cut chips for the children. The peelings looked so pretty that I thought it would be a shame to waste them. I got the effect from peeling them with this little crinkle peeler that Lio bought me in Thailand. See crinkle cut chips recipe for details. They were both made using an actifry but you could use the oven or deep fry them for a treat.

You don't have to use the potato scratchings if you want to keep it as simple as possible you could just have it without or have it with new potatoes/bread and it would cut the cooking time right down.

The Espelette tartar sauce is made using 0% fat greek yoghurt with gherkins, capers, dill and lemon zest added. It was a little bit lacking of something so I decided to use a pinch of Espelette that my friend, Matt had brought back from America. I had never heard of Piment D'Espelette before I met Matt. It's a chilli and they use it a lot in France. It's grown in the Pyrenees. It is very mild, I used the powder form which looks like the usual chilli powder, only I it's a bit more orange. It tastes quite peachy and has a really unique flavour. You can purchase it online and i found it on amazon. If you don't want to try it then just use paprika or even leave it out but it will be nowhere near as nice. It really lifts the potato peel scratchings.

The drizzle on the plate is optional is you would prefer to keep the fat to an absolute minimum. I used a lemon rapeseed oil I had been given which tastes amazing. It has Sicilian lemon oil in it and it's made at Wharfe Valley Farm.

I made one portion so just increase this accordingly to however many people you're cooking for.

INGREDIENTS

FISH

A stone bass fillet

A knob of butter for frying

Salt and pepper

PEA PUREE

200g of frozen peas

4 tablespoons of chicken stock ( I had some in the fridge, if you don't have any use water)

2 cloves garlic

A knob of butter

2 tablespoons of 0% fat greek yoghurt (I used the brand total)

5 mint leaves

Salt and Pepper

ESPELETTE TARTARE SAUCE

5 slices of gherkin

1 teaspoon capers

100g 0% fat Greek yoghurt

The zest of one lemon

1/4 a teaspoon of piment d'espelette

1/2 teaspoon dried dill or 1 teaspoon of chopped fresh dill

GARNISH (OPTIONAL)

3 mint leaves

A drizzle of lemon oil

1/2 Teaspoon of Piment d'Espelette

METHOD

1) Start preparing and cooking the chips if you're having them and the potato peel scratchings. When they're done put them into a preheated oven at 100 degrees to keep warm.

2) While the chips and scratchings are cooking, make the pea puree. Fry the garlic on a low heat with the butter for a few seconds, add all other ingredients except the yoghurt which you add last. Turn the heat up to full. When peas are heated through will only take about 3 minutes put them into a blender or food processor with the greek yoghurt and blend them. Put back into pan but leave off the heat and it can be warmed through.

3) Put the gherkins and capers into a small bowl, I'm very lazy so I just chopped them up with scissors, add all other ingredients and stir, season to taste. Leave to one side.

4)Heat a frying pan up to high, season the fish fillets with salt and pepper and fry for around 3 minutes on the skin side and 2 minutes on the other, depending on the size of your fish, until its just cooked through.

5) Reheat peas for a few seconds on a medium heat.

6) Assemble the dish as the photo or any way you like. Drizzle the lemon oil around the plate it has a fantastic flavour.

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