Capers!

For NaBloPoMo November 2014 my challenge is to upload a post every day thoughout the month. That's 30 days and 30 posts. The more page views I get per day the more money I will donate to the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT). Help support my challenge by logging on daily and donating directly www.chect.org.uk. 

Yesterday's total page views: 100 

I actually managed to find 10 minutes this afternoon to browse through a recipe book. That is something I love to do but I rarely make time for it, there's just too much else to do. I have so many cookery books, thousands of beautiful pages with colourful and exciting recipes waiting to get out. But they just sit there on my shelf tucked away in a dark cupboard. But today I got out my favourite one. Nigel Slater's kitchen diaries, only for once I picked up volume 2.  I stumbled across a beautiful recipe for sea bass with rosemary and capers. I had all the right ingredients at home (except some sherry vinegar, oh and I added a few green olives in for good measure). it must have been fate! 

As a description to the recipe Nigel wrote a beautiful prose about capers. It is amazing how these random salty berries that lurk in the door of the fridge could be so fascinating. Here's an excerpt...

'Capers generally come in brine or salt. The latter is considered better, mostly because the capers are plumper and, although salty, the seasoning stays on the outside and can be washed off - unlike the brined version, where the capers soak up the water solution like sponges. 

The caper is the cooks' first call for piquancy. Bitter, sharp and salty, it has the ability to bring out the flavour of any ingredient it is partnered with. A dull nugget that makes others shine'. 

Nigel is without-a-doubt my food writing guru. I could read his words all day. 

Sea bass with rosemary and capers 

(Serves 2 | total prep and cooking time 40 mins)

Ingredients 

- 2 boneless sea bass fillets 

- approx 250g new potatoes

- olive oil

- 1-2 bushy sprigs of rosemary 

- 1/2 chilli - deseeded and finely chopped 

- tablespoon of capers - rinsed and crushed or chopped slightly 

 - juice of half a lemon

- 2 cloves garlic - finely chopped

- 6-8 green olives - sliced 

- tablespoon of chopped parsley

Method

- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees fan

- Wash the potatoes and cut them into slices about the thickness of a pound coin

- warm a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large, shallow pan or roasting tin set over a moderate to low heat and slide in the potatoes. Cook for a about 10 mins stirring and turning regularly so they don't stick to the pan 

- while the potatoes are cooking remove the needles from the rosemary and place in a small bowl. Add the chilli, capers, olives, lemon juice, tablespoon of olive oil, parsley and garlic and stir well

- when the potatoes have been cooking for 10 mins, take off the heat and lay the sea bass fillets on top. Pour over the dressing and cover the dish with foil

- place in the oven for approx 25 mins until the fish and potatoes are cooked