Seabass, watercress pesto, toasted pine nuts

[karohemd]

I found some nice seabass fillets and when I saw the watercress various recipes I'd seen online clicked in my head.

I picked the watercress leaves and blitzed them with half a garlic glove and good olive oil, a bit of salt and pepper and then toasted the pine nuts in a dry frying pan. The fillets were simply pan-fried for two minutes on the skin side (they were rather thin), seasoned with salt and pepper and flipped to just cook the underside.

I'm really happy with how this came out. :D

Comments

[ossobuco]

Ooh, beautiful combination of colors. I love pan-seared fish, too. Looks delicious!

[karohemd]

Thank you!

[sid]

Ooh, the picture alone is restaurant-worthy! That's lovely.

I made a pesto yesterday with basil and walnuts. It's a lot thicker than yours because I ran out of olive oil!

Come to think of it, no parmesan in yours? I've never worked with sea bass or watercress, so I don't know if that was a conscious choice.

So far for me, pesto seems to work out no matter what I use, leave out, or screw up when working from a recipe. :-) I'd love to experiment with watercress, and I've seen recipes using mint as well that sound intriguing.

To think that the first time I came across pesto I rejected it because it smelled like the food my older brother fed his pet hamster. LOL

[karohemd]

Thank you very much! This was the first time I managed to put the picture I had in my head onto the plate. :)

No, no parmesan because I didn't think it would go well with the fish. I just called it pesto because I didn't know what else to call it. ;)
I use recipes just as guidelines so often swap/leave out ingredients either because I don't have them or think something else would work better.
Mint pesto might be a bit strong but depends on what you serve it with, I guess.

Running out of olive oil is a disaster! I don't think I could cook without it although I've started using rapeseed oil for frying meat recently and am really happy with it.

[sid]

Recipes = guidelines *nod, nod* I leave things out because I don't have them or don't like them.

I think the mint pesto recipes I've seen maybe included basil or parsley as some portion of the mixture. But I may have seen some that were entirely mint. Sounds like that would be good with lamb, if nothing else. *g*

Need to shop, need to buy TWO bottles of olive oil, lol.

[karohemd]

Exactly. When I see/read a recipe, I think "Oh, that's a good idea" and then make something inspired by it. I guess it's the reason I can't/don't bake because you can't really wing baking recipes as there is actual chemistry involved and if the measurements don't fit, your cake will fail. You can't add anything else halfway through baking, either.

A mix of herbs/leaves sounds like a good idea for pesto.

Keeping a spare bottle of oil is a fine idea. :)

[acelightning]

Watercress is good in a stir-fry. You don't absolutely have to pull the leaves off the stems, but the stems can be rather tough and they don't add much flavor. Just stir-fry it in a bit of oil with whatever seasonings you're using, just until it turns darker green and wilts a bit; remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon or strainer, then stir-fry whatever else you're using in the same oil, and add the watercress back in at the end. I generally do it in Chinese sesame oil with ginger and hot pepper, using chunks of chicken breast as the other component, and some soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine.

And if you're into tea sandwiches, watercress is classic. For this, you do have to use only the leaves. Get some homemade-quality white bread, sliced thin. Cut the crusts off the slices. Spread one slice generously with soft butter, then cover it with a thick layer of watercress leaves. Butter another slice of bread and make it into a sandwich. Cut in fourths, either crosswise or diagonally. Repeat until you have enough for your afternoon tea. Arrange the sandwiches attractively on a plate and garnish with more watercress leaves, or whatever else looks elegant. Although this sounds deceptively simple, there's a wonderful interplay of flavors between the earthiness of the bread, the creaminess of the butter, and the slightly bitter, slightly peppery taste of the fresh watercress. Enjoy!

[sid]

I've heard of watercress sandwiches! I can't imagine an occasion where I would be making them for a crowd, but if I ever buy watercress for pesto or stirfry I must remember to try some on nicely buttered bread. Thanks!

[acelightning]

You may see recipes for watercress sandwiches using cream cheese - one version even calls for chopping the watercress and blending it into the cream cheese, then just making sandwiches out of that. But the classic, fancy "ladies' afternoon tea" version calls for butter. This is food to be eaten with one's pinkie extended :-)

[serene]

This is freaking gorgeous.

[karohemd]

Thank you!

[lacerta]

Oh, watercress pesto looks and sounds delicious. Is it very strong in taste, though?

[karohemd]

The watercress I had was distinct but not strong so perfect for this.