RACHEL ALLEN --- SEA BASS

Baked Sea Bass with Tomato, Cucumber, and Ginger Salsa

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For the Salsa
6 tbsp rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
50g/2oz sugar
400g/14oz tomatoes, chopped into 1cm/½in pieces
1 cucumber, deseeded and chopped into 1cm/½ in pieces
1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 spring onion, trimmed and finely chopped
½-1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
juice of ½ a lime
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger

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For the Fish
4 portions (150g-175g/5-6oz each) sea bass, off the bone but leave the skin on if you wish (de-scale)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

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Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. For the salsa, boil the vinegar, fish sauce and sugar (stir to dissolve the sugar) in a non reactive saucepan for five minutes until it thickens slightly.
3. Place in a large mixing bowl and leave to cool.
4. Add the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, chilli, lime juice, coriander and ginger, toss and add more lime juice or ginger if necessary.
5. For the sea bass, place each fish portion on a large piece of oiled parchment paper or aluminium foil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then roll up the edges of the paper or foil to prevent the juices from burning in the dish and enclose, sealing the edges.
6. Cook in the oven for 12-18 minutes or until the fish is cooked through to the centre.
7. To serve, place the parcels on warmed serving plates with the salsa.

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Celebrity Chef Rachel Allen of BBC TV
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Rachel Allen

Rachel Allen was brought up in Dublin and her early cooking experiences were with her sister, both pretending to be Delia Smith and talking to the wall as they made biscuits. Encouraged by her family, Rachel went to the Ballymaloe Cookery School at the age of 18 and realised that she wanted to make food her career.

After graduating from the school she cooked at the Ballymaloe House Hotel, eventually returning first to test recipes and then to teach at the school. She also spent some time working as a caterer in Vancouver.

Rachel has had four BBC TV series: Rachel’s Favourite Food, Rachel’s Favourite Food for Friends, Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home and Rachel's Food for Living, all accompanied by books. She also appears regularly on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen.

Rachel has written for many Irish publications, including the lifestyle magazine Image, and the Sunday Tribune magazine. She has also contributed to BBC Good Food magazine.

Rachel lives near the cookery school with her two young sons and her husband, another cook, who runs three restaurants in Cork.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/bakedfishwithtomatoc_87186.shtml