Fish
Pan-fried pollock with padron peppers, tomatoes and white beans
Padron peppers are commonly fried with a pinch of sea salt and served as a bar snack in Spain. Eating them is a bit like playing Russian roulette: most are mild, but every now and then you'll bite into a wickedly hot one. You have been warned!
Ingredients
- 250g cherry tomatoes
- olive oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 400g tin of cannellini beans, drained
- 1 bay leaf
- 200g Padron peppers
- 2 pollock fillets
- 1 lemon
Method
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Step 1
Preheat your oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Cut the tomatoes in half and arrange them, cut-side up, in a roasting tray. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes.
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Step 2
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the saucepan and cook the onion gently for 10 minutes until starting to soften.
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Step 3
Add the garlic to the onions and cook for a further 2 minutes. Tip in the paprika and the thyme leaves. Cook for 1 more minute, stirring well to make sure the paprika doesn't burn.
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Step 4
Add the beans and enough water so that the beans are almost covered. Pop in the bay leaf. Bring to a gentle simmer and season with salt and pepper. Cook very gently to warm through for 5 minutes.
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Step 5
Remove the tomatoes from the oven and stir them into the beans. Leave them to sit and get to know each other while you cook the peppers and fish.
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Step 6
Turn your oven up to its highest setting. Place the Padron peppers in a roasting tray. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt (flaked sea salt preferably). Throw them in the oven to roast for 6-8 minutes, until soft and lightly blistered.
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Step 7
Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the frying pan. Season the fish well on all sides with salt and pepper. When the oil is nice and hot, add the fish, skin-side down. Let it cook undisturbed for 3 minutes (see cook's notes). If the fillets are particularly thick, you may need to add an extra 1 minute to the cooking time. Lift the fish. The skin should be a golden brown. Gently flip them over to the flesh side. Cook for 2 more minutes. Finish with a squeeze of lemon.
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Step 8
Check the seasoning of the beans and adjust with more salt and pepper, if you think they need it. Divide them between 2 shallow bowls and sit the fish on top, skin-side up. Divide the peppers between the bowls and serve with wedges of the remaining lemon.
