Sea Bass With A Chive Velouté Sauce

Preheat the oven to 200°C/ 180°C (fan)/ 400°F/ Gas 6

Cut narrow slices (about the width of a pound coin) into the skin of the waxy potatoes, making sure not to cut all the way down to the base - these are your hasselback potatoes

Tip: rest the potatoes on to a wooden spoon when cutting, it will prevent you from cutting all the way through the potato!

Boil a kettle

Add the hasselback potatoes to an oven tray (use tin foil to avoid mess!), drizzle each with olive oil and season with salt and pepper

Place in the oven for 30-35 min or until they're tender and starting to crisp

Meanwhile, dissolve 1/2 [1] vegetable stock cube in 200ml [400ml] boiled water in a measuring jug

Add 15g [30g] butter to a pot over a medium heat

Once melted, add 15g [30g] flour and stir for 2-3 min until a sandy coloured paste is formed - this is your roux

Add the Shaoxing wine to the roux and cook for 30 sec

Stir the vegetable stock gradually into the roux 

Whisk constantly for 5 min or until a smooth, thick sauce remains

Add the clotted cream, season with pepper and remove from the heat - this is your velouté sauce

Trim, then chop each spring onions in half 

Chop the chives finely

Heat a large, wide-based pan with a drizzle of olive oil over a medium-high heat

Once hot, add the spring onions and Tenderstem broccoli with a generous pinch of salt

Cook for 5 min or until the spring onions are starting to caramelise, then transfer the vegetables to a sheet of tin foil & wrap to seal the package

Put the foil package in the oven until serving 

Return the same pan to a medium-high heat with a drizzle of olive oil

Pat the sea bass dry and season the skin generously with salt

Once the pan is hot, place the sea bass, skin-side down, and cook for 4 min, then flip the sea bass and cook for a further 1 min

Tip: try not to move the fish around the pan, as this will prevent it from crisping up