Ingredients

• 1 sea bass
• scaled and gutted (about 1.4 kg/3lb 2oz)
• 1 bunch fresh thyme
• 4 free-range egg whites
• 300g/11oz sea salt
• 1 lemon
• juiced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large bulb fennel
• thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp chopped dill
• 1 orange
• juice only
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 bunch rocket
• ½ bulb garlic
• 300ml/11fl oz whipping cream
• 500g/1lb King Edward potatoes
• cooked in a pan of boiling salted water until tender
• drained and mashed
• 75g/3oz unsalted butter
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 200C/390F/Gas 6.
• Dry the scaled
• gutted fish with kitchen paper. Stuff the body cavity with the thyme.
• Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed. Fold the salt into the egg whites.
• Line a baking sheet or ovenproof serving dish with greaseproof paper and spread one-third of the egg white mixture over the base.
• Lay the sea bass on top of the egg white mixture
• and then spoon over the remaining mix to cover the fish completely.
• Bake the sea bass in the oven for 30-35 minutes
• until the salt crust is crisp.
• Remove the dish from the oven. Break the salt crust with a palette knife. Using a pastry brush
• remove the salt crystals from the surface of the fish and from around the fish.
• Squeeze over the lemon juice and drizzle with olive oil.
• For the fennel salad
• place the fennel
• dill
• orange juice and olive oil into a bowl and mix together.
• Leave to stand for about ten minutes. Just before serving
• add the rocket and mix to coat the rocket leaves.
• For the garlic mash
• place the garlic and cream into a saucepan and bring to the boil
• then reduce the heat and simmer until the cream is reduced by half.
• Remove the garlic bulb from the pan
• then mix in the mashed potatoes and stir well to combine.
• Add the butter and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• To serve
• place a spoonful of mash onto each serving plate along with a little of the salad and a quarter of the sea bass for each person.