Ingredients

• 2 red onions
• peeled and kept whole
• rapeseed oil
• for cooking
• ½ small loaf slightly stale sourdough
• broken into small bite-sized pieces
• 150ml/5fl oz olive oil
• 1kg/2lb 4oz mixed heritage tomatoes
• cut into chunks
• 1 strong English onion
• thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon thyme leaves
• 2 tbsp rock salt flakes
• 2 tbsp onion seeds
• toasted
• 1 bunch chives
• finely snipped
• 1 bunch spring onions
• finely chopped (white and green parts)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 50g/1¾oz feta
• crumbled
• 2 tbsp pine nuts
• 1 garlic clove
• grated
• 150g/5¼oz nasturtium leaves
• 140ml/4½fl oz good quality extra virgin olive oil
• vegetable oil
• for cooking
• 2 stalks fresh rosemary
• 2 x 200g/7oz fillets gilt-head sea bream
• pin-boned
• plain flour
• for dusting
• 40g/1½oz butter
• 1 lemon
• juice only

Directions

• For the salad
• preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.
• Trim the root end of the red onions and slice them into 5mm/¼in wedges
• keeping them intact at the root base. Drizzle with a little rapeseed oil and roast until caramelised. This will take about 20-25 minutes.
• Drizzle the sourdough with the olive oil and bake until crispy. Season immediately so it takes on the flavour as it cools.
• Put the tomatoes
• English onion
• thyme and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Drain in a colander
• then tip them onto a baking tray and bake for 1–2 minutes.
• For the pesto
• put the feta
• pine nuts and garlic in a pestle and mortar or small food processor and crush to a paste. Add the nasturtium leaves
• a few at a time
• then the olive oil
• and blend to a coarse pesto. Season with salt and pepper.
• For the sea bream
• heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over a low heat. Put a stalk of rosemary into the flesh side of the fish
• where the pin bones were. Dust the skin side of the fish in the flour
• then gently put it in the pan
• holding the fish down until it doesn’t curl up. Fry until almost cooked through and very crispy. Flip the fish over and add the butter. When it is foaming
• add the lemon juice and baste the fish. Cook until cooked through.
• Put the tomatoes in a large bowl and add the onion seeds
• chives
• spring onions
• croutons and roasted red onion. Dress with the pesto. Serve immediately
• with the fish.