Sea bream with romesco sauce, broad beans and ibérico ham

Preparation method

1. Fillet, trim and pin-bone the whole sea breams. Set the 8 fillets aside.

2. For the romesco sauce, place the fish heads and bones into a pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat until the water is simmering and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Remove the pan from the heat, strain the stock into a separate pan and discard the fish heads and bones. Bring the stock to the boil, then reduce the heat until the stock is simmering. Continue to simmer until the stock has reduced in volume by two-thirds. Set aside until needed.

4. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a low heat. Add the sliced almonds and garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes, or until the almonds are toasted and the garlic softened.

5. Transfer the almond and garlic mixture to a food processor.

6. In the same pan, fry the onion for 2-3 minutes, or until golden-brown. Add the dried chilli flakes, chopped tomatoes and bay leaves and continue to cook, stirring well, for 4-5 minutes, or until softened. Transfer the mixture to the food processor.

7. Add one handful of the bread cubes and one handful of parsley to the food processor. Blend the mixture until well combined but not completely smooth.

8. Add a dash of sherry vinegar, to taste, and a small amount of the fish stock to the mixture. The aim is to loosen the romesco sauce until it resembles a thick bread sauce. Once the sauce has reached the desired consistency, set aside.

9. For the broad beans and ibérico ham, boil the podded broad beans in a pan of salted water for 2 minutes, then drain and refresh in a bowl of iced water. Remove the skins.

10. Fry the ham, onion and garlic in a frying pan over a medium heat until the fat from the ham has melted and the onions are golden-brown. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the skinned broad beans. Set aside and keep warm.

11. For the sea bream, heat the oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat. Add the fish fillets, skin-side down, and fry for 2 minutes, or until more than half of the fillets have turned opaque.

12. Turn the fish fillets over and remove the pan from the heat. Allow the fish to continue cooking on the residual heat from the pan for a further 1-2 minutes, or until just cooked through.

13. To serve, spoon a pool of the romesco sauce into the centre of each of 4 serving plates. Sprinkle over the paprika and sea salt, to taste. Arrange two sea bream fillets on top of each pool of romesco sauce, skin-side up. Spoon the broad bean and ham mixture alongside and garnish each plate with a sprig of parsley.

1-2 hours preparation time

30 mins to 1 hour cooking time

Serves 4