How To Entertain In April, With Alexandra Dudley
I’m all for a low-effort menu every now and then and this one requires minimal effort. A one-tray seabass takes centre stage with a zippy green sauce that you whizz up in a blender. I’ve paired it with one of my favourite side dishes of roasted spring onions with lemon. All the recipe entails is throwing the spring onions in the oven with some olive oil and lemon until they are soft and golden and slightly caramelised. We often think about spring onions as a garnish, but they are excellent roasted.
Then it's a rhubarb fool for pudding, which can be made ahead of time and kept chilling in the fridge until it’s time for pudding. It is officially rosé season in my books – this bottle from St. John is my go-to at the moment and pairs wonderfully with this menu.
DISCOVER ALEXANDRA’S MENU
Roasted Seabass With Fennel, Olives & Green Sauce
The combination of fennel and seafood is unbeatable and one I fall back on often. Here the fennel gets a head start in the oven while you prep the olives and season the fish. Then everything else gets added to the tray and cooks until crispy and delicious. The green sauce comes together in no time and really makes this dish sing. Feel free to make this ahead if you like.
Preheat the oven to 200°C Fan. Chop the top green stems of the fennel (keep these for stock) and set aside any fennel fronds before finely slicing the fennel bulbs and arranging across 2 trays with the lemon slices. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with sea salt. Toss to coat with your hands and cook for 10 minutes.
As the fennel cooks either crush (if they are destoned) or cut your olives to remove the stones. Toss together with the capers in a little olive oil. Add these to the part-cooked fennel and nudge everything to the edges slightly to make room for the fish.
Season the seabass on both sides with olive and sea salt and place two fillets onto each tray. Cook for 15 minutes until the fish is cooked through and opaque. I like to switch the oven to the grill setting and for the final five minutes to get the skin really crispy. Be sure to switch the trays half-way through to achieve an even cooking and watch the fish as the skin will char quickly.
For the green sauce combine everything in a high-speed blender.
Serve alongside the fish or spoon over before serving.
Roasted Spring Onions & Lemon
We often think about raw spring onions in recipes but rarely see them cooked. This is an incredibly quick and delicious side that I love to serve in spring. When roasted, the onions take on a delicious sweetness that pairs beautifully against the slightly jammy charred lemon. You could garnish them with some finely chopped parsley if you like but I think they are so pretty as they are with just a swoosh of olive oil and some flakey sea salt to finish.
Preheat the oven to 200°C Fan.
Wash the spring onions before pulling away any rough dry outer leaves and trimming any gnarly tops from the green. I like to leave the little roots at the bottom as they go delicious and crispy.
Arrange onto a roasting tray with the lemon slices, a good glug of olive oil and a generous pinch of sea salt. Toss everything to coat with your hands and cook for 25 minutes until the spring onions are cooked and soft and charred in places.
Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle over more olive oil to finish.
Roasted Rhubarb Fool
This quick pudding can be made ahead of time. I love the sweet almondy taste of crushed amaretti with this, but some crumbled shortbread works beautifully too. If you are making these ahead, I recommend crumbling over the final biscuits just before serving.
Preheat the oven to 180°C Fan. Chop the rhubarb into 2-inch batons and place in a roasting dish. Sprinkle over the caster sugar and zest over most of the orange (keeping some for garnishing). Bake for 15 minutes until the rhubarb is soft but has kept its shape.
Whisk together the cream with the yogurt and vanilla until soft peaks form.
Roughly crush the amaretti biscuits using your hands.
Using small glasses or ramekins to serve, place roughly 2-3 pieces of rhubarb into the bottom of each glass, top with a generous spoonful of the whipped yogurt cream, sprinkle over a little amaretti then layer with more rhubarb and a final spoonful of cream. Finish with more crumbled amaretti and the remaining zest from the orange.
For more from Alexandra, follow her @AlexandraDudley or visit AlexandraDudley.com
Read More From Alexandra Dudley
DISCLAIMER: We endeavour to always credit the correct original source of every image we use. If you think a credit may be incorrect, please contact us at info@sheerluxe.com.