John Dory fillets with raisins, hazelnuts pomegranate and confit sweet potatoes

Serves 4 Starters and mains

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Method

Soak the raisins in the manzanilla for around 1 hour until plump. To make the sweet potato confit, preheat the oven to the highest setting. Peel and cut the sweet potato into 2cm cubes and put into an ovenproof casserole with the garlic and oil. Cover and turn the oven down to 160C/320F/ Gas 3 and confit the cubes for 45 minutes to 1 hour until tender.

Lift out using a slotted spoon onto a plate lined with kitchen paper and season with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt flakes.

Season the John Dory on both sides with some freshly ground black pepper and a scattering of sea salt flakes and set aside.

Put the sugar in a medium pan with 1tbsp of water. Put over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved to a clear syrup. Increase the heat and boil to a golden caramel. Turn off the heat and carefully add the vinegar (it will splutter). Drain the soaked raisin liquid straight into the caramel and return to a low heat for 1 minute to dissolve. Bring to the boil until it’s a thin coating consistency and add the butter half at a time. Allow it to bubble until the sauce has thickened.
Add the drained raisins.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Put the parsley on an oven tray and let it dry and crisp up for a few minutes without it changing colour (keep checking). Transfer to a plate and put aside. Roast the hazelnuts for 5-7 minutes until just golden. Roughly chop the hazelnuts and add to the raisins in the sauce.

Pour 1tbsp of the oil into a large frying pan and fry the fish skin-side down for 2 minutes, then turn and fry for a further 3 minutes with the butter until just cooked and golden.

Serve the fish with the confit sweet potato, spoon over the raisin and hazelnut sauce, scatter over the parsley and pomegranate seeds and dust with a little freshly ground black pepper.