30 days / 30 things Day 2

Today's effort is my favourite recipe for entertaining (I'm going to expand this to menu). I rarely (in fact never) formally do dinner parties. My idea of a dinner party is to have friends round and keep it casual with some tasty food and plenty of vino. Maybe if they're drunk enough then they won't notice the food - I jest !

It really depends on who the guests are and the season. For example a winter lunch for friends might be roast sirloin of beef with dauphinoise potatoes whereas my failsafe for summer is a roast chicken with herbs, roast new potatoes and salads. Something else I've done which I love although is a lot of work, is a Middle Eastern spread with lots of picky bits that people can just eat while we chat (and drink) !

I suppose my favourite recipe to cook for friends is this one by Simon Rimmer. I say I cook it but more often than not the Husband cooks this one ! It takes some organisation as cooking fish at the last minute can be stressful but is simple, tasty and fairly healthy too. I would follow this up with a Baileys and white chocolate parfait which again is simple but so tasty but not quite so healthy. I don't often do starters but prefer to do some nibbles first such as olives, home made houmous, pitta crisps etc.

SEA BASS WITH BACON AND CHERRY TOMATO SALSA (by Simon Rimmer)
Serves 4

4x 150g sea bass fillets
salt & pepper
olive oil


150g pancetta cubed
1 small red chilli
20 cherry tomatoes quartered
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1/2 ripe avocado cut into cubes
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil


Preheat the oven to 200C


For the sea bass season the fillets well with salt and pepper. Heat some olive oil and then fry skin side down for a few minutes until skin crispy, flip over and place in the oven for a couple of minutes


For the salsa fry the bacon until crisp and then combine all the ingredients, tasting to check seasoning. It can be done in advance just adding the avocado before serving to allow flavours to develop.

In the original recipe this is served with potato rosti but I tend to do roasted new (or buy the rosti as I just can't get them right !). To serve place the fillets skin side up over the rosti and spoon over the salsa.