Pan Seared Barramundi with Olive and Caper Salsa

I love experimenting with new ways to cook fish.  I also love eating it.  You never come away from a fish meal feeling stodgy, even with a meaty fish like Barramundi.  It is a fish that can handle rich flavours and this combination of sweet and salty is the perfect catch.......oops, I mean match!

Serves 4

You will need:

4 x 200gm fresh Barramundi fillets, skin on
olive oil for basting, drizzling, tossing etc!
1 large sweet potato, peeled and very thinly sliced
1 packet of truss tomatoes, cut into four lots of three, truss still on
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1 cup of pitted kalamata olives, roughly chopped
2 tbs baby capers
2 eschalots , finely diced
1 tbs chopped parsley
1 tbs chopped mint
1 tsp castor sugar
sea salt and cracked pepper

Pre heat the oven to 160 degrees celsius and place the tomatoes on a baking tray lined with baking paper.  Drizzle with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for approx 20 minutes.

Heat a griddle pan until quite hot.  Toss the sweet potato slices in a little olive oil and season well.  Cook the slices in the griddle pan on both sides until you get that nice charred look and taste.  You will need to do a few batches.  Place on a tray and keep warm in the oven.

To make the salsa, in a bowl combine the extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper. Whisk until the dressing has emulsified ensuring the oil and vinegar are combined.  Add the olives, eschalots, capers and herbs, mix well and set aside.

Baste the fish with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  In the same griddle pan, cook the fish, skin side down for approx 5 minutes.  Turn and cook for a further five minutes.  Pop the fish in the oven for a further 5 minutes or until cooked all the way through.

To assemble the dish,  lay the sweet potato slices in an overlapping fashion in the center of the plate.  Top with a piece of fish and the truss tomatoes.   Pile generous amounts of the salsa on top of the fish and drizzle the dressing around the plate.  Serve with some rocket leaves and enjoy with a lovely, fruity Pinot Gris!