Capellini with Sea Bass

Strings of thin capellini are great with roasts, as they mop up the juices of the roasting vegetables and meat. These little shoestrings should be made with finely ground flour, as the high gluten content of flour helps hold it together. This dish is a simple salad of crusted sea-bass with roast tomatoes, over a bed of capellini. The capellini can just as simply be substituted with any thin pasta, like macaroni or farfale, as its purpose to simply soak up the flavour of the fish and the tomato. 

Ingredients

Capellini

• 2 cups fine white flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt

Roast

• 500g skinless sea bass cubes, preferably with bones
• 2 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp chili flakes
• 3 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 1 small bunch coriander, chopped
• 4 small tomatoes, cubed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 lemon

Method

Capellini

1. Mix the flour, salt and eggs together to create a stiff dough. Add a little water it needed, and then wrap it in cling film and keep it aside for 30 minutes.
2. Cut into quarters, and gradually roll out one quarter on a pasta-machine, flouring at each roll to keep it from sticking. Thin it down to the 8th setting, just one off the thinnest setting.
3. Run through the capellini cutter and boil immediately in salted water. 
4. Boil for 10-12 seconds, and keep aside with a little oil to keep it from sticking.

Roast

1. Melt the butter with the olive oil, and add it to the breadcrumbs, chill flakes, garlic and coriander. Beat together create a thick paste.
2. Heat an oven to 240C/gas mark 8.
3. Clean the fish and salt it with a pinch. Keep aside for ten minutes.
4. Add the fish to a  roasting tin and pour on the bread-crumbs paste. Toss around to make sure that it coats the fish.
5. Toss in the tomatoes and roast in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until the fish is cooked through.
6. Once cooked, flake the fish and remove the bones. 
7. Toss the capellini in the roasting pan and create a little bed. Add the tomatoes and flaked fish on top and juice a lemon before serving.