Ingredients

Serves 6

6 x 180gm pieces snapper fillet (have your fish monger cut them pin-boned but with the skin left on)
1 tbsp peanut oil

Salad:
About 150gms best quality fresh baby spinach leaves
1 large or two medium sized grapefruit
1 medium fennel bulb
200mls extra virgin olive oil
60mls lemon juice
Freshly ground pepper, sea salt flakes

Gremolata Style Crumble (optional):
3 slices of quality light rye bread
Drizzle of olive oil
Zest of half a lemon
3-4 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

Method

Pre heat oven to 180°C.

Have all the salad ingredients prepared:
Wash and dry spinach leaves and remove any tough stalks if necessary.
Cut off the skin and pith from the grapefruit and separate into clean membrane less segments with a small sharp knife. Two to three segments per person is ideal.
Using a ‘mandolin’ or vegetable plane, shave the fennel into paper fine slices.
Make a dressing by whisking the olive oil and lemon juice together and seasoning to taste


To cook the fish:
Use an oven proof non-stick pan sufficiently large to hold all 6 snapper fillets.

Alternately, if using a smaller pan, cook the fish in two batches in your pan, three at a time and finish the fillets off in the oven on a baking tray.

Place your chosen pan over medium to high heat and add sufficient peanut oil to just very lightly coat its surface.

Season the snapper fillets generously with salt and pepper and place skin side down into the hot pan. Press each fillet down and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the skin is crisp and golden.

Remove the pan from the heat and place into the oven for about 3 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fillet) or until the fish is cooked through.


Assemble the salad. Toss the spinach, fennel and grapefruit segments with half of the dressing. Taste the leaves and adjust the seasoning. Attractively arrange a portion of salad on each of six plates ensuring that the fennel slices and grapefruit segments are evenly distributed.

Place a piece of seared snapper on each salad and drizzle with remaining dressing.


Optional garnish - Gremolata Style Crumble

Process 3 slices of quality light rye bread to make bread crumbs. Drizzle these with a little olive oil and toast them for a few minutes on a tray in a medium oven, until crunchy.
Remove from oven and allow to cool. Combine toasted crumbs with zest of half a lemon and 3-4 tbsp of very finely chopped parsley.

Use to scatter over and around the snapper salad as a garnish. 


Alla Wolf Tasker is from The Lake House Daylesford, Victoria
www.lakehouse.com.au