Branzino with celery puree and roasted cherry tomatoes “Arcana” Barcelona
The salad is from Great Queen Street in the Covent Garden district of London. It’s a packed gastropub, whose menu reads as if they’ve raided every farmhouse within 100 kilometers of The City. Local cheeses, local ciders, local offal—you get the idea.
Ingredients
- 4 fresh branzino, boned (or 4 sole filets)
- 1 large celery root
- 1 lemon
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 3 T olive oil
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Take a saucepan big enough to hold your celery root. Add water to come up halfway, add salt and pepper, and cook, covered, until very tender. Remove root to a blender, and puree with olive oil and cooking liquid to make a smooth, slightly runny and very white puree. Set aside.
- Heat a heavy skillet. When very hot add a little olive oil, then cherry tomatoes. Cook until blistered, about 5 minutes. Add some salt and pepper. Stir, then remove onto a plate and set aside.
- Season branzino or filets with salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. Wipe pan clean, reheat, add olive oil, add fish and cook over high heat on each side until cooked through, about 8-10 minutes total. You will need to do this in shifts.
- To serve, dish a little puree on each plate. Lay a fish beside it, and nest some cherry tomatos by that. Serve with more lemon.
Notes
On a side street in Barcelona, Arcana offered us slightly fussy cooking in a kind of 80s vibe, but the staff and customers seemed to be all locals, and very friendly. Maybe not popular enough though: I can’t seem to find the restaurant listing on Yelp anymore.
