Fish salad with crisp potatoes, rocket and pine nuts

Tam West

For extra flavour, toss potatoes in 2 tablespoons roasted garlic mayonnaise before plating.

For the dressing

1	Lemon, juice only
1 tsp	Seed mustard
1 tsp	Soft thyme leaves, finely chopped
4 Tbsp	Olive oil
1 serving	Runny honey, to sweeten

For the salad

12	Small potatoes, scrubbed and boiled
1 Tbsp	Olive oil
50 g	Butter
4 handfuls	Rocket, or picked watercress or use small salad greens
¼ cup	Pine nuts, toasted for extra flavour
2	Spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1 handful	Chives, snipped
500 g	Hapuka fillets, cut into thick slices for pan-frying
1	Lemon, cut into wedges

Directions

1. To make the dressing, place the lemon juice, mustard and thyme in a small bowl, whisk in the oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sweeten to your taste using honey and set aside.
2. Halve the cooked potatoes or thickly slice. Heat the oil and 25g butter in a large frying pan over medium-low heat and add the potatoes. Cook reasonably slowly until they are beautifully golden, tossing in the pan from time to time.
3. Combine rocket, watercress or salad greens, pine nuts, spring onions and chives in a bowl. Toss very gently to combine.
4. Remove potatoes from the pan and place on a warmed plate. Place the remaining 25g butter in the pan and place over medium heat. Place in the fish and cook, turning once. The thick, large meaty flakes take a little bit longer to cook than medium-fleshed white fish. Cut a piece in half to check it is cooked through if you wish. (Slicing hapuka into portions shortens cooking time.)
5. To serve, place potatoes on 4 plates and top with the fish, then the salad. Drizzle over the dressing. Place a lemon wedge on each plate and serve.