ingredients
directions
Chard first: Trim the green leaves from the brightly coloured stems. Cut the stems across the grain into 1/8” pieces. In a pot of rapidly boiling, salted water, first place the cut stems, wait 2 minutes and then drop in the leaves. After you’ve checked that the stem pieces are tender, drain all of the chard well and place in a stainless steel bowl, still hot from the blanching. Drizzle with olive oil, the juice of a lemon and season to taste – the extra liquid that you have in the bowl with the chard is the sauce for your dish. The bright colours from the chard stems will bleed into this dressing and look quite fetching as it dances around the finished plate.
I recommend leaving the skin on the fish, at least until it has finished searing, as it tastes lovely, has lots of good nutrients and holds the delicate flesh together.
Heat a cast skillet or good stainless steel pan (you can easily do all four pieces at the same time as long as they each have a full space in the pan) with a little oil, salt the dry, skin side of the fish and just as the oil begins to smoke, drop in a half teaspoon of butter. While the butter is still foaming, gently place the skin side of the fish into the pan. Jiggle the pan handle a little until the fish has released from sticking to the bottom and as the translucent flesh at the side of the fish begins to turn opaque, flip the fish, jiggle again until it slides loosely around the pan and turn off the heat – the fish, which is probably only a quarter to half an inch thick will be done perfectly now in about 3 minutes – enough time to cook the zucchini.
Put the cut zucchini pieces into rapidly boiling, salted water until tender. Drain them well and place them on top of the thinly sliced scallions and butter in a bowl, toss, season it to taste and place it in a stacked curve in the centre of a large plate with the chard stems and leaves nestled in between – then put the fish in the middle, drizzle a tablespoon or so of the chard dressing around the plate and enjoy!