Pan-Fried John Dory with Orange, Parsley & Date Salad

It doesn’t come much simpler than this: a beautiful piece of pan-fried fish with a sweet little tumble of orange, dates, parsley and onion. So simple, but so tasty … the salad can be made a few hours ahead and the fish only takes minutes to cook just before serving.

Ingredients

• 6 x 180g John Dory fillets, skin on
• Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon, juiced

Orange, Parsley & Date Salad

• 2 cups flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
• 2 oranges, segmented, juice reserved
• 100g pitted Ligurian olives
• 1 small red onion, quartered and finely sliced
• 1 cup dates, pitted and sliced into slivers
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

Make Orange, Parsley & Date Salad: combine all ingredients, including the reserved orange juice.

Season fillets well on both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat a frying pan over high heat and add olive oil. Place fillets in pan, skin-side down, and cook for 2-3 minutes until the skin is well browned and the flesh is almost cooked through. Turn, add a good squeeze of lemon juice, cook for a further minute then remove from pan.

Serve with salad on the side.

Notes

Alternative Species: Ocean Jacket, Morwong, Redfish, Snapper or any of the Bream or Dory species.