Baked Sea Bass, with Bok Choy and Bean Sprout Salad

So we just got back from an idyllic holiday in Barbados, where I felt like all I ate was yummy fresh fish. It was magical. Getting home, to the freezing north of England, I am trying to keep the holiday vibe going! It’s still cold here, but at least we can eat delicious food.

This recipe looks a bit fiddly, what with all of the different sauces for each step. However, a lot of the ingredients are common to all 3 sauces so it just takes a bit of preparing and mixing. Hand on heart – sesame seed oil is one of my favourite ingredients and I’d urge you all to buy a bottle. Mirin is easily sourced from any Asian grocery store, but you could sub in a little vinegar if you don’t have it.

Cinnamon Star Bread

Starting the year off correctly with one of my favourite things I’ve ever made! This cinnamon star bread is delicious and super impressive and once you’ve cracked the dough-making, it’s a fairly easy process!

This is the same recipe as my individual kanelbullar but with a different assembly at the end which just turns it into a show stopper. This would make a great centrepiece dessert, sliced up and served with a dollop of ice-cream or custard. 

Serves 8, realistically. But you will find no judgement here if you keep it all to yourself.

Some tips:

• It is really easy to overheat the milk and butter mixture at the start, so I reserve about 60ml of cold milk and add it after heating to quickly bring the temperature down.
• Making a miniature yeast “slurry” with some of the milk mixture and a little sugar boosts the rising. Too much sugar kills yeast, but a little will help feed it.
• A round baking tray makes this a lot easier – for example a pizza tray. Bonus – these are cheap and easy to find
• It’s fine if you don’t roll out perfect circles (I never do), everything kind of comes together ok in the oven.
• Cutting into strips is easiest if you cut into quarters and then cut each quarter again twice to get four strips per quarter, so 16 strips total.