Dorado Fillet with Olive Pastry Butter and Thyme Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4 Dorado (8 fillets)
• 2 tbsp. Casa dei Mezzo Extra Virgin olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• 8 tbsp. olive paste
• 300 ml. butter sauce
• 2 fennel
• 4 small plum or cherry tomatoes

For the olive crust:

• 2 slices white bread (remove crust and blend the remainder to make crumbs)
• 200g black olive paste
• 1 garlic clove (pressed)
• 2 tbsp. chopped parsley
• 150g unsalted butter (chopped)
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. basil
• ½ lemon

For the butter sauce:

• 1 onion (finely chopped)
• 1 garlic clove (pressed)
• 150 ml. dry white wine
• 250g unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp. dairy cream (single or double)
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme
• Salt & pepper
• Juice of 1 lemon

Method:

1. Fillet the dorado.
2. Prepare the olive crust by mixing the breadcrumbs, olive paste, garlic, parsley. thyme, basil, butter and the lemon juice. leave in the refrigerator to rest.
3. Make the butter sauce in a heavy-based saucepan. Lightly fry the chopped onion and the garlic in a little butter. Add the wine and leave to simmer until only 1 tbsp. of liquid remains. Add the fresh cream and bring to the boil stirring constantly with a metal whisk. Slowly add the chilled butter. Reduce the heat and wait until the butter melts. Be careful that the sauce does not separate.
4. Remove from the heat, adjust the salt and pepper, add the thyme and lemon juice. Keep warm. Using a non-stick frying pan, heat the oil and fry the fish fillets for 2 min. starting on the skin side. Remove and place on a serving dish. Spread the olive crust over the fillets and grill for 2 min.
5. Boil the fennel in salt water, remove, cut in slices lengthways, fry in small amount of butter. In another frying pan, fry the tomatoes with a little basil.

Serving Suggestions:

Place the fennel slices in the middle of a plate. On top, put two dorado fillets. Pour the sauce around the outside of the plate and garnish with the tomatoes and a sprig of fresh thyme or basil leaves.

Wine: If you are staying in Makrigialos, Gunnar suggests that a dry white "Kritikos", available from the the Sitia Co-op, is an excellent choice for this dish.