Baked sea bream with a flatbread lid

This dish comes from chef Luke Holder, who runs Hartnett Holder & Co with me at Lime Wood hotel in Hampshire. The flatbread lid on the bream dish is not something to be nervous about trying. It’s just flour and water, the most basic form of bread you could make.

There’s no yeast in it, so you don’t have to let it rise: just add rock salt, olive oil and rosemary.

SERVES

Two to four

INGREDIENTS

For the flatbread lid

• 125g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

• 75ml water

• 5g salt

• A little chopped rosemary mixed with coarse salt, for scattering

For the fish

• 2 sea bream fillets

• 4 large basil leaves, torn

• Dash of olive oil

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 150g tomato passata

• 50g dried porcini mushrooms

• 200g clams, in their shells

• 150ml white wine

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/Gas 7.

2. First, make the flatbread by mixing the flour with the water and salt until a dough forms. Set aside.

3. Lightly season both fillets of bream and place the basil on the flesh side of one fillet. Place the other on top so the flesh sides are together, and use a few toothpicks to hold them in place. Set aside.

4. Add a dash of olive oil to a large ovenproof dish, pan or casserole, ideally with handles. Throw in the garlic and heat for a couple of minutes to release the flavour. Take it off the heat and add the tomato passata, dried mushrooms, clams and white wine. Carefully place the fish on top. If you feel it needs a tad more liquid, add a dash of water.

5. Roll out the bread dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 1cm. Place this carefully over the dish to form a lid, pressing it to seal around the edges and pulling it tight to feed through the handles. Wrap it around the handles to create a sort of knot.

6. Brush with olive oil and bake in the oven for 12 minutes. Two minutes before the end of cooking, brush again with olive oil and sprinkle with the salt and rosemary before returning to the oven.

7. Remove the dish from the oven and allow to rest for three minutes before serving. Use a serrated knife to cut open the pastry lid and remove the fish.

8. Cut the lid into four pieces. Place a piece on each plate, with the fish and sauce from the dish on top.