White fish on roasted potatoes with tomatoes and cream cheese

Somewhere in the recesses of my cupboards is a fairly old yet pristine magazine of 'Winter dishes', one of those 'special editions' from a monthly. I have never made anything from it, but it contains such dishes as Paella, Chicken Kiev and lamb roasted with anchovies. I love it for it's exoticism at the time and it's articles showcasing 10 different ways to liven up chicken, for example. One of these recipes always stuck in my mind: a chicken breast encased in a split bell pepper and stuffed with Boursin cheese. "This is quite an unusual approach".. the magazine lamented. Fast forward to today and I decided to finally try out the legendary cream cheese as a cooking ingredient for myself. I figured that if I paired it with frozen tomatoes and some Vermouth, they would all melt and meld together to create a savoury, creamy, herbal sauce. They did and it was wonderful paired with plain white basa.

Recipe : Basa with toms, Boursin and potatoes

2 medium sized potatoes, cut into chunks

2 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 piece of white fish, enough for 2 people

1/2 cup dry white Vermouth or white wine or stock

2 shallots, sliced thinly

1 cup whole cherry tomatoes

1 heaped tbsp Boursin cream cheese, (I used the original garlic and fine herbs variety)

Preheat the oven to 400oF and place the cubed potatoes into a baking dish. Drizzle with the oil and season well with the salt and black pepper. Roast in the oven for about 40 mins until very nearly soft and starting to crisp on the outside.

Place the piece of fish on top of the potatoes, pour the Vermouth all around, add the tomatoes and shallot and continue to bake for a further 15 minutes until the tomatoes have collapsed and the fish is almost cooked through. Finally, spoon the Boursin on top and bake for a further and final 10 mins or so. The cheese will melt into the juices to create a luscious sauce. Remove from the oven and serve the fish, tomatoes and potatoes with the sauce poured over. The potatoes will have lost their crispiness but should be meltingly soft and fluffy.

I didn't add any herbs to this, but a sprinkling of parsley, dill or oregano would brighten and complement the flavours well.

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