Sea bass in puff pastry with spinach stuffing and herb butter sauce

Remove the spinach stems, wash thoroughly and spin dry.

In a hot pot, add olive oil and crushed garlic, stir in the spinach, season with salt and pepper, cover and cook on low heat for two minutes.

Drain the spinach over layers of paper towels and let it cool.

Dice the lemon confit. Combine the chopped spinach with ricotta or fromage blanc, the egg and lemon confit; add salt and pepper to taste.

Cut off the fins. Insert the knife about an inch along the dorsal fin, past the rib cage, push through with pressure on the backbone out to the tail, run the tip around the rib cage to free the fillet; repeat on the other side. Keep the head and the tail.

Skin each fillet: start the knife one inch from the tail and run it slowly along the fillet with the blade angled slightly downward, gripping the skin and moving it up rather than cutting.

Roll out two sheets of puff pastry 4 mm thick into 16 by 7 inch rectangles; cut oval shapes and strips from the scraps; refrigerate.

Place the first fillet skin side down in the centre of the dough with the head and tail; season with olive oil, fleur de sel and ground black pepper.

Cover the fillet with the spinach stuffing, top with the second fillet skin side up and season it the same way.

Brush egg wash on the pastry all around the fish, tail and head; cover with the second pastry sheet, seal and remove air pockets, and shape like a fish.

Egg wash the whole fish; lay a strip of dough around the neck to mark the first cut. Carve the tail and fins with the back of a paring knife and press half-moon scales with a large plain pastry tip.

Egg wash the oval pieces, fold into half-moons and carve to thicken the tail and make extra fins.

Rest in the refrigerator for an hour before baking.

While it bakes, make the sauce: reduce red wine vinegar, white wine, shallots, bay leaf and thyme to dry.

Add a splash of water, stir in the softened butter, bring to a boil, add fresh tarragon and parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.