Spiced fish in potato jackets with summer salsa

• By Frances Bissell

Any firm-fleshed fish can be dressed up with a dusting of spices and a robustly flavoured salsa.

For 5 people, you will need:

Two teaspoonfuls of ground cumin, half a teaspoonful of fine salt, half a teaspoonful of ground black pepper, 600g of dentex (dentiċi) fillet (cut into 3cm chunks), two or three very large, elongated potatoes (peeled), a little flour, oil for deep-frying, tomato and sweet corn salsa – to serve.

Mix the cumin, salt and pepper, and with this season the fish pieces. Cut long thin (around 2mm) slices from the whole potatoes, discarding the curved top and bottom slice. Fold a potato slice over each piece of fish. Dab a little flour around the inner edges, and press them together to seal them (or secure them with a cocktail stick). Leave them in the refrigerator. Heat the oil until it is very hot but do not allow it to smoke. Drop the fish-and-potato pieces into it a few at a time. Sizzle them for a couple of minutes, remove them using a slotted spoon, and leave them to drain on kitchen-paper. Serve them while still hot with some salsa to the side, and garnished with fresh parsley, rocket or coriander leaves.