Summer is here again, we feel like eating cold stuff to keep the heat off, this simple preparation is one of Lil’ Rabbit’s  favorites.

Getting the fish meat ready from the original products is a bit annoying, but the result is definitely worth a little patience.

for two servings

• 2 Sea breams
• 1 lime
• 6 leaves of basil
• 1 shallot
• 4-6 table spoons olive oil
• a little salt and pepper

Most of the work will involve getting the fish filets clean of all bones and skin, go ahead and clean these fishes, off with the bones and skin.

if you’re willing to lose a tiny fraction of the meat instead of plucking out the central bones, I will cut out the 2 millimeter section in the middle of each filet that contains them, the loss is small and the time earned is considerable, if, like me, you’re not an expert.

Note that if you’re reaaaaally feeling lazy, your fish monger probably sells some ‘ready to cook’ filets, this too can save you some time, just make sure there are no bones left,

Note in the note, in my experience, when a fishmonger says he (or she, actually, mine is a women) will prepare a fish “ready to cook”, more often than not, he will take 3 seconds to pluck out the entrails, 3 extra seconds to scrape a few scales off, if you asked for filet he will cut the fish vaguely around the main bone and pour half of the meat still attached to the bone in his bin, I don’t blame them, business is tough, and if your fishmonger gets you the good stuff, there’s probably a huge line waiting behind you, so when the nice lady who just has to ask, gives her fabled line “do you want me to prepare that for you ?” with a concealed but visible hope that the answer will be no, I get a smile every time by answering, “no thanks”, trying my best to conceal my certainty that she would just botch the job if I asked for anything besides the standard ‘pluck and scrape’ meet me halfway point of the fishmonger/fish eater relation.

Once your fish is ready, gently cut it into small pieces (brunoise size or a tad bigger, 4mm side is usually fine) just don’t turn your meat into a puree

Mince your shallot and keep it aside, you’ll mix it with your sea bream at the end.

Zest the lime and mince the basil

The sauce is just made o f the lime juice and the olive oil with a touch of salt and pepper

If you’re just in it for the taste, you can throw that on a plate or a little bowl and get on with  the eating part

otherwise, gently mix the sea bream and shallot together and you might want to use a metal circlet to get that cleanly onto a plate.

whatever you do, don’t mash the sea bream.

Place the basil and lime zest softly on the top, like so

Pour the sauce gently on top of all that to obtain this kind of result.