I think it's time to talk a little food, not done that for a while and really it was the reason why I started the blog in the first plaice so lets reel it in and get back to basics.
(The fishy related puns in that opening paragraph are purely unin'tench'ional............sorry I just can't stop it now)
So last night after having the daytime urge to cook some Sea Bass I rustled up a rather yummy taste sensation even if I do say so myself, easily worthy of any top restaurant table.
The fish itself is in season so you'd expect it to be at it's best and also at it's best price however I think Waitrose don't seen to get this concept meaning I had to pay around £9.00 for 4 rather skinny fillets, that said they were very fresh. If you want to give this dish a go then 2 fillets per person will make a decent sized main course.
First up I made a little Fennel salad which I wanted to use as the base of the dish. Fennel and Fish go so well together in fact since discovering this food partnership when I was in Italy I can't remember ever cooking fish without fennel.
Take a fennel bulb and trim off the root end and the hollow stems removing any grubby or discoloured outer leaves then thinly slice them lengthways before tipping into a salad bowl.
To this add half a shallot again thinly sliced lengthways, I prefer to use the long banana (enchalon) shallots for this as the shape compliments the shape of the sliced fennel but you can use normal shallots or even 1/4 of red onion.
Finely chop a bunch of flat leaf parsley adding this to the bowl then dress the whole lot with extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt (sea salt preferably) and a good grind of black pepper. Set the bowl aside to let the flavours combine.
There are a lot of raw flavours in that salad which I thought might over power the main dish so to soften them up a little I made a basic cherry tomato sauce which I poured over the salad whilst still warm. The residual heat from the tomato sauce is just enough to take the raw edge off the other ingredients.
For this sauce I got some cherry tomatoes and a small finely chopped clove of garlic. these all go into a saucepan over a medium heat and you cook them until the tomatoes start to break up. Once this starts happening add in a glug of Balsamic vinegar and about a tablespoon of caster sugar and let this bubble away for a few minutes until the sauce itself has thickened up a little.
Adding the sugar balances out the acidity that you get from the tomatoes and the balsamic vinegar. Don't be scared about using sugar in these types of sauces because once you find the right balance it makes all the difference to the finished sauce.
Pour the warm tomato sauce over the fennel salad and you can give it a good mix and then just leave to one side until serving.
Next the Sea Bass. Before you pan fry these off it's a good idea just to have the oven warm, pretty much as low as your oven will go so that once cooked they can sit in there to keep warm before plating up. The fillets themselves will only take a minute or two to cook and they are so simple.
When pan frying any fish I always give them a dusting of seasoned plain flour as this gives the outer flesh and skin a nice crispy texture when cooked, its the simple details like this that make the difference.
Get a frying pan nice and hot and add in fairly small amount of oil, about 2 or 3 tablespoons, this should be a shallow and certainly not a deep fry. Try to avoid using extra virgin olive oil for this part as you should keep that reserved for salad dressings etc, it's not going to ruin the dish if you do use it but something less aromatic for this purpose is ideal. I've recently been introduced to rapeseed oil. It's virtually flavourless and light in texture which means it's perfect for delicate flavours such as fish.
I'd recommend doing one fillet at a time firstly because you don't want to overcrowd the pan as this will make it lose heat and secondly because the fillets will start to curl up as soon as you put them into the oil and you need to be ready to push them flat to the pan and that can be tricky with two or three at once.
Take your seasoned fillet and lay in the pan skin side down. Watch how the fillet will start to curl upwards as the skin contracts. As this start happening just take a fish slice or spatula and lightly push the fillet back down against the base of the pan, hold it the for about 10 seconds, by then the skin would have started to crisp up and the fillet will hold it's shape.
After about 30/40 seconds flip the fillet over to get a bit of colour on the flesh side, maybe another 30/40 seconds then remove to an oven tray. Repeat this for all the fillets. Keep an eye on the oil though because with the seasoned flour being added to the hot oil it may start to burn and go black. If this happens just give the pan a wipe with some kitchen towel (without burning your fingers) and add some clean oil.
Once all the fillets are fried off and in another dish then let them sit in your warm oven until ready.
The final part which I think makes this dish a bit special is the addition of some chorizo. Again this is a classic flavour combination and is used extensively in Spain and the nowadays seeing fish and chorizo on the menu at top restaurants is very common. Perhaps a little more is the addition of goats cheese to the chorizo. I've stolen this little gem off Glynn Purnell who is one of my favourite chefs.....I'm sure he won't mind at all :-)
Take about 50g or Chorizo per person, remove the tough skin and dice the sausage into about 1cm cubes. Throw this into a hot frying pan and let it crisp up. As it's cooking you notice the beautiful smokey flavoured, paprika infused oil that seeps out of the sausage, again don't be concerned by this, yes it's a little naughty but the taste is phenomenal and well worth those few extra calories.
When the chorizo cubes look like they are crisping up take some of the goats cheese and crumble it into the pan, you don't need much, perhaps a thumb sized amount, it'll all melt together with the oil and make a wonderfully rich sauce.
All that's left to do now is to plate it up. Take some of the fennel salad and put in in the centre of the plate. On top of this place your two Sea Bass fillets then spoon over some of the chorizo cubes along with some of the sauce an dthere you have a rather wonderful dish that I'm sure will impress your friends and family alike.
Try it...you'll love it and it's easy peasy.
Toodlepip xxx
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