Cooked for a dear friend before he enlists next week. The dish is a rather healthy dish, adapted from Martin Wishart's recipe: Sea Bass with Glazed Vegetables, Straw Potatoes and Gourmand Vinaigrette. To be honest, this dish is relatively simple. The challenge was more of the time spent julienning everything for the sake of texture.
Steamed Sea Bass with Glazed Vegetables, Straw Potatoes and Gourmand Vinaigrette
And above is the result. It is a dish i'd recommend, and it's great especially if you're looking for a lighter meal (It's great for pescetarians as well). There are three components to it: The Vinaigrette Sauce, the Vegetables and the fish.
The vegetables comprise of zucchini, carrot, fennel and celery. The celery is diced, while the zucchini, fennel and carrot are julienned into long thin strips (ideally, 2 by 2 by 50 mm). These are then blanched in boiling chicken or vegetable stock with garlic for about 1-2 minutes. Once that is done, the mixture is strained and the stock is placed in another pan to make the sauce.
To make the sauce, heat the stock with a couple of tarragon stalks and let it reduce. While waiting for the sauce reduction, prepare the vinaigrette. This is done by mixing sherry vinegar with the juice of one lemon and a little salt and sugar. One that is done, drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil while whisking, as you'd do making a mayonnaise. How much oil you add is up to your own discretion -- just use your own intuition and to taste. After that, add in some diced tomatoes, which have been skinned and deseeded. Once the stock has been reduced to about 5 tablespoons of a runny syrup, take out the tarragon stalks, remove the pan from the heat and add in the vinaigrette, setting it aside for later use.
Now to prepare the fish. You should have fillets of sea bass ready, either done by yourself before starting cooking or getting them done by the supermarket or fishmonger. Rub some unsalted butter on the fish and season with salt and pepper.
On a large plate (which you'd use for steaming later), drizzle some olive oil and season the base with salt and pepper. Lay the vegetables on the plate and season again at the top. Place the fish on the bed of vegetables and cover with cling wrap. This is to keep the fish moist and let them steam in their own juices. Thereafter, steam for about 15 minutes.
While waiting for the fish to cook, deep fry some julienned potatoes (for garnish) and pat dry with paper towel. Also, heat up the sauce and add some chopped chives.
Now to serve: lay the vegetables on a plate and sit the fish fillets on top. Spoon some sauce around the fish and place the straw potato crisps on top of the fillet as seen in the picture. What you get is moist fish that's complemented with sweet vegetables that's enhanced with the aniseed flavor of the fennel and the vinaigrette. Texture-wise, the vegetables feel like noodles and they are complemented with the crispy potatoes and the soft fish. It's definitely worth trying!
The vegetables comprise of zucchini, carrot, fennel and celery. The celery is diced, while the zucchini, fennel and carrot are julienned into long thin strips (ideally, 2 by 2 by 50 mm). These are then blanched in boiling chicken or vegetable stock with garlic for about 1-2 minutes. Once that is done, the mixture is strained and the stock is placed in another pan to make the sauce.
To make the sauce, heat the stock with a couple of tarragon stalks and let it reduce. While waiting for the sauce reduction, prepare the vinaigrette. This is done by mixing sherry vinegar with the juice of one lemon and a little salt and sugar. One that is done, drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil while whisking, as you'd do making a mayonnaise. How much oil you add is up to your own discretion -- just use your own intuition and to taste. After that, add in some diced tomatoes, which have been skinned and deseeded. Once the stock has been reduced to about 5 tablespoons of a runny syrup, take out the tarragon stalks, remove the pan from the heat and add in the vinaigrette, setting it aside for later use.
Now to prepare the fish. You should have fillets of sea bass ready, either done by yourself before starting cooking or getting them done by the supermarket or fishmonger. Rub some unsalted butter on the fish and season with salt and pepper.
On a large plate (which you'd use for steaming later), drizzle some olive oil and season the base with salt and pepper. Lay the vegetables on the plate and season again at the top. Place the fish on the bed of vegetables and cover with cling wrap. This is to keep the fish moist and let them steam in their own juices. Thereafter, steam for about 15 minutes.
While waiting for the fish to cook, deep fry some julienned potatoes (for garnish) and pat dry with paper towel. Also, heat up the sauce and add some chopped chives.
Now to serve: lay the vegetables on a plate and sit the fish fillets on top. Spoon some sauce around the fish and place the straw potato crisps on top of the fillet as seen in the picture. What you get is moist fish that's complemented with sweet vegetables that's enhanced with the aniseed flavor of the fennel and the vinaigrette. Texture-wise, the vegetables feel like noodles and they are complemented with the crispy potatoes and the soft fish. It's definitely worth trying!
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