How to cook sea bass

Wednesday 21 June 2017 13:25 BST
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How to pan-fry sea bass fillets

Sea bass with prawn tortellini, fennel purée and white wine sauce by Simon Hulstone

This extravagant sea bass recipe from Simon Hulstone has many components and requires a little bit of culinary skill to pull it off. Those willing to take on the challenge will be rewarded by an incredibly well thought out and balanced sea bass fillet dish, worthy of any summer dinner party.

Roasted sea bass

4 sea bass fillets, each weighing 150g
butter
rapeseed oil

Pasta dough

500g pasta flour
3 eggs
2 egg yolks

Prawn tortellini filling

12 king prawns, peeled, cleaned and chopped into small pieces
30g of breadcrumbs
​50ml of double cream
1 dash of lemon juice
1 egg, lightly beaten
olive oil
salt
30g of butter, melted

Fennel purée

2 bulbs of fennel, finely sliced
20g of butter
​100ml of double cream
​200ml of full-fat milk
salt

White wine sauce

100ml of white wine
1 shallot, peeled but kept whole
​25ml of white wine vinegar
​180g of butter, cold and diced
salt

Garnish

100g of wild mushrooms
20g of butter
4 baby leeks, washed

salt

Equipment

food processor or blender
pasta machine
pastry brush

For the tortellini, place the flour in a food processor, pulse, then add the eggs and yolks, one by one. Stop processing as soon as the mix comes together, you might not need all the eggs, and if you accidently add too much, thicken with a little flour​. Tip the mix out onto a floured surface, knead for 3-5 minutes or until smooth. Divide in half, wrap in cling film and allow to chill in the fridge.

For the tortellini mix, place the pieces of prawn into a bowl and add the breadcrumbs. Add the cream and mix until well-blended. Season with salt and a dash of lemon juice. Shape the mix with your hands into 8 small balls and refrigerate until required. Roll the pasta dough through a pasta machine, starting from the widest setting, and gradually going down the settings so that the arrow is between 0 and 1. Repeat the rolling process on the last setting to ensure there is a consistent finish to the thickness of the dough. The pasta should be dry, but with no cracks and slightly elastic.

Cut 8 circles of the pasta using a 7cm pastry cutter. Use a pastry brush to coat the edge of the circles with egg wash, so that the tortellini will seal. Place a ball of the prawn filling into the centre of each round. Enclose by folding each round of pasta in half to form a semi-circle, use your thumb and forefinger to force out any air and seal the edges.

Press the straight side of the tortellini on a flat edge to form a base, this will ensure the pasta stands upright when served. Brush with the melted butter and place onto a tray lined with baking parchment. Set aside in the fridge to chill.

For the fennel purée, place a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the butter and fennel to the pan and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the milk and cream, increase the heat and bring to the boil. Reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until the fennel is soft.

Remove the pan from the heat. Strain off the liquid and reserve. Place the fennel into a blender with enough cooking liquid to cover and blend until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve, add more liquid to ensure the finished purée is smooth but holds firm. Bring a medium sized pot of water to the boil. Once the baby leeks are washed, trim off the roots but make sure you keep the base of the leeks intact. Cut 3cm off the top of the leek and cut each leek in half.

Add a large handful of salt to the boiling water and drop in the baby leeks for 30-45 seconds. Remove from the water and plunge into a bowl of ice water for 5 minutes. Drain and place on absorbent kitchen towel. For the white wine sauce, place the shallot, vinegar and white wine in a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer and reduce to approximately 50ml. Remove the shallot and reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Slowly add in the butter, while whisking vigorously.

When most of the butter has been added, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the last of the butter to achieve the correct consistency – the sauce should coat the back of a spoon. Season to taste with salt and keep warm. For the wild mushrooms, heat the butter in a small pan over a medium to high heat. Once the butter begins to foam, add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, season with salt to taste and keep warm​.

Preheat the oven to 200˚C/gas mark 6. Bring a pot of water slowly up to the boil. For the sea bass, place a large non-stick pan over a medium-to-high heat, and pour in enough rapeseed oil to cover the base​. Once the oil is hot, add the sea bass fillets, skin-side down, into the pan (you may need to pan-fry the fish in batches, depending on the size of your pan). Press down the flesh of the fish lightly with a spatula as it cooks, this will ensure the fish cooks evenly.

After 2-3 minutes, turn the fish over and add a knob of butter and the blanched leeks to the pan, cook for a further 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and place straight into the oven to roast for 3 minutes. Remove from the oven, season with salt and allow to rest. Drop the tortellini into the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the pasta is tender but not soggy. Remove the tortellini from the water and toss in a little olive oil.

To serve, divide the warm fennel purée across 4 plates and place the sea bass fillets on top. Add the tortellini beside the fish along with the warm leeks and mushrooms. Drizzle with the white wine sauce and serve immediately.

Sea bass marinated in pickled mustard seeds and turmeric by Peter Joseph

Peter Joseph serves up a spicy marinated sea bass recipe, playfully presented and perfect for a dinner party. The pickled mustard seeds add a fantastic tang to match up to the heat of the spices, while simply blanched green beans provide plenty of freshness to the dish.

Sea bass

2 sea bass fillets, skin on

Marinade

1tsp mustard seeds, broken
1tbsp of malt vinegar
1tsp turmeric powder
1tbsp of olive oil
salt, to taste
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

To serve

20 green beans
1 lime, cut into wedges
salt

To begin, pickle the mustard seeds by submerging them in the vinegar overnight. The next day, clean the sea bass fillets and pat dry.

Mix the rest of the marinade ingredients together, then add the pickled mustard seeds. Rub the marinade all over the sea bass fillets and set aside for 1 hour. While the sea bass is marinating, blanch the beans in salted boiling water for 2 minutes, refresh in iced water and trim to size so they are slightly longer than the width of the fillets.

Before cooking, wrap the fillets around the beans, as pictured. Heat a non-stick pan over a high heat, carefully add the fillets and fry until golden on the underside and cooked through. Carefully turn over and repeat on the other side. Serve immediately with plenty of lime wedges.

Sea bass in coconut cream by Rosana McPhee

This vibrant one-pot sea bass recipe is cooked with a coconut cream, an array of vibrant vegetables and aromatic coriander. A comforting yet colourful dish, perfect for a midweek meal.

Sea bass in coconut cream

500g of sea bass fillet
1 lime, juiced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tomatoes, peeled, cut into rounds
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
​300ml of coconut cream
60g of okra, halved lengthways
60g of parsnip, cut into 1cm rounds
60g of pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1cm pieces
60g of sweet potato, cut into 1cm dice
1 handful of chopped coriander
2 sprigs of thyme
2 red chillies, 1 sliced, 1 left whole
salt
black pepper

Wash, pat dry and season the sea bass with rock salt, black pepper, coriander, garlic and lime. Marinade for 30 minutes in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 240°C/gas mark 9. Meanwhile cook the parsnip, the sweet potato and the pumpkin in salted water for 3 minutes, drain and reserve.

Pat-dry the fish fillets again, scrape off the rock salt and discard any of the marinade. In a skillet, heat the olive oil and butter and fry each fillet of fish skin-side down until crisp. Reserve.

In a medium-large heatproof dish, line the bottom with tomato slices, chilli, chopped coriander and coconut cream. Top the layers of tomatoes with slices of fish next to each other. Place the cooked vegetables, okra and slices of onion around the fish. Sprinkle with the rest of the olive oil.

Place in the oven for about 10-15 minutes to finish off cooking the fish. Keep an eye on the fish making sure it doesn’t dry out. Take out the oven and let it rest for a couple of minutes. Top with coriander and a sprig of thyme. Serve immediately.

Video and recipes from Great British Chefs. Visit their website for more delicious sea bass recipes

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