Serves 4
For the Sea Bass
- 4x sea bass 300g-400g, scaled, fillet and pin boned
- Olive oil
- Salt
For the Romesco Sauce (up to 10)
- 5 red peppers- trimmed, deseeded and roasted and chilled
- 200g sunflower seeds- toasted and chilled
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 tsp smoked paprika
- 3 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 300ml olive oil
- 100ml Grapeseed oil
- Salt
For the Fennel Mayonnaise
- 2 egg yolks
- ½ tbsp white wine vinegar
- ½ tbsp. Dijon mustard
- Fine salt
- 250ml Grapeseed oil
- Juice of ½ lemon- to taste
- 1 tbsp toasted fennel seed powder
For the Salad
- 4x baby gem lettuce- trimmed and cut in half
- 1 garlic clove- lightly squashed
- 2 thyme sprigs
- 150g butter
- Olive oil, salt and pepper
- 4 tspn Lilliput capers – rinsed and drained thoroughly
- Vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cucumbers
- 60g sugar
- 60g water
- 75g chardonnay vinegar
- Ultratex
Other Ingredients
- 150g self raising flour
- 2g salt
- 250g ice cold water (add more if necessary)
- 100g picked parsley
- 75g picked tarragon
- 175g of grape seed oil (Makes enough for 10 pax)
Method
For the Sea Bass. Pre-heat the oven to 190 deg cel. Lightly coat the fish with oil and season with a little salt. Place on a tray lined with greaseproof paper, skin side up, then bake in the oven for 3 minutes. Take out the oven and remove the skin from the fillets, and return to the oven for another 3 minutes. Season with a little lemon juice.
For the Romesco Sauce. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth, add more oil if necessary and check seasoning.
For the Mayonnaise. Combine the yolks, mustard, vinegar and salt in a bowl using a whisk. Continue whisking; slowly drizzle in the oil to form a thick emulsion. Taste and add salt, lemon juice and fennel powder. It should be the thickness of softly whipped cream, adjust with a little warm water if necessary.
For the baby gem. Place butter and oil in a frying pan, when the butter starts foaming add the baby gem (cut side down), garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook until lightly coloured and wilted, and then drain on kitchen paper.
For the capers. Place about 3cm of oil in a small pan, heat until just starting to smoke. Add the capers (be careful as they can spit), and fry until they stop sizzling. Drain through a sieve, and then place onto kitchen paper.
For the cucumber. Peel and deseed the ½ cucumber discard the seeds but reserve the skin. Dice the cucumber and reserve. Bring the sugar and water up to the boil and then simmer for 1 minute, and then chill. Place the syrup, vinegar, and the deseeded cucumber/ reserved skin into a blender. Blitz until smooth, then strain through muslin. Lightly thicken this mix with the ultratex, enough so that you can glaze the sliced cucumber. Lightly coat the cucumber in the glaze just before serving.
For the scraps. Preheat fryer to 180deg cel. Combine the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the water to get the batter consistency (you might not need all the water, or possible more). Place in a squeezy bottle, and drizzle a small amount of the battle at a time into the hot oil. When golden brown, drain on kitchen paper.
For the herb oil. Roughly chop the herbs, and place in Thermomix with the oil, blend for 30 seconds with no heat, and scrape down mix. Heat at 90 deg cel for 7 minutes, setting 3. Strain though muslin and chill over ice. Alternatively, blanch the herbs in boiling water and squeeze dry. Place in a blender and oil, and blend until smooth. Strain as above.
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