Serves 2
- 2 whole sea bass
- all four fillets removed and pin boned
- 1 x whole lemon, segmented
- 15g Kale fleurettes
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds,
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
- 2 x large savoy cabbage leaves
- 30g very thinly sliced baby new potatoes
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 15g unsalted butter
- 30g new potatoes, diced into cubes
- 80g unsalted butter
- 1/2 egg yolk
- 100ml truffle oil
- pinch of salt
- a handful of flat leaf parsley
- 50ml extra virgin olive oil
Video Recipe
Prepare the sea bass (the fishmonger can do this upon request if you’d prefer).
Scale the fish by running a knife in the opposite direction to the fish scales and rubbing against the fish until all have been removed. Slice open the belly and rip out the guts, wash thoroughly. Now working from the tail run a flexible knife all the way to the head (you should feel the main fish bone as
you are doing so) and cut round the head releasing the fillet from the main bone; repeat with the other side, wash thoroughly. Use a pair of fish tweezers to pull out the pin bones above the rib cage, now set the fillets aside.
To segment the lemon, use a serrated knife and cut off the thick outer peel; you should now be left with a bald lemon. Cut the first lemon membrane that you see. Working anticlockwise again, cut the next membrane and remove the first wedge. Repeat the process until all have been removed. Set aside. Squeeze the remaining juice out of the membrane and set aside for later use.
Deep fry the kale fleurettes in vegetable oil at 150 degrees c for about a minute; set aside on kitchen paper.
Lay our the savoy cabbage leaves and using a 20mm circumference pastry cutter, cut out 14 rondure and set aside.
Slice the potatoes as thinly as possible; if you have one use a mandolin. These now need to be cooked in an emulsion made from combining 1 tbsp sugar, 15g unsalted butter and 250ml water. Bring the emulsion to a gentle simmer, add the sliced potatoes, cook for 2 minutes and remove. Now add the savoy cabbage rondures to the emulsion, blanching for 30 seconds, remove and set aside.
Melt the butter over a low flame and add the potato cubes; lightly cook for 5 minutes. When cooked all the way through, pass the potatoes through a sieve and set aside.
To make the mayonnaise, add the 1/2 egg yolk to the lemon juice retained when segmenting the lemon. Add a pinch of salt and then whilst adding drizzles of the truffle oil, stat to whisk until the mix emulsifies and forms a thick mayonnaise. Now put the contents into a piping bag.
For the dressing, lightly blanch the parsley leaves for 20 seconds in the same simmering emulsion used for the cabbage. Take out and blitz with extra virgin olive oil.
To present the dish, add 6 squeezes of mayonnaise to a dish, add the lemon segments, on top of these lay the 2 x fish fillets. Garnish with potatoes, cabbage leaves, kale and the parsley dressing.
Free weekly recipe blog at https://undergroundcookeryschool.com/blog
