Saturday, January 7, 2012

Chilean Sea Bass


First, I want to say, I was "tsk'd tsk'd" at the grocery store. Though I get my fish from a fish market or Adam's (higher end grocery store), I was curious about the price elsewhere. I asked the gentlemen at the fish counter about Sea Bass. "MA'AM! (exasperated loud whisper) Sea Bass is NOT sustainable, we would NEVER carry that." ME: "Yes, but, it's delicious" :) So much for my helping the planet...now lets cook. My boss made this at a party we catered, it was "like buttah", so I had to make it for Xmas. I could not find the recipe he used, so I mixed a few different ones, with great results.

1 cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
3/4 cup white miso (fermented soybean paste)
1/2 cup sake
1/4 cup sugar
6 5- to 6-ounce sea bass fillets (each about 1 inch thick)
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chopped shallots
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper
1 cup whipping cream or half and half
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice


Whisk the Miso, Mirin, sake and sugar in a glass baking dish. Put the Sea Bass (which by the way, is actually patagonian toothfish - not very appetizing, huh?) in, cover both sides, cover with film and refrigerate at least 2-3 hours.

Boil wine, shallots, garlic, pepper, until reduced (5 mts). Add cream and boil until reduced again, about five or six more minutes. Strain out solids, return to pan, low heat and add butter, one tbsp at a time, whisking in. Once all the butter is added, keep warm, whisk in lemon juice, salt and pepper if needed.

In the meantime, I take mixed greens (comes in a bag in produce at most stores) of collards, mustard greens, kale, swiss chard and throw that into a pan with garlic and olive oil - reduce it down and use that to plate the bass. Usually when it's done, I sprinkle some sea salt over top.
Preheat oven to 450. Oil baking pan (glass works best I've noticed), turn the Bass in marinade to coat once more, place in baking pan (save some of the marinade). Put in oven for ten minutes (should be opaque in middle). Preheat broiler (make sure it's at full temp) lightly brush the remaining marinade over top of bass, place in broiler (WATCH it, it burns quickly) until a golden brown color on top. Remove, place over greens, spoon over sauce and serve. DELICIOUS...not sustainable on one's dinner table...LOL