Sea bream is one of my go to fish. Sweet flesh with skin that crisps to a delicious point.
I cook it often just under a hot grill, skin side up. It's easy, no splatter and good for dinner parties. I never turnover skin on fish. If grilling I grill it skin side up for just a minute or 2, if cooking in the pan skin side down I leave it there until it's almost cooked on the flesh side and turn it over onto the plate skin up. Always salt the skin first and coat it with a little oil or even soft duck fat. If cooking in a pan preheat the pan first. This way you'll get a lovely crispy skin every time and will never overcook that succulent flesh.
Last night I trimmed off my bream to give enough for an entree of simple grilled bream, pomegranate and shaved fennel salad. Beautifully crisp, light, acidic and a wonderful starter.
Main was more of an epic. This was a fun recipe to do and I found it on an Irish Masterchef site just because I wanted to play around with leek ask (Noma inspired from my reading or at least hailing from northern Europe as I've seen it in Sweden too).... the recipe was Sea Bass with Cauliflower Puree .
This had lots of my favourite of flavours and some of my not so favourite. I didn't have Amaretto, it's not my preferred but I always have Frangelico. Therefore instead of the "almond cream sauce" as per the recipe I did a hazelnut cream sauce, using toasted hazelnuts in place of the almonds and a dash of Frangelico in place of Amaretto.
I cannot be bothered deep frying unless it's for a specific fish (Thai style etc)....so I drizzled my mandolined leek with oil and baked them in the oven. I popped them in acidulated water first in the fridge because I know that way they go curly and I like a bit of that on a plate sometimes.
The leek ash was fun. I have never tried (purposefully anyway) ash in my dinner. It's worth doing this, very simple, takes just a couple of minutes under the grill and you end out with a wonderful black emulsion once blitzed with some olive oil. It's flavour was gorgeous with the other ingredients giving an earthiness and pungency that enabled the sweet fish to stand out.
I didn't have cauliflower either, I used a baby turnip and made a delicious puree from that instead. Oh yeah I didn't have fish stock and wasn't about to make it so I used what I always use - Bonito flakes steeped in hot water. And no scallop with roe either (roe on scallop is hard to get here for some unknown reason) so I ditched the scallop and just garnished with a few extra bonito flakes. This meal was a knockout and one I will make again many times over the years...it's one of THOSE dishes. I'd seek out roe on scallop next time, the powder I can imagine giving a heavenly finish and the cooked scallop a beautiful underlying sweetness to the overall concept.
I cook it often just under a hot grill, skin side up. It's easy, no splatter and good for dinner parties. I never turnover skin on fish. If grilling I grill it skin side up for just a minute or 2, if cooking in the pan skin side down I leave it there until it's almost cooked on the flesh side and turn it over onto the plate skin up. Always salt the skin first and coat it with a little oil or even soft duck fat. If cooking in a pan preheat the pan first. This way you'll get a lovely crispy skin every time and will never overcook that succulent flesh.
Last night I trimmed off my bream to give enough for an entree of simple grilled bream, pomegranate and shaved fennel salad. Beautifully crisp, light, acidic and a wonderful starter.
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| Grilled sea bream with pomegranate and shaved fennel salad |
This had lots of my favourite of flavours and some of my not so favourite. I didn't have Amaretto, it's not my preferred but I always have Frangelico. Therefore instead of the "almond cream sauce" as per the recipe I did a hazelnut cream sauce, using toasted hazelnuts in place of the almonds and a dash of Frangelico in place of Amaretto.
I cannot be bothered deep frying unless it's for a specific fish (Thai style etc)....so I drizzled my mandolined leek with oil and baked them in the oven. I popped them in acidulated water first in the fridge because I know that way they go curly and I like a bit of that on a plate sometimes.
The leek ash was fun. I have never tried (purposefully anyway) ash in my dinner. It's worth doing this, very simple, takes just a couple of minutes under the grill and you end out with a wonderful black emulsion once blitzed with some olive oil. It's flavour was gorgeous with the other ingredients giving an earthiness and pungency that enabled the sweet fish to stand out.
I didn't have cauliflower either, I used a baby turnip and made a delicious puree from that instead. Oh yeah I didn't have fish stock and wasn't about to make it so I used what I always use - Bonito flakes steeped in hot water. And no scallop with roe either (roe on scallop is hard to get here for some unknown reason) so I ditched the scallop and just garnished with a few extra bonito flakes. This meal was a knockout and one I will make again many times over the years...it's one of THOSE dishes. I'd seek out roe on scallop next time, the powder I can imagine giving a heavenly finish and the cooked scallop a beautiful underlying sweetness to the overall concept.
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| Sea bream, turnip puree, hazelnut cream, leek ash, crispy leeks, bonito flake |
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