Sea bass is certainly one of the finest fish available and is particularly good accompanied by a beurre blanc sauce, as here.<\/p>\n
This is an adaptation of a recipe from Classic French Cooking published by Time Life. In the original, the bass is braised whole then skinned and filleted, which makes for a somewhat difficult and messy presentation operation. This achieves a neater result with the same flavour by poaching skinned fillets. In both cases, a beurre blanc is made from the cooking liquid.<\/p>\n
| serves:<\/td>\n | \n\t 4\n\t <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| preparation time:<\/td>\n | \n\t 15 mins\n\t <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| cooking time:<\/td>\n | \n\t 25 mins\n\t <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n \n Ingredients<\/h2>\n\n Method<\/h2>\nPrepare the bass. Remove the fillets from both fish and skin them. (I find a flat-bladed ham knoife particularly effective for the skinning operation. if you have one.) Remove as many pin bones as possible with tweezers of pliers; whatever you have available. Cover the fillets with cling film and keep them cool in the fridge.<\/p>\n Make the poaching stock. Put the fish frame (skip the head) and all the ingredients down to and including the white wine into a pan. Add about a pint of water to cover and bring this to a simmer. Lower the heat to gentlly simmer the stock for 25 minutes (no more) skimming any scum from the surface. Strain it through a fine sieve. This can be done ahead of time.<\/p>\n Cooking the fish. Select a pan large enough to hold the fillets in a single layer, pour in the poaching liquid and bring it back to the boil. Add the fillets; the liquid should just cover them. Let it come back up to a simmer and poach very gently until barely set. Remove thefillets and keep them warm while you make the sauce.<\/p>\n Making the sauce. Pour off about 10 fl oz of the poaching liquid and boil it in a wide pan to reduce by half. Whisk in the chilled butter a few pieces at a time, trying to keep the sauce just below boiling point. Now lift the sauce with the lemon juice to taste. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.<\/p>\n Spoon some of the sauce over the fillets and serve the rest in a sauce boat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n |