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This is a simple pan-seared sea bass recipe that is big on flavour and rustled together in double-quick time.
It is the combination of simple sea bass fillets that are effortlessly fried in olive oil and butter to ensure perfectly cooked meat but with crispy skin with an easy to prepare Mediterranean deli salsa that comes straight from the dry store.
Quick and easy sea bass
Fried fish meals can be as fussy or as unfussy as you like. Beautiful silver fish like seabass or seabream are common day ingredients and can be prepared in minutes. Their flavours too work well with many different cuisines. Sea bass in ginger and ginger and soy or a bream in garlic butter or with fennel and orange work magnificently. Baked, roasted or fried, the options are numerous. The reward is a flavoursome melt-in-the-mouth piece of fish with something saucy and moreish.
These dishes are often the order of the day on holiday or for a dinner party as they look so spectacular, however as they are readily available and not so expensive these days they make a right old treat for an any-night meal. Especially a night when you don’t have much time.
A thin fillet will cook to perfection in about 6 minutes, and don’t read the cooking method on the package, they always say to cook it for much longer than necessary!
6 minutes is perfectly adequate to cook a sea bass fillet. You only have to remember that sea bass is often used raw in sushi or ceviche. Here the skins firm up with the oil and the butter which will slightly burn and add a warm sweet nuttiness for a simple sauce base.
The perfect sauce for pan-seared sea bass
There are a lot of classic sauces for fish. Often the base is butter as is the case with Hollandaise sauce, Beurre noisette or Beurre blanc. The butter is then flavoured with something stronger such as wine, the saltiness and tang or capers or simply with garlic and parsley. Capers and cornichons are integral flavours of perhaps one of the most traditional accompaniments to fish, and that is tartar sauce.
As we already have some slightly browned butter that we have cooked our fish in, the simplest way to create a stunning sauce is to add to those wonderful flavours left in the pan. This way we don’t have to mess around with reducing a sauce or slowly incorporating butter to wine for example, we just add big bold ingredients straight from the jar. Marinated, pickled or cured ingredients in jars last for ages in the pantry and have all the beautiful bold flavours of the Mediterranean all in one place. It’s like a cheats version of a great sauce Vierge or caponata, which are full of herbs, and luscious rich vegetables. A caponata which is one of Sicily’s finest vegetable sauces uses tomatoes, aubergine, olives, pine nuts and capers but all slowly cooked down to a rich flavoursome salsa.
Big flavours of the Mediterranean
With jars of delicatessen ingredients, the preparation has been done already so all you need to do is chop. Instead of cooking down tomatoes we use sun-dried tomatoes or slow roast tomatoes, marinated artichokes add a firm texture and capers and cornichons add a punchy vinegar and saltiness to the salsa which we know already works well with butter sauces. Smooth black olives go in as does some chopped sweet red peppers and just to add a fresh crunch and spice we add half a chopped red onion. The whole thing just oozes flavours of the Mediterranean. If you want to add a little sophistication then add a few strands of saffron. Once the fish is cooked just simply add all these ingredients roughly chopped into the pan with some red wine vinegar into the hot butter and warm through and serve straight away.
What a great way to jazz up a simple piece of pan-seared sea bass fillets. Serve it with a classic mash or some chips, or just a simple salad. The choice is yours.
Perfectly pan-seared sea bass
We have used sea bass but you could use sea bream or a firm white fish such as cod or halibut. Sea bass just tends to come in thin fillets which cook very quickly and we especially like the way the skin crisps up.
When you are ready to cook your fish, make sure that it is room temperature before you put it into the pan. This way it doesn’t react to the heat and distorts in shape. You want the skin to be in contact with the base of the pan and the oil and butter to ensure a nice even crispiness to the skin and a cold fish straight from the fridge won’t do this. A non-stick pan is recommended to use and put it on a medium to medium-high heat and pour in olive oil then the butter. The olive oil will prevent the butter from burning but will allow it to brown slightly which is what you want from a beurre noisette.
When the pan is starting to lightly smoke it is hot enough to put the fish in. Rub some salt into the skin and place them in the pan skin side down. It will spit as the water content of the fish hits the fat so be vigil.
The secret behind the crispy skin
A good tip to get the skin heading in the right direction is to apply pressure to the top of the fish (the flesh side) using tongs so that the skin pushes on the bottom of the pan. You will feel a popping sensation which will slowly reside the closer the skin gets to being crisp. Make sure you move the fish around the pan too making sure that the skins don’t stick on the surface or tear.
Keep the fish skin side down in the pan for 5 minutes and keep basting the top with spoonfuls of hot butter and oil. When the 5 minutes is up, turn the fish over using your tongs and cook for one final minute on the flesh side.
That is it! You have pan-seared the sea bass fillets. Just remove them from the pan and set it aside, throw your salsa ingredients into the hot butter and warm through for no more than 1 minute as you want to maintain the fresh crunch of the onion but at the same time meld all the flavours together.
Voila! Perfectly pan-seared sea bass with Mediterranean delicatessen salsa is ready to be served.
More delicious Mediterranean dinner recipes to try
The Best Moules Marinière Recipe with Cream and Spinach
Moroccan Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb (In Delicious Baharat Marinade)
Italian Seafood Stew (Impressive + Easy Recipe)
Pan-seared sea bass with Mediterranean deli salsa recipe
Ingredients
- 2 sea bass fillets
- 50 g butter
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of sea salt
For the Mediterranean salsa
- 2 tablespoon of sun dried tomatoes, chopped
- 2 tablespoon of black olives, chopped
- 2 tablespoon of marinated artichokes, chopped
- 2 tablespoon of capers
- 2 tablespoon of cornichons, chopped
- ½ of a roasted red pepper, chopped
- ½ of a red onion, chopped
- a few strands of saffron
Instructions
For the Mediterranean salsa
- Chop up all the salsa ingredients except the saffron strands and combine in a bowl.
Preparing and pan-searing sea bass
- Take the sea bass fillets out of the fridge and leave to bring up to room temperature. Rub salt into the skins.
- Pour the oil into a non-stick pan and place on a medium-high heat. Add the butter and wait until it is foaming.
- Place the fillets in the pan skin side down and apply pressure to the flesh side so that skins start popping. Move the fish around the pan gently to avoid the skins from sticking and spoon the butter over the fish. Fry for 5 minutes.
- Turn the fish over and fry for 1 more minute. Remove the fillets from the pan and set aside skin side up.
How to warm the salsa through
- Keep the pan on the heat and add the saffron strands and stir. Add all the combined salsa ingredients into the pan with the butter and oil and stir-fry for 45 seconds until warmed through.
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