Chef Chris’s latest dish
Ideally for this dish I would recommend sea bass fillets
Chris Steele, our Ayrshire Life chef runs The Stage Door Restaurant and Hollybush House restaurant.
Each week Chris will be sharing one of his favourite dishes from his collection for you to make at home.
This week he prepares Crispy Pan Seared Stone Bass Fillet, Black Parpadelle Pasta, Spinach Pesto, Green Courgette Curls, Capers and Baby Lobster This dish is healthy and flavoursome cooking at its best.
Stone Bass is very current at the minute and you will find it in most restaurants if not all. It’s easily purchased from your local supermarket or fishmongers, and you can buy it whole or filleted whichever personally suits.
Ideally for this dish I would recommend sea bass fillets, because they cook quicker and finish with a beautifully crispy skin.
Complemented with the squid ink pasta, spinach pesto and crayfish tails completes this wonderful dish and a glass of chilled Chardonnay works with this dish perfectly.
Preparation time is one hour and 30 minutes Cooking time is 10- 12 mins. Serves four main course portions. Ingredients For the stone bass fillet: Four stone bass fillets ( pin boned); one whole lemon; 50g capers; salt and pepper; 25ml of olive oil; three free- range eggs; six sachets of squid ink; 18oz of flour.
For baby lobster tails: 200g fresh tails; two tbs chopped coriander; course sea salt and cracked black pepper.
For the zucchini: Two large courgettes; olive oil; salt and pepper for seasoning.
For the pesto: 200ml olive oil; 25g toasted pine nuts; one garlic clove, peeled and crushed; 25g fresh parmesan; 100g packet of fresh baby spinach; salt and pepper for seasoning. Method For the bass fillet: Pre- heat a frying pan with olive oil. Place the bass on a chopping board and season well with salt and pepper. Place the bass fillets skin side down into the hot pan pressing down on top of the white meat to ensure the full skin touches the pan. This means the the whole skin will get crispy. Cook on skin side for approximately two minutes and turn over to cook for a further two minutes before removing from heat and left to rest.
For the squid ink pasta: Whisk the egg yolks, whole eggs and squid ink in a bowl to combine. Place the flour in a food processor and, with the motor running, add the liquid until it forms a dough. Remove from the processor and knead gently to bring the dough together. Wrap the dough in cling film and set aside in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roll out the rested pasta dough through a pasta machine, gradually reducing the thickness until it is rolled to the thinnest setting. Then cut into the shape of your choice. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and drop in the pasta. Cook for 1- 2 minutes, then drain and add to the crayfish tails and coriander. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
For the pesto: Place all the ingredients in a large jug/ bowl and hand blend down to create the perfect fresh spinach pesto.
For the courgette: Pre- heat a griddle pan and drizzle with olive oil. Slice the Courgette on the angle and chargrill on both sides. Season well. Place the squid ink pasta with the crayfish into a large pasta bowl and add some of your chargrilled Courgette on top of the pasta. Drizzle with the spinach pesto and a small handful of capers.