Chef Chris’s latest dish
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 Sea Bass
This dish is healthy and flavour some cooking at its best.
Sea 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 local fish mongers and you can buy the fish whole or filleted whichever personally suits. Ideally for this dish I would recommend Seabass fillets because fillets cook quicker and finish with a beautifully crispy skin. A glass of chilled Chardonnay compliments this dish perfectly.
Preparation time is less than 45 mins and cooking times is only 12 minutes
For the sea bass fillet: Four sea bass fillets ( pin boned); one whole lemon; salt and pepper; 25ml of olive oil.
For the crab cake: 300g white crab meat; two large free range eggs; eight tbs breadcrumbs; two tbs chopped coriander; small piece of fresh ginger approx 2cm square; two red chillies, seeds removed; two single spring onions, finely sliced; 25ml of olive oil; plain flour for dusting.
For pineapple salsa: 200g fresh pineapple, small diced; two fresh red chillies, seeds removed; two tbs brown sugar; two tbs soya sauce; two tbs chopped coriander; course sea salt and cracked black pepper.
For the breadcrumbs: Four slices of white bread, crust off ( slightly stale bread is best); some chopped fresh herbs your choice; 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 basil; salt and pepper for seasoning.
For spaghetti veg: One carrot; one courgette. Pre- heat oven to 200c For the bass fillet: Pre- heat a frying pan with olive oil. Place the sea bass on a chopping board and season well with salt and pepper. Place the seabass fillets skin side down into the hot pan pressing down on top of the white meat to make sure the full skin touches the pan to ensure the whole skin gets crispy cause they will tighten up and curl at edges as soon as they go into the pan. Cook on skin side for approx two minutes and turn over to cook for a further two minutes before removing from heat and left to rest.
For the pineapple salsa: Place 200g of fresh pineapple, diced up into a mixing bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and stir together, then chill until you are ready to serve. `
For the breadcrumbs: Cut the bread up into 3cm squares and place in a food processor to blitz down, add seasoning and fresh herbs to create the perfect crumb.
For the crab cake: Pop the ginger and chillies in food processor and blitz down. Then place the mixture with the crab meat in a mixing bowl, add one egg, breadcrumbs, coriander and sliced spring onions then bind all mixture together. Split the mixture into 8 and shape into Crab cakes. Place the Crab cakes on to your tray tray and chill for 15 minutes. Once chilled place the crab cakes one at a time into a bowl of flour and cover completely, remove and shake of excess flour and dip into your beaten egg mix. Make sure the crab cake is completely covered
in egg mix before dropping into the fresh breadcrumbs. Shake till the crumb has covered the cake completely then place on tray to chill.
When you are ready to cook pre heat a nonstick frying pan with olive oil cook both sides for few minutes till golden brown and transfer to oven for a further five minutes. Place all the ingredients in a large jug/ bowl and hand blend down to create the perfect fresh basil pesto. Spiral cut the veg and blanch in hot water for 2 min, drain and season.