Sea Bass, Mushroom Consommé, Broccoli, Rye Crisp & Onion

Serves 8 as part of a menu, or 4 as a main course

Soy Baked Sea Bass and Amaebi (sweet prawn)

• 400 g Sea Bass or Zander fillet
• 100 ml Light soy sauce
• 200 ml Water
• 30 Amaebi (usually found frozen in Asian supermarkets, can be replaced with a smaller amount of langoustine tails)

Mix soy and water.  Remove the small bones in the fish fillet, making a cut down it (the fillet will look like a pair of trousers). Cut into nice portion sized pieces and place in the soy/water mixture. Just prior to serving; bake the fish for 5-10 minutes at 100°C until the fish is just done (the meat will flake nicely). Peel the amaebi and refrigerate until serving. If you’re using langoustine; peel the tails and blanch them in well-salted, simmering water for about 30 seconds. Cut into bite sized chunks and refrigerate.

Consommé

• 500 g Mushrooms
• 4 (10 g) Dried Shiitake
• 2 Twigs of Thyme
• 1 Clove of Garlic
• 3 tbsp Soy
• 1 tbsp Spirit vinegar
• 2 tsp Miso

Mash the mushrooms with your hands into a saucepan. Add water to cover and add shiitake, thyme and garlic. Bring to a boil and cook to reduce until 1/2 litre remains. Strain into a saucepan and season with soy sauce, miso, spirit vinegar and a little salt if necessary. Keep warm until it’s time to serve the dish.

White onion and Pickled onion

• 500 g White onion
• 2 tbsp Butter
• 10 Pickling onions
• 1 tbsp Malt vinegar
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 3 tbsp Beer

Cut the white onions in half (leaving the skin on). Panfry in butter with the cut surface facing down on a medium heat until soft and golden. Take the onion layers apart and mix with malt vinegar, sugar and beer in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and turn off the heat, allowing the onions to cool in the liquid. Split the onions lenghtwise, peel and return to the pickling liquid. Leave on the side until it’s time to serve.

Rye Bread Crisp

• 25 g Rye Bread
• 2 g Caraway Seeds
• 2 g Fennel Seeds

Shave the rye bread thinly on a mandolin. Place on a silicone mat/baking paper on an oven tray. Mix the seedsin a spice mixer. Sprinkle salt and the spices over the bread, ripple some oil over. Dry in the oven at 140°C (approx. 15-30 min) until golden and crispy.

Smoked Chive Oil

• 50 g Chives
• 200 ml Cooking oil

Fill a saucepan with well salted water and bring to the boil. Dip the chives in for about 2 seconds and transfer to a blender. Blend with the cooking oil until you have a smooth liquid. Smoke in a plastic container with a tight fitting lid. *If you don’t have a domestic smoker/smoke gun you can omit this stage.

Garnish and grilled Broccoli

• 250 g Broccoli
• ¼ Lemon
• 50 ml Chive oil*
• 100 g Trout Roe
• 1/5 punnet Nasturtium
• 1/5 punnet Watercress

Quarter the Broccoli lenghtwise and grill it hard on the barbecue or in a griddle pan. Portion so that every guest has two pieces of broccoli each. Place in a bowl or on a plate and mix well with salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. Pour the chive oil into a container with a tight fitting lid and smoke with a smoke machine. Pour the trout roe into a piping bag. Pick the nasturtium and watercress and place in iced water.

When serving

Arrange all ingredients (except the consommé) beautifully on the plate, ideally using semi-deep dishes. Serve the consommé on the side, allowing guests to pour the liquid on themselves.