Corn Crusted Sea Bass with White Wine Spring Pea Puree and Sauteed fiddleheads
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 Lbs Sea Bass (Striped bass or chilean. Other substitutions re fine, too.)
- 1 cup corn meal
- salt and pepper to taste
- Olive oil to cook
- For peas:
- 1 cup sweet green peas (preferably fresh)
- 1/2 cup Sweet onion (Diced)
- 1/2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 2 Tbsp Fresh green Parsley
- garnish:
- 1 cup Fresh fiddleheads
Instructions
- Clean the fiddleheads. Soak in water, change the water a couple times to remove all dirt.
- Make Pea Puree: Heat a little olive oil in a pan. Add in onion and ginger. Cook until translucent. Then add in the wine. Reduce by half. Add in peas. Cook until soft, and most of the liquid is gone. Do not overcook. Season withlemon juice, salt, and pepper. Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. The consistency should be spreadable, not too thin. Adjust seasoning if need be.
- Mix Salt and pepper in corn meal. Cut fish into portions. Since we are doing a buffet with other items I would go with a 3 to 4 ounce portion. If this is for a main course you could do 6 or 8 ounces.
- Heat olive oil in a saute pan over high heat. Dredge the fish in the cornmeal and place in the pan, I usually start with the top side of the fish, then flip. Cook about 2 minutes per side to get a nice caramel color. Turn down the heat to medium, and, finish cooking. How long it takes to cook through depends on the thickness of the cut of fish. Generally, it should take about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Saute the fiddleheads in olive oil over medium heat. You just want to bring out the color and cook to al dente. Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve the fish with pea puree either as a base or drizzled on top. garnish with fiddleheads. You can also garnish with corn if you have it.
Notes
We used striped bass, but you can use Chilean or Atlantic Sea bass. Other substitutions include: halibut, grouper, tilefish, Branzino, black bass, sablefish. I prefer a thicker filet in general. The fish stands up better to cooking, maintains a nice shape, presentation, and fork feel.