served with Caramelised Cauliflower, Black Pudding, Seaweed Butter & Truffled Chicken Juices
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
1x Side of medium/large stone bass
(pin boned, scaled and filleted – ask your fishmonger)
4x Jerusalem artichokes peeled, washed and cooked in duck fat (30 mins gentle simmer)
200g Wild mushrooms, washed and free of any grit
For the sauce
3x Banana shallots (sliced lengthways)
1x sprig of thyme
2x Garlic cloves (crushed)
8x Chicken wings (chopped)
150ml Sherry vinegar
300ml Madeira
1ltr Dark chicken stock
1x Dried morel mushroom
For the cauliflower puree
1x Large or 2 medium sized cauliflowers
150g Unsalted butter
150g Double cream
For the black pudding balls
300g Black pudding
1x Sprig of thyme (leaves stripped)
2x Banana shallots
(finely minced and sweated down in duck fat, cool)
50ml Apple vinegar
For the butter
500g Crème fraiche
500g Double cream
½ Vanilla pod, scraped
300g Seaweed
For the pane (coating)
3x Eggs
200ml Whole milk
100g Plain flour
200g Panko Japanese breadcrumbs
Method
1. Fillet, scale, pin bone and score bass (or get your fishmonger to do so).
2. Collect seaweed from beach and rinse thoroughly three times. Drain and dry out at 95 degrees for 1 hour then blitz to a powder in a spice grinder, set aside.
3. Next, make butter by beating crème fraiche with double cream until it splits, hang through a cheesecloth, drain the buttermilk and put to one side for another dish. Season the remaining solids with salt and the seaweed powder, a little touch of fresh vanilla then roll up in a log and chill to firm up.
4. Make a caramelised cauliflower puree: cook the cauliflower for 20 minutes until soft and leave to cool. Once cooled, heat a non-stick frying pan until hot. Add the butter and the cauliflower and cook until caramelised. Set aside until ready to serve. Reserve a few nice florets for cooking with the fish later.
5. Brown shallots, garlic, thyme, chopped up chicken wings until golden, deglaze with a touch of sherry vinegar, evaporate, deglaze with a shot of Madeira, evaporate, add a dark chicken stock and reduce by half.
Next, infuse with 1 dried morel for a hint of smoke, pass through muslin then reduce to a sauce consistency and keep warm.
6. Get black pudding and add a few picked thyme leaves, confit shallot, a tiny touch of apple vinegar and roll into balls. Chill, then pane in panko. (Dip in flour, then eggs, milk, then panko).
7. Season sea bass with salt then place in a medium to hot pan (skin side down) with a thin film of oil.
Next, add wild mushrooms of your choice, cook the bass on that side until the colour starts to change about 2/3rds up then add a generous knob of seaweed butter, baste, flip over the fish and season with verjus and take off the heat. Let residual heat take care of the rest.
8. Deep fry the black pudding fritter till crisp and golden brown, wilt spinach, dress plate with cauli puree, wild mushrooms and some sautéed Jerusalem artichokes. Add bass with a drizzle of seaweed butter, finish the chicken juices with freshly grated black périgord truffle if available – and if not – a drizzle of truffle oil.
9. Dress the plate with chervil and enjoy umami flavours.
