Seared sea bass with cured bass and citrus dressing

An average of 5.0 out of 5 stars from 1 rating
Prepare
30 mins to 1 hour
Cook
less than 10 mins
Serve
Serves 2

Cured fish quickly seared using a chef’s blow torch, and served with a fresh grapefruit tartare sauce.

Ingredients

For the seared sea bass

  • ½ tsp sea salt, for brining
  • 2 x sea bass fillets, trimmed and skin well scored, cut into two pieces

For the garnish

For the tartare sauce

For the dill and citrus dressing

  • 1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
  • 50-100ml/1.5-3fl oz olive oil 
  • 1 free-range egg yolk 
  • 1 tbsp cider vinegar 
  • ½ grapefruit, juice (retained from above)

Method

  1. To make the seared sea bass, fill a bowl large enough to hold the fish with 200ml/7fl oz water and stir in the sea salt. Add the fish to the brine and leave for 30 minutes. For the garnish, rub the kale with the lime juice and salt to soften, place in a bowl and dress with olive oil. Set aside. 

  2. To make the tartare sauce, heat a small frying pan and add the fennel seeds. Dry fry until they are aromatic, then remove from the heat and crush in a pestle and mortar once cool.

  3. Mix the fish, diced shallot, fennel seeds, grapefruit segments, dill, lime zest and juice and crème fraîche in a medium bowl and season well with salt and white pepper. Leave to marinate for 10 minutes before serving.

  4. To make the dill and citrus dressing, blend the dill with the olive oil in a food processor or blender and then strain. Whisk the egg yolk with the vinegar and grapefruit juice in a bowl and then gradually add the dill oil, whisking with each addition.

  5. To finish the seared sea bass, remove the fish from the brine, pat the fish dry and then carefully sear the fish all over using a chef’s blow torch until charred.

  6. To serve, spoon some tartare on the plate, add some kale and dill dressing and top with the seared sea bass fillets.