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Sea bass with black grape sauce and celery
Serves 2 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 2 x 200g wild, line-caught sea bass fillets, skin on, pin bones removed
- plain flour, for dusting
- vegetable oil, for frying the fish
- knob of butter
- squeeze of lemon juice
- 25g toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped or crushed
- 2tbsp hazelnut oil
For the black grape sauce
- 60g butter, plus a knob more for finishing
- 1 red onion, halved and finely sliced
- 175ml ruby port
- 75ml red wine
- 300g black seedless grapes, halved
- 30g blackberries (frozen is fine)
- 1tbsp redcurrant jelly
For the celery
- 1 small root end of a celery head
- 200ml water
- 2tbsp dessert wine
- 75g butter
- 1tsp thyme leaves
Method
To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and sweat gently until soft, stirring from time to time. Pour in the port and red wine, then add the grapes, blackberries and redcurrant jelly. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 25-30 minutes, until the sauce has reduced by half.
Blitz in a blender until smooth, pass through a fine sieve, season, and keep in the fridge until needed if not using immediately. To cook the celery, cut the root in half lengthways and trim any brown or dirty bits. Pick any leaves from the celery and reserve. Peel any tough strings from the celery heart halves with a vegetable peeler then place the heart in a high-sided frying pan. Pour in the water and dessert wine and add the butter. Season with a generous pinch of salt, place the pan on a medium-high heat and bring to the boil.
Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook until the heart is soft, the cooking liquid has reduced and the butter and water have emulsified, about 25 minutes. Baste with the cooking liquid, stir in the thyme and keep warm.
With a sharp knife, cut a few incisions in the sea bass skin to prevent it from curling up during cooking. Don’t cut too deeply into the flesh. Dust the sea bass flesh with flour and shake off any excess. Season with salt.
Heat a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and pour in a little vegetable oil.
When hot, place the fillets in the pan, skin-side down, and hold in place with your hand until you feel they’ve relaxed and the skin no longer wants to curl up.
Cook until skin is crisp and the fish is cooked 90 per cent of the way through – 3-4 minutes. If you cook it over a medium heat, you will get a much better result and a crispy skin. If you cook it too high and fast, the skin will burn and cook unevenly.
Flip the fish over, add the knob of butter to the pan and squeeze in the lemon juice. Baste the fish so it is ready to serve.
Warm the grape sauce – you may want to stir in a knob of butter to enrich it. Pour a spoonful of the sauce (you won’t need all of the sauce, but it freezes well so you can save any extra for another time) onto a warmed serving plate and place a sea bass fillet and a piece of celery heart on top. Sprinkle over half the toasted hazelnuts and drizzle on half the hazelnut oil. If you have any leaves left from the celery, garnish the top with them. Repeat with the other fillet then serve immediately.
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