Sea bass with wild mushrooms and saffron reduction
Ingredients for 2 persons
- 1 sea bass
- 2 onions, one chopped, one sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed under the side of a knive and chopped
- 1 cup chopped exotic mushrooms
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- rock salt
- white pepper
- saffron
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup water
Preparation: Heat 1 tbsp oil on a large pan over a medium heat. Add the sliced onion and half the garlic and turn slowly until golden and soft.
Preheat the oven (180°, Gas mark 4). Place the contents of the pan on the base of a deep, oval glass heatproof dish.
Make 3 large cuts across each side of the fish – one close to the gills, one in the middle, on closer to the tail. Rub the fish with rock salt and pepper, making sure some goes inside the cuts. Place 2 strands of saffron inside every cut. Rub the fish’s cavitiy with salt and pepper and place 1 bay leaf inside.
Lay the fish over the onion on the dish and place in the oven. Heat 1 cup water until boiling, add about 10 strands of saffron and pour around fish. Cook for 1/2 hour until done, turning the fish after 20 minutes. turn off the oven.
Reserve the fish, onion and garlic on heatproof plates in the oven to keep warm. Take all liquid from the oven dish and pour into a small soucepan. Make sure all saffron is transferred. Add 4-6 more strands of saffron and place over a medium heat. Leave to simmer until most liquid has evaporated, turning occasionally.
On a large pan, heat 1tbsp oil. Add 1 chopped onion and the rest of the garlic and turn until soft. Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked.
Presentation: With the help of a large knive, remove the fishbone leaving 2 fillets. On a large plate, lay half the mushroom mixture. Lay one of the fillets on top, skin side down. Place some of the onion and garlic pieces reserved from the oven on top and spoon half the saffron reduction. Don’t overdo it, 3-4 teaspoons should be enough for each fillet.
Serve hot, accompanies by a salad of green leaves and some warm flatbread.
Cooking tip: Make sure not to use too much salt or pepper when baking the fish. The fish’s juices go into preparing the saffron reduction and any salt content will be concentrated.
You can add a scoop of creme fraiche to the saffron reduction just before removing from the flame to give it a softer palate or if there is too little of it.
About this dish: This dish is an original recipe of mine. It is a dish for spring, mixing winter and summer ingredients into a bright, flavoursome combination. Its colour, scent, textures and taste are all designed to wake up the senses after the winter lull. Try it at sunset after a day of sun and some showers.
Curiosity: Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of the Crocus Sativus, in the family Iridaceae. The flower’s 3 stigmas, style and stalk connecting the stigmas to the rest of the plant are often dried and used in cooking as a seasoning and colouring agent. Saffron has for decades been the world’s most expensive spice by weight and was first cultivated in the vicinity of Greece.
Saffron’s taste and fragrance are caused by the chemicals picrocrocin and safranal.It contains a carotenoid dye, crocin, that gives food a rich golden-yellow hue.
