64 votesA beautiful summer dish decorated with colorful flowers and drenched in a bright green herb sauce, this Provencal recipe for Mediterranean Sea Bass by acclaimed Chef Roger Verge will bring instant joy and happiness when served to family and friends. As the practice in most Provencal cooking, a generous amount of Provencal herbs are used including thyme and rosemary. Fresh salad cress and nasturtium leaves are chopped and pureed and mixed with olive oil to make a tangy and peppery sauce.
Also known as Branzini in Italy and Lavraki in Greece, the Mediterranean Sea Bass has flaky white meat and a delicately sweet flavor that is intensified by the contrast of aromatic herbs. Chef Verge makes a luscious potato puree, which is a creamier and finer version of mashed potatoes, to accompany the fish and balance out the intensity of the herb sauce. The potatoes are boiled or steamed until they are cooked and tender and then mashed with large amounts of butter, some milk and heated cream for a rich, smooth, and velvety texture. To make them really fine, they are passed through a ricer at least twice. The best kind of potatoes to make potato puree are Yukon Gold and russets.
For this recipe, chef Verge uses salad cress. Different types of cress can also be used, particularly watercress which has a potent peppery flavor. Nasturtium is also a cress variety with bright and showy flowers. All of its parts are edible including the leaves, flowers, sprouts, and stems, often eaten raw and mixed in with salads.
Buy a whole fish as much as possible, and filet it on your own, so you are assured that all the good flavors are intact. It is ideal to use a Provencal white wine in cooking the fish so that you can truly appreciate the regional essence of the dish.
Blanch tomatoes, dipped them in boiling water so they can be peeled very easily. Cut them into four and scoop out the seeds. Dry them in an oven at about 80-100 degrees.
Make an incision on the fish behind the gills to remove the head. Make an incision along the backbone. Cut the fillets following the backbone. Add butter to the bottom of the baking dish, salt lightly and scatter shallots around, place the filets of fish with the skin side down on the dish. Add sprig of rosemary and some thyme. Moisten with some white wine and season the top of the filets with salt. Add a little bit of fresh pepper. Add a teaspoon of butter on top for glazing. Put in the oven at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
Boil potatoes until tender. With a wooden spatula, work on the cooked potatoes and mix it with the butter until smooth and creamy.
Blanch the nasturtium leaves and the cress leaves. Puree in blender gradually adding olive oil until you get a smooth liquid.
To make the sauce, reduce the juices from the baked fish. Sautee shallots in butter and add fresh cream. Mix well with a whisk. Pass it through a strainer into a bowl to remove the shallots, add one or two teaspoons of the herb puree.
Spread potato puree on a plate. Top it with the cooked fish filets. Pour sauce around the fish, decorate dish with nasturtium leaves, some flowers and dried tomatoes.
