I’m going to start with an admission: sea bass is often my choice of mains on any menu. That said, it makes me appreciate, perhaps more, the best created dishes with this piece of grouper. For years, the salt grilled sea bass at a certain contemporary Japanese restaurant in Dubai (without dropping names, let’s just say it’s in the financial district of the Emirate) has reigned supreme in my book. That is until I tried the Chilean Sea Bass Alla Carlina at Cipriani Yas Island one evening. It hasn’t dethroned my all-time favourite, but comes pretty close.
The chic Italian restaurant keeps it understated with this dish. The perfectly-cooked fish remains the hero, even as the combination of tomato sauce, capers and Worcestershire sauce is poured over it to elevate the flavours. We liked it so much that we asked the chef to share the recipe with us.
Ingredients:
250 grams Chilean Sea Bass (approximately 320 grams)
2 grams flour
For the sauce:
20 grams tomato sauce
5 grams lemon Juice
20 grams chopped capers
30 grams extra virgin olive oil
2 grams Worcestershire sauce
2 grams fresh parsley
15 grams butter
Method:
Dust the sea bass in flour and pan-sear in a frying pan for 3 minutes with extra virgin olive oil. Remove from the pan and place in a baking tray to cook in the oven for 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the Carlina sauce in a separate saucepan. Put the tomato sauce, chopped capers, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce together and boil for 2 minutes. Then add butter.
When the fish is cooked, pour the sauce over it and serve with Pilaf rice and garnish with parsley.
The National was a guest of the venue.
aahmed@thenational.ae
