Never work with children or animals… or do loads of things for the first time at the same time. Like I did recently, by (1) cooking sea bass (2) using someone else’s hotplate (3) going live on YouTube. These are the things that went through my head as I pushed the ‘go live’ button and streamed my first ever cooking of sea bass on panzanella salad.
Watch it back for yourself here:
I based this on a dish I’d had at the Blacksmiths on the Isle of Wight. It was a terrific fish dish with a loose nod to panzanella, the Tuscan bread salad designed to use up leftovers. Instead of leftovers ingredients went in fresh and headed in vaguely the same direction. Instead of stewing overnight tomatoes and onion were briefly cooked before being tossed with olives and capers. The fish served on a crouton of french bread finished it off.
Sea bass has a mild flavour, which means it can work well with a lot of different spices and seasonings. Plus, it’s got a really delicate texture that melts in your mouth. This makes it a great pairing for sharp, sweet and salty panzanella.
I was super pleased with how it came out and I’ll definitely be making it again. Possibly not livestreaming it next time though!
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balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oilto garnish
Instructions
Get a frying pan over a medium heat. While it heats, halve the cherry tomatoes and finely slice your onion.
Add a splash of oil to your pan and gently fry the tomatoes and onion just to soften slightly. They only need 5 minutes max. Remove to a bowl and stir in olives and capers.
Season the fish all over. Slice lightly across the skin 2 or 3 times - this will prevent it curling up. Add the sea bass skin side down to the pan and hold with the back of a fish slice or your fingers to convince it to lie flat. After 3 minutes deftly flick the sea bass on to the flesh side and cook for 1 more minute. Transfer to a board or plate to rest while you toast the bread.
Put your slices of bread in the pan and cook for 1 - 2 minutes per side to toast.
To serve, arrange your tomato mix on a plate and top with the toasts. Place the fish on top and drizzle over balsamic glaze (or really good quality balsamic vinegar) and extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
This can be bulked up with a little more veg in the salad; peppers and courgettes would be nice. Additionally consider serving with skinny fries to get an odd take on fish 'n' chips. A little rocket would also be really nice.
When people think of the food of Heston Blumenthal dishes like Snail Porridge and Meat Fruit come to mind. But the Sound of the Sea crystalizes everything about Heston’s approach to food and eating. The diner is presented with a wooden box filled with sand, topped with a glass lid. On top of the glass is a sea scene in microcosm. Edible sand, seashells, shellfish and sea foam make the ‘plate’ of food. But in addition they receive a conch shell. Inside this shell is an iPod. In the headphones is the final element: the literal sound of the sea. The diner will hear waves crashing, seagulls, distant chatter. All in the service of bringing back powerful memories of playing on the beach, summer holidays, being with friends and family. That sound along with taste, sight and smell bound together creates powerful emotions.
The Sound of the Sea is the ultimate representation of Heston Blumenthal’s style of cookery.
I’m going to prepare the Sound of the Sea as listed in the 2008 book The Big Fat Duck Cookbook. However, there are a couple of changes I’ve made – not because I think it’s better! – but because some items are difficult to get hold of, and even I need a few concessions to stay sane. I am indebted to the incredible blog Big Fat Undertaking which cooked every recipe in the Big Fat Duck Cookbook, detailing his triumphs and obstacles along the way. His notes on the sound of the sea were invaluable and I recommend you give them a read. Him admitting that he had to draw the line somewhere gave me the confidence to do the same.
There are a few ingredients I just couldn’t obtain, or procuring them would add inordinate cost to the dish.
Brown carbonised vegetable powder – this is not referenced or described but I assume this is what it says: ‘burnt’ vegetables, blitzed to dust. A tiny amount is needed, for what I believe is seasoning. It’s a tiny amount so I don’t think we’re losing much.
White soy sauce – like Big Fat Undertaking, I’ve struggled with this one. Online shops, specialist retailers… this just doesn’t exist to normal humans like me.
Codium cpp seaweed – again just impossible to source in domestic quantities.
Sodium caseinate – not impossible to obtain, but only required in a restaurant setting to stabilise the sea foam for service. I can live without that and soy lecithin, which is a much easier buy, does enough of a job.
Dulce seaweed – this isn’t that difficult to obtain, but on the days I went shopping for it I just couldn’t get it. We’d had a lot of rain in the UK and fishmongers told me conditions were too bad to go out and get some. I’ve substituted much-easier-to-find kale which absolutely isn’t the same, but is vegetal, briny and savoury. There’s also that old story that some disreputable restaurants give you fried cabbage instead of seaweed, so we’re not a million miles away are we?
N-Zorbit M tapioca maltodextrin – apparently you can get samples of this; I’m guessing they got annoyed by Heston fanboys asking for it as they ignored me. It changes the texture of the sand.
Fresh Japanese Lily Bulb – I could only get dried.
And a shortcut: there’s a recipe for ponzu at the beginning of the recipe, a salty citric liquid you create accentuate sea flavours and retain freshness. However, there are many good ponzus available from Japanese stores of different flavour profiles so I feel this is a sensible substitution. I liken this to using good store-bought stock versus making your own at home. The ponzu also takes a month to marinate so I don’t feel too bad about this short cut.
At The Fat Duck they rotate the fish depending on what’s in season. I chose cockles and mussels, as they were a big thing to me growing up, and difficult to mess up! Plus an oyster because, why not?
One thing I couldn’t answer until I made it – is this a dish served hot? Eventually I served it at room temperature, but I’d be keen to know if the restaurant version is served warm.
Here’s a video version of this recipe, with background on me travelling to Mersea Island to source some fish:
After having tried it, would I make it again…? Probably not. It is a lot of work for an admittedly tasty plate of food, but I think you can get similar results with less effort. I think the sand is terrific, a really sweet / savoury crumble that would work on white fish dishes. And discovering edible lily bulbs, which are like a cashew, and coating shellfish in ponzu before serving as a seasoning works on every level. But the whole thing is a massive deal at home that you can effect much easier.
The sound thing – you really have to try it. If you have any memories around being at the sea, or the beach, try it with fish and chips. Or a lemon sole. Or a dressed crab. Or actually one that works for me is an egg mayo sandwich, I can keenly remember having egg mayo sandwiches with yes, a little gritty bit of sand in at a beach picnic. The sound reinforces the memory and bonds the taste with the experience.
My version of Heston Blumenthal's famous dish. Have the sound on an iPod or tablet.
Course Main Course
Keyword fish
Prep Time 4 hourshours
for the miso oil marinating 2 daysdays
Servings 2people
Author Gary @ BigSpud
Ingredients
For the miso oil
125gred miso paste
50gwhite miso paste
125grapeseed oil
For the pickled kale
20gwater
7gwhite wine vinegar
20grice wine vinegar
15gsugar
1gtable salt
25gkale
For the 'sand'
10ggrapeseed or groundnut oil
10gshirasu
5gkombu
15gice-cream waffle coneground
15gpanko breadcrumbsfried in grapeseed oil until golden brown, then lightly ground
1gblue shimmer powder
70greserved miso oil
sea salt
For the hijiki seaweed
75ghijiki seaweed
12g'thin mouth' soy sauceusu kuchi shoyu
10gmirin
For the 'seashells'
20gdried Japanese lily bulb
2gponzu
For the 'sea'
75gcarrotspeeled and finely sliced
75gonionsfinely sliced
40gfennelfinely sliced
25gleekwhite and pale green parts only, finely sliced sliced
50gwhite wineChardonnay
25gshallotsfinely sliced
5ggarlicfinely sliced
12gvermouth
150gmussels
100gcockles
1kgwater
10gkombu
8gflatleaf parsley leaves and stems
For the oysters
native oysters1 per portion
For the final sauce
400greserved 'sea'
Reserved oyster juice
Ponzu
table salt
freshly ground black pepper
To serve
10gsoya lecithin
trimmed samphire
Instructions
For the miso oil
Fold all the ingredients together then cover and refrigerate for 48 hours. Strain through coffee filter paper and reserve the oil (the miso can be used again).
For the pickled kale
Place all the ingredients, except the kale, in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.
Add the kale to the cooled liquid, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for 24 hours before using.
For the 'sand'
Place the grapeseed or groundnut oil in a small sauté pan over a medium heat until hot. Add the shirasu and sauté, stirring constantly, until they are golden brown. (If they are too dark, they will be bitter; too light and they won't be crisp enough. They will continue to brown after being removed from the pan.) Strain off the oil and drain the shirasu on kitchen paper.
Grind the kombu to a fine powder with the panko. Add all the other ingredients except the miso oil and salt, and combine.
Drizzle the miso oil and stir to obtain a wet sand consistency. Season with the sea salt and store covered until needed.
For the hijiki seaweed
Season the seaweed with the soy sauce and mirin. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
For the 'seashells'
Microwave the bulb petals in a couple of tablespoons of water for 1 minute. Toss in ponzu. Set aside until needed.
For the ‘sea’
Put the vegetables, vermouth and white wine in a saucepan and simmer until translucent. Add water if necessary to prevent the vegetables from catching.
Add the shellfish and cover with the water. Bring the liquid up to 85°C/185°F, then cover and infuse for 25 minutes at this temperature.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the kombu and parsley. Re-cover and allow to cool to room temperature. Skim off any impurities that have risen to the top. Pass the stock through a sieve lined with kitchen towel.
For the oysters
Clean the outside of the oysters with cold water. Using a short, wide-bladed knife, carefully open each oyster. Strain off and reserve the oyster juice and put the oyster back in it’s shell. Cover and keep refrigerated.
For the final sauce
Place the sea and oyster juice in a container and adjust the seasoning as necessary with salt, pepper and ponzu. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
Place the 'sand' on a plate and sprinkle the shirasu on top.
Place the lily bulb petals on the sand. Place separate piles of the hijiki and kale.
Drizzle the ponzu over the seafood pieces, then place them on top of each pile of seaweed.
Place the final sauce in a container, add the soya lecithin and foam the mixture using a hand-held blender. Spoon around the seafood to resemble the ocean: crashing on to the beach. Garnish the dish with samphire and drizzle a bit more ponzu over the top. Serve with your generic fruit-based device.
Here’s a neat little starter for when you want to have something rich and indulgent. Some lovely sweet scallops on a savoury bacon sabayon. Just remember it’s not a hollandaise sauce OK? Nothing to fret over, just some egg and oil mixed together slowly over heat 🙂
Mine isn’t a patch on the refined beauty of this one, where the sauce tasted like eating smooth bacon and eggs! But it’s a substantial starter to show off with. Read my full review of Petrus here.
Get a frying pan over a high heat. Fill a saucepan with some water and get it on to gently boil. Put a bowl on top of this saucepan to make a bain marie.
Trim the fat from the bacon and add to the frying pan. While it renders and curls up, dice the rest of the bacon and add to the hot bacon fat. After two or three minutes the fat should start to go into the pan. Once the bacon is crisp, decant the fat to a shallow bowl and discard the bacon (or eat it, I won't tell anyone).
Put the egg yolks in the bowl and whisk to break up. Add a few drops of the bacon fat and whisk until disappeared. Keep adding a tiny splash of bacon fat and whisking in until you've run out of fat, and then start adding rapeseed oil instead. Keep whisking the whole time to prevent the eggs gathering at the bottom of the bowl and scrambling. Keep whisking and adding oil until it reaches a creamy-custardy consistency. Taste for salt (the bacon will have added quite a bit) and tone it down with a zip of lemon juice if you think it needs it. When it's done remove the bowl from the heat and put to one side while you prepare the scallops.
As the sauce comes together put the pan back over a high heat and fry the baby scallops. They take 2 - 3 minutes to cook on both sides. Season with salt before they leave the pan.
Ladle some sauce on to a plate, dot with scallops and scatter over chives to serve. Eat immediately.
Sous vide might be the best method for cooking skinless fish. It allows a fish to be cooked to and held at the perfect temperature, without overcooking it to mush.
That was the message from chef Russell Bateman at an event hosted by Great British Chefs at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school. Whilst I’ve played around with lots of sous vide recipes, I’ve not tried white fish. Chef Bateman had composed an excellent recipe of halibut on a bed of escabéche vegetables. Both were cooked sous vide and complimented each other beautifully: the fish was soft and sweet but rich in beurre noisette; the vegetables still al dente and tangy.
I had to give it a go at home. I made a few changes according to what my fishmonger had, and incorporated another element we tried of Le Cordon Bleu’s Master Chef Eric Bediat’s creation: celeriac fondant to give the dish a starch. It’s an impressive dish when assembled, but due to the sous vide cooking requires little skill on your part.
There are some elements you can change: I add the burnt onion powder because I wanted a sweet, smoky seasoning but you could forego it. You’ll also need the bath to be at two different temperatures. Personally I’d cook the vegetables at the high heat, then let the bath come down to a lower temperature so the fish can be cooked and served immediately. It’s possible to do this in pans but this recipe shows off the versatility and flexibility of cooking sous vide.
sous-vide vanilla cod with escabeche vegetables and celeriac
Course Main Dish
Cuisine English
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour
Servings 2people
Author Gary @ BigSpud
Ingredients
For the cod
1filletcodskinless
30gsea salt
1lemon zest
1orange zest
For the escabeche
2carrots
1fennel bulb
1onion
1clovegarlic
50mlExtra Virgin Olive Oil
25mlwhite wine vinegar
25mlwhite wine
1lemon
1teaspooncoriander seedscrushed
Fresh coriander leaf
For the celeriac
1/2headceleriac
For the beurre noisette
250gbutter
1vanilla podscraped
For the onion powder
2onionssliced
Instructions
To make onion powder, roast the onions in 150C oven for 2 hours or until it crumbles to the touch. Allow to cool and blitz in a food processor to dust. Store in an airtight container until needed.
First cure the fish. Mix the salt, sugar, orange and lemon zests. Pile on to the fish and rub all over. Leave in the fridge to cure for 30 minutes. After this time remove from the fridge, wash off the excess and pat dry.
Now make the beurre noisette. Put the butter and seeds from the vanilla in a pan and melt on a medium heat. Cook, swirling the pan until it is nut brown. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Preheat your water bath to 52C. Put the fish and half the beurre noisette into a vacuum bag and seal. Sous vide for 20 minutes, drain and serve.
For the escabeche, preheat the water bath to 80C. Finely slice the carrot, onion, garlic, and fennel. Pop into a vacuum bag along with the liquids and coriander seeds and massage well to mix. Seal and cook for 20 minutes. To finish, pour the bag into a warm pan and mix through the freshly chopped coriander. Check seasoning before serving.
For the celeriac, peel and dice into large cubes. Preheat the water bath to 80C. Add to a vacuum bag with the remaining beurre noisette. Seal and cook for 45 minutes. Drain and serve, topping with burnt onion powder.