Sea Bass with a Sweet and Sour Pepper Sauce, Citrus Pilaf and Braised Endive

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 x 3-3.5lb sea bass filleted, skin on, cut into 4 nice portions
Sea salt
1 sprig Thyme, leaves removed from stems

Sauce:

2 red peppers, cored and finely sliced
2 yellow peppers, cored and finely sliced
4 shallots, finely sliced
2 star anise
2 sprigs Basil
1 tbsp. White wine vinegar
Approx 3 tblspn. Vermouth
200ml Water
Citrus rice pilaf
250g Basmati rice, rinsed
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
1 sprig thyme
1 small cinnamon stick
2 star anise
Peel of ½ orange
Peel of ½ lemon
600ml chicken stock
Braised Endive
2 large endive
50ml grand marnier
150ml orange juice
50g butter
Icing sugar for dusting
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Extra butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 200c
Trim the sea bass into neat fillets and score the skin with a sharp knife. Season with a little salt and the fresh thyme leaves. The scoring allows the skin to become nice and crispy and also helps prevent the fish from curling in the pan.

Pan fry, skin side down in hot olive oil, gently holding the fillets down for 30 seconds with your fingers to stop the sides curling up. Season the top of the fillets and leave to cook from the bottom up. You’ll see the flesh changing from translucent to white as it cooks. Just when the white line is over half way up and the fillets are 90 per cent cooked, flip them over and finish on the other side. Spoon over some of the cooking oil to add an extra crispness to the skin.

Roughly slice the peppers and shallots and sweat in a pan of hot olive oil until softened. Season , then add the star anise, basil and vinegar. Pour the vinegar in around the side of the pan so that it gently heats up before reaching the centre. Add the vermouth – enough to come up to just under the layer of vegetables. Keep over the heat and allow the mixture to reduce until almost all the liquid has evaporated and you can hear a little sizzling and crackling. The vegetables should look rich and glossy. Add the water and leave to reduce again, approx 15 minutes. The water should have reduced enough to make a syrupy sauce. Remove the star anise and basil stalks and transfer to a blender. Blitz until smooth. Taste and season if necessary, blitz again. The consistency should be that of a smooth, thick soup.

For the pilaf, sauté the onion in oil until soft. Add the rice, thyme, cinnamon, star anise and citrus peel. Season and cook for about 30 seconds to infuse the flavours – the rice should begin to look translucent. Add the boiling stock, bring back to the boil and cover with a cartouche (circle of greaseproof paper). Cook at 200c for 20 minutes.

Once cooked leave to stand for 5 minutes and remove the thyme and cinnamon before serving and mix through a knob of butter.

Cut the endive in half lengthways and dust all over with icing sugar.

Melt the butter in a pan and caramelise the endive all over until golden brown.

Deglaze the pan with the grand marnier and add the orange juice. Braise gently until the endive is soft and liquid is almost a glaze.

Serve the sea bass skin side up on a bed of rice with the pepper sauce and braised endive along side.