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Pan-Fried Stone Bass with Burnt Leek Puree, Crab Meat & Pickled Shallots

Pan-Fried Stone Bass with Burnt Leek Puree, Crab Meat & Pickled Shallots

Jamie Porter
4.92 from 69 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Waiting Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine British
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
 
 

  • 180 grams stone bass
  • 1 kilogram leeks
  • 600 millilitres light chicken stock
  • 600 millilitres water
  • 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
  • 80 grams white crab meat
  • 3 baby leeks
  • potato starch
  • 2 shallots
  • 200 millilitres red wine vinegar
  • 200 millilitres red wine
  • 200 grams caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 50 grams chives
  • 50 millilitres rapeseed oil

Instructions
 

Shallots:

  • The first thing you need to do is to pickle your shallots. Cut the shallot rings from the shallots and salt for 30 minutes to extract any moisture.
  • Put your red wine and red wine vinegar into a pan with the fennel seeds, coriander seeds, bay leaf and garlic and bring to the boil.
  • Pour over your shallots after you have washed the salt off them and set to the side. Ideally, the shallots should be left to pickle for 3-4 days.

Crispy Leeks:

  • Finely slice the green part of 1 leek and dust with potato starch.
  • Deep fry at 170°C for 3-4 minutes until crispy. Drain on paper towel and set aside for later.

Burnt Leek Puree:

  • Cut the leeks into 2 inch chunks and heat a large pan up with a little vegetable oil.
  • Add your leeks so they are uniformly frying on one side. Fry until burnt before frying them on their opposite side until burnt.
  • Transfer to a sauce pan and add your chicken stock and water and reduce the leeks until they are tender enough to blitz into a puree.
  • Blitz in a food processor on full speed for at least 2 minutes (you may need to loosen with a little more chicken stock before blitzing).
  • Add salt and sherry vinegar to taste. You want to add just enough vinegar to counteract the bitterness of the puree.
  • Pass the puree through a fine sieve to make it nice and smooth.

Baby Leeks:

  • Bring a pan of water to the boil with plenty of salt and blanch your baby leeks for 30 seconds.
  • Let them cool at room temperature so they are ready to be chargrilled later.

Crab:

  • Pick your white crab meat and discard any shell, keeping the meat in nice big chunks. Set aside.

Chive Emulsion:

  • Blanch your chives in salted water for 20 seconds and plunge into iced water straight away.
  • Squeeze out the excess water and blitz with the rapeseed oil adding a little salt before passing through a fine cloth so you are left with a bright green oil.

Stone Bass:

  • Season your stone bass with salt and place in a hot pan with a little vegetable oil.
  • When you can see the skin starting to crisp up a little, turn the heat down low and leave to cook for a good 2 minutes.
  • Add a little cold, salted butter, turn the heat up and cook for a further few minutes. The skin should be crisping up, turning golden brown.
  • When you have your crispy skin on the bass, flip it over and flick the foaming salted butter over the fish. This will create a little buttery oven for the fish and lock all the flavour in.
  • Continue flicking the butter until the inside of the fish is warm. To test the temperature, insert a metal spike into the middle of the fish and leave for 10 seconds before placing it on your lip. If it’s warm, the bass is ready to rest; if it’s cold it needs to cook a little longer.
  • When warm in the middle, take the bass out and place on a piece of kitchen roll to rest whilst you are preparing the rest of the dish.

To Serve:

  • Warm up the leek puree and swipe along the bottom of the plate.
  • Warm your crab meat gently in a pan with a touch of salted butter and place on the puree.
  • Place the stone bass on top of the crab.
  • Chargrill the leeks and arrange on and around the bass.
  • Add a few of your pickled shallot rings around the dish.
  • Sprinkle a few of the crispy leeks on top.
  • Drizzle the chive emulsion around the edge of the plate.

Notes

Pan Fried Stone Bass, Burnt Leek Puree, Charred Baby Leek, Crab, Pickled Shallots, Crispy Leeks, Chive Emulsion
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