Sea Bass - John's

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John substituted the dill with chives and then tarragon and likes the tarragon best of the three.

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Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup dry white wine
  • 3 tablespoons chopped shallot
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, plus more as a garnish
  • Salt and Pepper (to taste)
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 fillets of sea bass (approximately 8 oz. each)

Preparation

Step 1

Prepare all ingredients before starting. This way you’re not scrambling around chopping something while the rest of the meal is overcooking.

Start by chopping the fresh dill and shallots

Preheat your oven to 450°F.

Boil wine, shallot and lemon juice in medium saucepan over high heat until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 6 minutes.

Reduce heat to low & add butter 1 piece at a time, whisking until melted before adding more.

Remove pan from heat and stir in fresh dill.

Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

In an oven proof sauté (fry) pan, heat the canola oil until it’s so hot it’s about to smoke. Be careful around this hot oil!

Season the fillets with salt and pepper and add to the hot pan.
For fillets with skin: Start cooking fillets skin side down for approximately 5 minutes until the skin is nice and crispy. Then, flip them over for 30 seconds, transfer them into a 450° oven and roast them for about 3-4 minutes.
For skinless fillets: Cook them on one side for about 5 to 6 minutes and flip them over for another 2 minutes before transferring to the oven for 3 to 4 minutes.
**This method should result in plump, moist, and tender fillets, but you may want to experiment with these times because there are so many variables that can go into any recipe. Type of pan, thickness of fish, stove’s btu’s, oven temperature, pan temperature, type of oil… All of these factors go into cooking times and cannot be accounted for in a recipe. Using your senses and experience are vital for any recipe to work. Tom Manno’s rule of thumb: For every inch of thickness, cook fish for 10 minutes total at 425-450 degrees on the grill or in the oven.

On warm plates (Try pre-heating them in the microwave for about 2 minutes), top the pan roasted filet with the Lemon Dill Sauce. Sprinkle a little of the extra chopped dill on top and serve with wild rice, green beans, and a wonderful, dry Italian white wine.

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