STEP BY STEP, SEA BASS AND FENNEL PUREE

FIRST...

 

choose the fish, checking the "elasticity" of the meat by pressing with a finger tip on the skin

scale is, starting from the tail to the head. I found that the potato peeler is the best tool for this operation

start to fillet the fish "scraping" with the pointed knife between the fin bones and the flesh toward the central spine....

....carefully avoiding waste.

Here it is the (almost)  clean : take off the side bones with tweezer, then cook it in the a refined way:

SEA BASS FILET WITH FENNEL CREAM 

Ingredients:

2 sea bas approx 500 gr ( 1 Pd) each

2 fennel bulbs

4 green pitted olives

60 gr ( 2 Oz) extra virgin olive oil

15 gr ( ½ Oz ) butter

a few fennel seeds

salt and pepper

Since the day before soak a few fennel seeds in a little olive oil.

Wash, clean and fillet the fish.

Clean the fennel bulbs, taking off the external taught leaves. Wash and cut the fennel bulbs in wedges, then in thinner slices.

Braise the fennel slices in the butter and half of the olive oil, a few spoons of water and salt. Take some nice leaves out of the pan and keep aside. Blend the left leaves in a mixer to get a soft sauce.

Cut the green olive in julienne.

Sauté the fish fillet in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

For plating, spread some fennel sauce on the dish; place the fillet on top of it. Garnish with the fennel leaves, the green olives julienne and a drizzle of fennel oil.

For the final garnish:

blanch a tomato, cool down in a bowl of iced cold water. Peel it. Let the skin dry in the oven at very low temperature (about 100°C , 212 F) for 40-50 minutes. Use some pieces as "petals". Put some in a mixer to have a thin powder that resemble the hot chilli pepper powder and sprinkle it on the dish for a color effect.