Today’s recipe is crispy black sea bass. A delightful time saver fish recipe.
The skin is crisped by frying at a relatively high temperature in a combination of oil and butter. The pan is deglazed with ponzu sauce and lemon to create a sauce, which is lightly drizzled over the fillets.
Black sea bass is mild and delicate in flavor, therefore ideal for applying sauces. The sauce in this crispy black sea bass recipe is quite concentrated, a little goes a long way. This is a relatively small fish, the fillets range from 4oz-6oz on average. With that in mind, 2 fillets per person is ideal.
Crispy black sea bass makes for a great weeknight meal for the family, but it looks so good once cooked, that you could serve this to guests for a more special occasion. As it only takes a few minutes to cook, you will not be tied to the kitchen wrestling with the recipe. Instead, you can create this dish while your guests are sipping on cocktails, and it will be ready before they need a second round.
Black sea bass fishing season is from June to December. Remember this, black sea bass should be sold frozen during fishing off-season. If it’s not, it is very likely that it has been.
As you can see from my pics, I served my crispy black sea bass with green beans. I’m not ready for full on carb loading, and I hope my appetite doesn’t pine for carbs for some time. You can serve this dish with grains, rice or potatoes, but it tastes great with a pile of veggies too.
I find it very hard to eat fish without a glass of wine. I think I say this every time I post a fish recipe! If that is the same case for you, a glass of Sauvignon Blanc will do the trick. Enjoy!
Crispy Black Sea Bass
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lb black sea bass fillets
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup ponzu
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt and pepper to serve
Equipment & Utensils
- Skillet
- Spatula
- Aluminum foil
Instructions
- Rinse fish fillet and then pat dry with paper towels.
- Place cornstarch in a large bowl or tray, then dip fillets into cornstarch covering both sides.
- Shake off excess until each fillet is covered with a thin dusting of cornstarch, then set aside.
- Place oil in the skillet on high heat, then add 1 tbsp of butter.
- Carefully place a fillet into the skillet, skin down, and then press down on it with a spatula to stop it from curling up.
- Repeat until the skillet is filled with fish.
- Cook until skin becomes golden and crispy, flip and cook until the other side becomes golden
- You may need to lower heat to medium at times, dependent upon how well your skillet takes on heat.
- Repeat instructions #5 to #7 until you have cooked all of the fillets.
- Tent fish with aluminum foil to keep warm.
- Discard excess oil and butter from skillet then return skillet to a medium heat and add 1 tbsp of butter, ponzu and lemon juice.
- Deglaze until ingredients create a sauce then remove from heat.
- Divide fillets among four plates and then lightly drizzle with sauce.
- Serve with salt and pepper.
