White Wine Bass Recipe

Bass filets are seared and cooked in the oven flavored with white wine and seasoned with pine nuts and black olives. The cooked filets are served with a rich and sumptuous sauce made from the resulting liquid where the fish was cooked in, enhanced with lemon, white wine, butter, Worcestershire sauce, and a mix of herbs including rosemary, thyme, sage, and marjoram. A light and refreshing dish for any occasion, bass fish with pine nuts and black olives is perfect paired with a bottle of Cinque Terre di Manarola.

You can also use other aromatic herbs for this recipe, depending on what you have in your pantry or garden or what is available in the grocery. Fresh green herbs are best and a mixture of different herbs will give the dish a refreshing bite. You can use sage, fennel, dill, basil, tarragon, parsley, and chervil, all of which go well with fish and the white wine sauce. You can also use cilantro for an intense bite that will give the dish an Oriental flavor. The firm and succulent meat of sea bass lends well to the aromatic herbs, absorbing the flavors easily while remaining delicate and fresh. The herbs highlight the natural sweetness of the bass meat. The pine nuts add moisture to the fish since it contains a high amount of oil while the black olives complete this Mediterranean-inspired gourmet dish which you can find in Gourmandia.ca

For superior flavor, get freshly caught bass whole and filet them yourself or let your fishmonger filet it for you the moment you buy it. Prepackaged or frozen bass filets have diminished flavor that will be overpowered by the pungent herbs and white wine sauce. The fish in this recipe is seared until brown before cooking in the oven. This seals in their moisture and keeps them from drying up. Overcooking the sea bass will cause it to become tough and dry. It should be tender and moist when cooked.

Ingredients

1 1/3 lbs. bass fillet
3 spoons pure cold-pressed olive oil
1/2 lemon
1.8 oz. pine nuts
3 ½ oz. (about ½ cup) black olives
1/2 glass dry white wine
salt
flour
1 oz. butter
2 or 3 drops of Worcestershire sauce
minced spices (rosemary, sage, marjoram, thyme)

1. Slice the bass fillet into four portions. Season with salt and sprinkle with flour.

2. Heat olive oil in a pan. Sear bass filets in the pan and brown each side, turning once. Place filets in a 356 to 392 degree F. oven for about 6 minutes to cook through.

3. Remove the excess oil from the pan and moisten with white wine. Place the filets on the hot stove and allow the liquid to evaporate. Add the black olives and pine nuts.

4. Place the fish on a dish. To the sauce, add some minced herbs and bouillon. Squeeze half a lemon over the sauce and add a bit of butter, 2 or 3 drops of Worcestershire sauce, and salt. Cook on low heat, stirring with a spoon until the sauce is thick. Serve sauce alongside the dish.