This is extremely simple: Lay some fillets of sea bass in a baking pan, after coating them with a bit of salt and olive oil. Slice a lemon and lay the lemon slices on top. Cover with tin foil and cook at 350 for about half an hour or 40 minutes or whatever – as long as it takes for the sea bass to be flaking off with a fork. For the last bit of cooking, you can remove the foil. Meanwhile, boil some potatoes. Don’t over do it. Remove the potatoes from water, and fry them up in butter and Dijon mustard. You’ll probably want to halve or quarter them with a spatula while they’re frying. We also blanched some asparagus to go along with the meal, by throwing them for 40 seconds into the still boiling potato water.
Man, sea bass tastes like butta! Too bad about the high mercury levels, eh?
Spaz | 31-Jul-05 at 11:42 am | Permalink
I’ve recently been seeing a lot of black cod in the restaurants. It’s like butta too. But, it’s hard to find here. You’d have no trouble in NYC though.
Nemo | 31-Jul-05 at 12:15 pm | Permalink
I used to see a lot of black cod in my neighbourhood. Now they’re pretty hard to find. Come to think of it, the whole neighbourhood has been looking pretty empty.
krimpet | 01-Aug-05 at 7:10 am | Permalink
Take A Pass on Chilean Sea Bass
“Since 1991, the Chilean Sea Bass has gone from being virtually unknown to becoming one of the most popular fish in America. Regretably, its meteoric rise to commercial success now threatens to leave the species at the brink of extinction.”
http://environet.policy.net/marine/csb/
Chris | 01-Aug-05 at 8:05 am | Permalink
Damn, damn, damn. For what it’s worth I don’t think this was Chilean sea bass.
krimpet | 01-Aug-05 at 10:06 am | Permalink
I’ve been trying to discern whether or not there are actually other kinds of sea bass or simply different naming conventions. So far I haven’t been able to figure it out.
Krimpet | 01-Aug-05 at 11:24 am | Permalink
Seems theres also an atlantic or black sea bass whih is also overfished, though less so.
For more info, this site is terrific.
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp
Chris | 01-Aug-05 at 1:17 pm | Permalink
Oh great. I’m going to need a really tasty bison burger to console myself over this.
Krimpet | 01-Aug-05 at 3:05 pm | Permalink
Sorry if I harshed your fish. I think there’s still plenty of bison though, and squid.
Spaz | 01-Aug-05 at 5:43 pm | Permalink
damned tree-huggers! and now those damned californians are banning foie gras!?!!?
Chris | 01-Aug-05 at 6:42 pm | Permalink
You know, foie gras really isn’t that good anyways.
J.P. Landart | 01-Aug-05 at 7:29 pm | Permalink
Spoken like a true anglo-american! Your tastebuds are stunted by processed cheeze and the swill you call wine. I fart in your general direction!
JLo | 02-Aug-05 at 9:10 pm | Permalink
Foie gras no good? Holy crap! I must have found an extraordinary proprietor. Of course, I’m also an American who likes stinky cheese, so go figure.
As I understand it (which is to say I’m talking out of my ass here), the chilean designation is more marketing than genus-species stuff. Same with snapper. Any fish is twice as expensive if you call it snapper.
Krimpet | 03-Aug-05 at 12:00 am | Permalink
Seems to be a real thing Jlo, check this out:
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_ChileanSeabassReport.pdf
AP | 03-Aug-05 at 10:06 am | Permalink
What about the ilt. empperd sea bass?
JLo | 03-Aug-05 at 11:54 am | Permalink
That Monterey Bay thing didn’t totally clear it up for me, but damn is that one ugly fish.
By the way, olive oil, dijon mustard, and raspberry jam make a nice sauce for pork loin.