For 2 people
Sea bass and mushroom quenelles
- 8 attractively shaped white mushrooms (around 125 g)
- 1 shallot
- 1 basil stem
- 40 g butter
- Sea salt
- Pepper
- 2 sea bass fillets, 150 g each
- 4 long chive sprigs
- 4 to 5 garlic cloves
- 1⁄2 bouquet of thyme
Cress sauce
- 2 bunches fountain cress (or flat parsley)
- 1 shallot
- 100 ml white wine (not too dry)
- 50 g butter
- Sea salt
- Pepper
- 1 dash of lemon juice
Clean the mushrooms. Remove the skin partially. Cut into thin slices then into thin sticks, and then finally into tiny cubes (brunoise). Peel the shallots, and cut those into a brunoise too. Cut a few basil leaves into thin strips.
In a small frying pan, melt a knob of butter (20 g), and fry the mushroom and shallot mixture, known as “duxelles”, in this. Add salt and freshly ground pepper. Sprinkle with the basil strips. Next keep in a saucepan so you can reheat the duxelles later.
For the sauce, fill a stockpot with salted water, and blanch the bunch of cress (tailed) rapidly before plunging into iced water. Drain and mix with a hand mixer.
Carefully remove all the bones from the sea bass fillets, and salt. Coat one of the fillets with two good teaspoons of duxelles, and cover with the other fillet. Tie the fillets using long chive sprigs. Line the pan with a sheet of sulphur paper, and arrange the two filled and tied fillets so that they can be turned more easily.
Add the garlic and thyme. Cook the fish on the sulphur paper in the rest of the butter for 5 min. Turn and cook the other side for 5 min. While cooking, keep basting with the melted butter. Leave for a little longer in the hot frying pan.
To finish the sauce, chop the shallots finely, and pour in the white wine. Reduce until there are two or three spoonfuls of liquid left in the stockpot. Lower the heat and whisk in the butter straight from the refrigerator, piece by piece, so that the sauce remains at the same temperature. Add salt and pepper, then a dash of lemon juice. Mix the sauce until smooth using a hand mixer, and add two or three spoonfuls of cress put through a strainer.
To serve, garnish a hot plate with sauce and quenelle shapes formed from the reheated duxelles. Place the superb tied sea bass fillets in the centre.
Bon appétit!
