Seared Sea Bass Fillet in Tomato, Pepper and Olive Sauce

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Herb Oil

1. 1
   Set aside a few whole leaves for garnish.
2. 2
   Blanch the leaves for 10 seconds in boiling water, transfer right away to ice water and squeeze well.

   StovePotIce bath

   💡The quick blanch and the ice water lock in the color: leaves that weren't blanched darken within a few hours.
3. 3
   Grind the leaves in a blender with the olive oil and salt, until you get a bright green oil.

   ⚙ Grinding in a Food ProcessorBlender

   💡In a food processor, grind in short pulses and check between pulses: it's easy to go from coarse to paste. (Sesame for tahini, on the other hand, is ground continuously.)

For the Tomato sauce

1. 4
   Heat the olive oil in a deep pan over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveDeep skillet (sauté pan)
2. 5
   Add the onion and fry 5–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 6
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
4. 7
   Add the pepper and fry about 10 minutes, stirring, until it softens.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove
5. 8
   Add the cherry tomatoes and cook 3 minutes, until they start to break down.

   Stove
6. 9
   Add and stir about a minute, until fragrant.

   ⚙ SimmeringStove

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.

To assemble

1. 10
   Pat the fish thoroughly dry with paper towels, especially the skin, and sprinkle the salt over the top.

   💡Dry skin is crisp skin: every drop of water on the fish evaporates in the pan and steams it instead of searing.
2. 11
   Heat the olive oil in a heavy pan over high heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveFrying pan

   💡What you brown (meat, patties, schnitzel) goes into hot oil: in lukewarm oil it soaks it up and comes out greasy. For onion and garlic that you soften, oil heated over medium or low heat is enough; do not wait for it to smoke.
3. 12
   Lay the fish in the pan in a single layer, skin side down, and fry 4 minutes, until the skin is golden and crisp.

   StoveFrying pan

   💡Don't move the fish for the first few minutes: once the skin is seared it releases from the pan on its own. Press lightly with a spatula at the start so the fillet doesn't curl.
4. 13
   Flip gently and fry 1 minute more.

   Stove
5. 14
   Spoon a few tablespoons of sauce onto each plate, set the fish on top skin side up and add more sauce on the side.
6. 15
   Drizzle drops of herb oil over the top and garnish with the whole leaves.