Sea Bass, Oxtail, Whit Chocolate, Szechuan pepper!!!!!

Sea bass, oxtail, white chocolate and Szechuan pepper!!!!

For the Sea bass stock!!!!

heads and bones from 4 farmed sea bass

4 Chopped shallots

50grams parsley stalks

1 Lemon, halved and sliced

100mls dry white wine

250mls water

1tspn Szechuan pepper.

20mls Rapeseed oil.

To Finish the sauce!!!!!

50mls double cream

50grams unsalted butter

50grams white chocolate

Heat the rapeseed oil in heavy bottomed pan and cook the Szechuan pepper until begins to pop. Add the reaming ingredients and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes and strain into a clean pan through a fine sieve lined with a muslin cloth. Return to the heat and reduce by halve and then add the cream and reduce until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Whisk in the white chocolate and butter. The sauce is now ready to serve.

Braised Oxtail!!!!!

2 Oxtail, cut into pieces

50grams roughly chopped carrots

50grams roughly chopped celery

50grams roughly chopped onion

50grams roughly chopped leek

100mls full bodied red wine

500mls water

Salt and pepper

2 cloves garlic, crushed.

6 sprigs thyme

20mls rapeseed oil

20grams butter.

In a large cast iron sauté pan heat the oil and butter and brown the oxtail. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to an oven proof casserole pan with a tight fitting lid. Then brown the vegetables and pour over the oxtail. De-glaze the sauté pan with the red wine and bring to the boil (use a spatula to loosen the caramelized juices from the bottom of the pan). Add the water, thyme sprigs and garlic, bring to the boil and pour over the oxtail and cover the casserole pan with the lid. Place in an oven which has been pre – heated to 15o centigrade and cook for 31/2 to four hours, until the oxtail is tender. Remove the pan from the oven and lift out the oxtail pieces and allow to cool slightly.

Pass the braising juices through a fine sieve into a clean pan and return to the heat and reduce by 2/3rds.

Once the oxtail has cooled sufficiently that it can be handled, strip the meat from the bones and discard the bones.

To Finish the Oxtail and the sauce!!!!!

Outer leaves from a Savoy cabbage (the tough stem should be trimmed away)

1 Chicken Breast

1 egg white

100mls Double Cream

50grams unsalted butter

Salt and pepper

Place the chicken breast and egg white into a food processor and blend to a smooth paste. Then blend in 50mls of the cream. Season with salt and pepper. Lay four pieces of aluminium foil about 30cms in length onto a work surface and cover with a layer of cling film.. Lay some blanched cabbage leaves on to the cling film/foil and spread with some chicken mousse. Divide the oxtail meat along the centre of the mousse and then roll each parcel into a sausage shape and poach in some gently simmering water for 10minutes.

Bring the oxtail stock back to the boil and add the remaining cream and reduce by a further third. Finish the sauce by whisking in the butter.

Pan Fried Sea Bass Fillets!!!!

8 Fillets Farmed Sea Bass, Scaled and pin boned

30grams Rapeseed oil

30grams Butter

Salt and Pepper

Season the fillets of Sea bass with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet on the stove and add the butter and oil. When just starting to smoke, place the sea bass fillets in the pan, skin side down and cook for two to three minutes until the skin is crispy and golden brown. Turn over the fillets and cook for a further minute and then drain on a clean kitchen cloth.

To Serve!!!!!

Place two sea bass fillets in a cross pattern on each of four warmed serving plates. Unwrap the oxtail/cabbage sausages and cut in halve on the diagonal and arrange on top of the sea bass fillets. Spoon round the oxtail reduction and the white chocolate/Szechuan pepper sauce and serve.

NOTES!!!!

Recently I downloaded and watched a video from youtube of Chef Simon Rogan (L'enclume, Cartmel, Cumbria) preparing an assiette of Lamb. When it cam to making the Lamb stock, he roasted the bones, vegetables and aromatics in the oven (the conventional way) but then cooked the actual stock in a pressure cooker. This actually makes a lot of sense to me, as the stock was cooked in 30 minutes instead of the usual 4 to 5 hours that it would take to simmer over a low heat in the normal way. The other advantage of using the pressure cooker is that it is more economical in terms of fuel usage. Net result being a cost saving in terms of fuel cost and usage.

Illustrated at the top of the page; A pressure cooker. One possible use for this piece of equipment in the preparation of this dish would be the cooking of the Oxtail. This would be advantageous in terms of reducing the cooking time along with reduced fuel usage.