CHILEAN SEA BASS WITH CELERIAC PURÉE & MORELS

Remove the fish from the freezer the night before and place in the fridge to defrost. We recommend 150g filet per person if cutting from a whole fillet.

Place the 50g of morels in a bowl and pour 300ml of boiling water over them, leave to soak for approximately 45 mins. Remove the morels and strain the liquid through a fine sieve lined with kitchen paper to remove any grit from the liquid, then set aside.

In a bowl of cold water dunk and agitate the morels briefly and remove. Discard the water, refill with fresh and repeat the previous step once or twice until water is clean. It is important not to let the morels sit in the water for any period of time as you don’t want them to absorb any more water. Place morels on a plate between kitchen towels and set aside until ready to use. 

In a heavy-based saucepan pan, gently sweat shallots, and garlic in olive oil with a pinch of salt until soft. Turn the heat up briefly and add red wine to deglaze the pan and boil off the alcohol. Add the thyme and bay leaf, reduce the heat again slightly and reduce wine by two thirds. Add the morel stock, bring back to the boil then reduce by around half, checking the flavour of morels is concentrated and reducing further if  necessary. Add the splash of cream and bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the sauce is the consistency to coat the back of a spoon. Pass through a sieve or chinois. Check the seasoning and set aside. If you are using fresh morels then use vegetable or chicken stock

Peel and cube the celeriac. On a low heat, in a heavy-based, wide pan, sweat the celeriac with a knob of butter and pinch of salt until soft and translucent with no colour (approximately 15 mins) then add the milk, water and cream and simmer until completely soft. Take off the heat and cool for a few minutes. Strain off and keep the liquid. Place the celeriac in a blender and slowly add the liquid while blending to create a vortex in the blender, to reach a perfect consistency the purée should be smooth, thick, but not runny. Check the seasoning, cover the surface with a piece of baking paper (cartouche) to prevent a skin forming and set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (fan), or 200 degrees conventional. Remove the sea bass portions from the fridge. Pat the skin dry with paper towel and lightly season. In a non stick, heavy-based frying pan heat olive oil until the pan is hot but not smoking. Gently place sea bass in the pan skin side down, dropping the portions away from you so as not to splash hot oil. Gently use the back of a fish slice to press down and ensure the skin is flat on the surface of the pan. Keep the pan on a medium to medium-high heat and once the edges of the skin appear golden, transfer the sea bass onto a baking tray on a piece of parchment skin side up and set aside. 

Warm the morel sauce and celeriac purée. Heat a heavy-based frying pan and sauté the spinach briefly with a knob of butter and seasoning. Set aside on warm plate.

Using the same hot pan the spinach was sautéed in, fry the morels briefly with a knob of butter and seasoning until a little colour is achieved and turn off the heat.

Place sea bass in the oven for 4-5 minutes and begin to plate the garnish. Using a dessert spoon, tap a spoon of celeriac purée onto the plate. Without lifting the spoon off the plate, swipe the spoon towards you without hesitation. Using tongs, place spinach on the plate. Position morels around, odd numbers look better for presentation purposes. Place the perfectly cooked sea bass on top of the spinach and pour some of the morel sauce around the plate, but not over the fish.