Sea bass in cava with Brussels sprouts salad, a Christmas recipe

Total: 45 min Diners: 2

Searching for recipes for fish with cava I’ve been coming across thick sauces, thickened sauces and very old-fashioned cooking. And I wanted to get rid of all that. So in the end I have chosen to make a sauce that is closer to a French beurre blanc than to a cava sauce as many would have in their head. I think it’s a perfect dish for Christmas because we can have the sauce already ready and hot in a ladle and cook the sea bass in the oven or steamed at the last minute and just serve. It will be essential, of course, to have the sea bass already clean and boneless and to have a quality product. Whether our recipe is good or excellent depends on it. This is key.

In Spain we consume a lot of sea bass in Christmas recipes, it is curious, and we are lucky to get great specimens in wild fishing or semi-wild aquaculture, something that allows us to always have some regularity in product when we go to the fishmonger. If you like this fish as much as I do, be sure to try the whole fried sea bass in tempura, the sea bass puff pastry as a Wellington, the sea bass in coconut sauce as the Moqueca Bahiana or the sea bass ceviche.

The cava sauce has a powerful acid flavor from the cava, marked by the wine that I do not like to reduce much, but also from the butter and shallot. It is a sauce that expresses itself very well with fish or Vegetable Recipes and that we can make more or less liquid to the taste of each one. The texture will depend on how much we let the cava evaporate inside our ladle with the chopped shallot.

Another of the discoveries of this recipe has been the Brussels sprouts salad that will make everyone, and yes I repeat EVERYONE, eat this vegetable that costs many without a moment’s hesitation. By slicing them very thin and raw they lose that powerful flavor that only a few of us like and it is like a white cabbage salad but with a more tender leaf. The dressing can then go to the taste of each one but this time I have opted for an Asian version with mirin, sesame and Chinese vinegar. We could also add a touch of spice.

How to make sea bass with cava

Ingredients

. Sea bass loin, 400g boneless Brussels sprouts, 10 pc Mirin, 80 ml Soy sauce, 1 tsp Chinese black vinegar, 3 tsp Sesame, 2 tsp Salt, t/s Cauliflower puree, optional to accompany Extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp

For the cava sauce

Shallot, 2 pcs Butter, 70 g Cava, 200 ml Cream, 100 ml Salt, c/s

Step 1

Clean the sea bass loins, always remove the scales (this is best to ask the fishmonger) and remove the ugliest parts such as the belly. Remove the bones with tweezers and divide into individual portions of about 200 grams each. Reserve each portion wrapped in kitchen paper and then in plastic wrap in the refrigerator.

Step 2

Prepare the coleslaw by chopping it finely or shredding it with a mandolin. Dress by mixing all the ingredients of your seasonings and let stand in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.

Step 3

To prepare the sauce, peel the shallot and chop it very finely. Poach the shallot in butter over very low heat so that it never takes color nor does the butter turn brown. We want the shallot to be tender, not crispy in any case.

Step 4

When the shallot is tender, after about 15 minutes, add the cava and turn up the heat. Let the alcohol evaporate for a couple of minutes and, if you want the sauce to be thicker, let it evaporate for a few more minutes until it reduces by half.

Step 5

Add the cream and puree the sauce until silky. Strain so that no lumps remain and keep warm in a ladle.

Step 6

Heat the steamer and place the steamer over it. If you do not have a steamer, a normal saucepan with a strainer will do. It is always very good to coat the skin of the sea bass with a good amount of olive oil so that it does not stick to the strainer. Cover and let it cook for 5 minutes.

Step 7

Remove the sea bass from the steamer, check that it is cooked to the desired doneness first, and pour the cava sauce over it. Serve with the Brussels sprouts salad on the side.