Sea Bass with Creamy Lemon Sauce

This delicious sea bass with creamy lemon sauce dish is from Mary Berry Cooks the Perfect Step by Step recipe book.  Sea bass is another favourite fish of ours...it has a lovely earthy flavour!!   If we're out for dinner and there's sea bass on the menu, it's guaranteed that I will choose it!!

The creamy lemon sauce makes it feel like quite an indulgent dish with, but you can cut the calories down if you use Elmlea instead.   Enjoy this sea bass with creamy lemon sauce as a special treat or for date night at a weekend.   We're really lucky that my work is opposite a local fish shop, so being able to buy fresh fish is a bonus!

Tips

• For crispy golden skin on the sea bass:
  • Using a sharp knife, score the fish skin by making 4 or 5 cuts to the point where you can see the flesh. Scoring the fillets helps to keep them flat in the pan, ensuring they don’t curl up as they cook.
  • The pan must be very hot when you add the fillets, so that they can sear properly. Don’t move the fish as it cooks, as it may break up and you’ll lose the attractive charred pattern from the pan’s ridges.
• Enjoy the creamy lemon sauce with any pan fried fish, eg: sea bream, haddock, salmon, rock turbot.

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Ingredients

For the fish:

• 4 sea bass fillets, each weighing approx. 100g (see Tips)
• olive oil for brushing
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce:

• 50g butter
• 150ml single cream (I use Elmlea to reduce the calories!)
• half a lemon, zest and juice
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp plain flour
• salt and ground white pepper
• 2 tsp fresh chives finely snipped, or 0.5 tsp dried chives

Instructions

1. Make the sauce - melt the butter in a small pan. Remove it from the heat, then whisk in the cream, lemon juice, egg yolk, and flour until well mixed. Stir in the lemon zest. Return the pan to a low heat and stir continuously until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. If using dried chives, add them now. Season with salt and white pepper and set aside.
2. Preheat a griddle pan or heavy frying pan over a high heat for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, pat the sea bass fillets dry with kitchen roll and score the skin (see Tips). Brush both sides of the fish with olive oil and season with salt and black pepper.
3. Reduce the heat to medium high and lay the fillets in the hot pan, skin side down (see Tips). Cook for 3 minutes until the skin is lightly charred and crisp. Carefully turn the fillets over using a fish slice, then fry for a further 1 to 2 minutes on the other side. You may need to cook the fish in batches.
4. Warm the sauce through briefly over a very low heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the fresh chives (if using). To serve, lay the fish on warmed plates and spoon over some of the sauce. Pour the rest of the sauce into a jug.
5. We served ours with boiled new potatoes, green beans and courgettes. 
6. Alternative serving suggestion - try it with some roast veg.

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