Sea Bass with Mushrooms

[james]

Here is the recipe for the fish we had on Saturday evening. I really enjoyed the mix of flavors and how the brick oven bakes the dish.

I also put the recipe on the Forno Bravo cooking pages, so you can find it there more easily in the future:

http://fornobravo.com/brick_oven_coo..._mushroom.html

Ingredient (four layers)
Two carrots
One onion
One medium glove of garlic
Two stalks for celery
4 Tbl olive oil (your dish will only be as good as the olive oil -- read our olive oil pages for ideas)

2 lb. sea bass
Salt and pepper

8 oz. white mushrooms
4 Tbl dijon mustard
1 Tbl diced spring onions or chives
4 Tbl olive oil

1 cup Arugula (finely chopped)
One tomato (finely chopped)
2Tbl balsamic vinegar

Preparation
Slice the onion, celery and carrots, and smash and mince the garlic.

Whisk the olive oil, capers and mustard, then mix with the chopped mushrooms.

Mix the Arugula, tomatoes and balsamic.

Cooking
This dish works best in a terra cotta pan that will hold all the fish in a single layer.

Fire the oven until the carbon burns off (650F+), then push the fire to one site and let the oven rest for a few minutes. Shovel out any excess coals. You want a hot oven, which is capable of browning your vegetables from the dome heat, but not so hot that you burn everything in the first few minutes.

Place the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and olive oil in the pan, and bake for 3-5 minutes, or until the onions and garlic are translucent and lightly brown.

Assemble the fish over the vegetables, and top with the mushrooms and mustard sauce. Return the pan to the oven to bake.

When the mushrooms are brown, and the fish is baked, remove the pan from the oven, and top with the Arugula and balsamic. Place the cooking pan on the table -- take care to place all four layers on every plate when serving.

[aikitarik]

My wife and I are crazy about sea bass.. it's usually the dish of choice for our anniversary.

Was this whole fish or just a filet?

Also, I know it varies, but about how many minutes for the final step?

3-5? 10?

Regards

[james]

Tarik,

They were fillets, that had been carefully deboned. Cooking the fish was more than 5 minutes and less than 15 - very scientific. :-)

If your oven is really hot, you can put a little foil on the mushrooms to keep them from burning.

I just got a Salmon recipe. That's next.

James