Sous Vide Sea Bass with Root Vegetable Scales and Beurre Cancalaise

5 from 3 votes

Sous Vide Sea Bass with Root Vegetable Scales and Beurre Cancalaise

This takes some time and patience but the reward is a visually stunning and subtly flavored fish dish. This is an attempt to recreate a dish by Matthew Krikley of Coi Restaurant. I have used sea bass though you can use any sweet, tender white fish, such as turbot as chef Kirkley used or even cod, halibut, or sole. The scales are watermelon radish, fennel, leek, and carrot. These same vegetables plus shallot and chive are in the sauce, which is basically a beurre blanc with cream and citrus zest added.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword american, apple, carrot, dinner, fennel, fish, leek, lunch, main, mushroom, nightshade-free, nut-free, radish, sauce, seafood

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 1

Total Time 2

Servings

Calories 925kcal

Author Jenny Ross

Ingredients

Sea Bass

12 ounces sea bass cut into 2 pieces, trimmed to square
salt to taste
2 tablespoons butter

Vegetable Scales

1/2 leek sliced as thin as possible
1/2 watermelon radish sliced as thin as possible
1 small carrot sliced as thin as possible
1/2 fennel bulb sliced as thin as possible

Brunoise Vegetables

1/2 leek diced fine
1 shallot diced fine
1/2 watermelon radish diced fine
1 small carrot diced fine
1/2 fennel bulb diced fine
4 button mushrooms diced fine
1/2 Granny Smith apple peeled and diced fine
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon chives minced
1 sprig dill minced

Beurre Blanc

1/4 cup vermouth or dry white wine
1/4 cup fish stock
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
salt to taste
4 ounces cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup heavy cream
lemon juice to taste

Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

For the Fish

Prepare a sous vide water bath to 134ºF.
Season the fish with salt and then place the into a sous vide safe bag along with butter and remove the air (using a water displacement method to push the air out or vacuum).
Add the sealed fish to the water bath and cook, ensuring it remains submerged at 134ºF for 30 minutes per inch of thickness of fish.

For the Vegetable Scales

Punch rounds of vegetables from the thin sheets using a small circle cutter.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch by adding the rounds and cook until tender crisp, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Fish the rounds out using a fine mesh strainer, working in batches. Keep the hot water ready for balancing vegetables for the beurre blanc later. Dry the blanched rounds on paper towels. Arrange in rows on plastic wrap so that they overlap to form shingles. Set aside until needed.

For the Beurre Blanc

Combine the wine, vinegar, fish stock, and shallots, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook until the volume its about 1 tablespoon, about 10 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and back into the pan, discard solids. Whisk in pieces of butter, one at a time until all pieces are incorporated. Keep warm.
Blanch the vegetables for 30 seconds, working in batches. Fish out the blanched vegetables with a fine mesh strainer and transfer to an ice water bath to stop the cooking. Once all are cooked, drain on paper towels. Add the vegetables, along with the apple, the chopped herbs and the zests to the reserved butter emulsion. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt.

To Serve

When ready to serve, trim the shingled vegetables to the size of fish - place fish on top, trim edges to match, then invert the whole thing onto serving plates. Spoon the sauce all around and serve immediately.

Notes

Only about half of the thinly sliced vegetables end up as scales for the fish - this is reflected in the nutrition facts.

Nutrition