Quick-pickled sea bass escabeche
This quick and easy sea bass escabeche recipe makes the perfect midweek meal. The fish is pan-fried for a wonderfully crispy skin, then finished off in the pickling vinegar for a tangy sweet and sour flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 red pepper
- 1 red onion
- 1 fennel
- 1 small carrot , peeled
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 garlic clove , sliced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
- 4 sea bass fillets , pin-boned
- 350ml of Mediterranean-seasoned pickling vinegar
- flaky sea salt
- cracked black pepper
Method
1
De-seed and slice the pepper into ½cm strips. Slice the onion and fennel to the same width and very finely slice the carrot
2
Sweat the vegetables in a tablespoon of the olive oil with the garlic, bay leaf, thyme and peppercorns. Once soft, transfer to a high-sided serving dish large enough to hold the 4 fillets of sea bass
3
Take a large non-stick frying pan and heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Season the fish on both sides then place skin-side down in the pan and cook for 2–3 minutes, or until the skin is crisp and golden and the flesh is cooked three-quarters of the way through
4
Flip the fillets over, turn off the heat and leave for 1 minute. The residual heat from the pan will finish off the cooking process
5
Carefully transfer the fillets to sit on top of the cooked vegetables and pour the vinegar into the dish. The fillets should be partly submerged in the vinegar without it reaching the crispy skin
6
Leave to pickle for 15 minutes, then serve with some crusty bread or fried potatoes
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Quick-pickled sea bass escabeche
