Sous vide sea bass with herb gnocchi, confit onions and horseradish sauce
Item 1 of 1
- 4
- 6 hours
This delicious sous vide sea bass recipe from Will Holland uses a water bath to gently cook multiple components, including gnocchi and confit onions. The dish is served with a delicately balanced horseradish sauce made with the sea bass bones – if unable to fillet a whole sea bass, ask your fishmonger to fillet it and reserve the bones for you.
First published in 2015
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
Sous vide sea bass
- 4 sea bass fillets, skinned, each weighing 140g, plus bones from 1 sea bass
- flaky sea salt
Confit onions
- 20 baby onions, peeled
- 50ml of olive oil
- 5g of salt
- 5g of sugar
Smoked bacon
- 200g of smoked streaky bacon, in one piece
Herb gnocchi
- 4 large Maris piper potatoes
- 50g of potato flour
- 50g of egg
- 20g of egg yolk
- 2g of salt
- 1 pinch of dill, chopped
- 1 pinch of curly parsley, chopped
Horseradish cream sauce
- fresh horseradish, finely grated, to taste
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 1 leek, roughly chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 400ml of white wine
- 400ml of whipping cream
- 50ml of vegetable oil
Wilted lettuce
- 2 baby gem lettuces
- 50g of butter
- 200ml of fish stock
- chopped chives
- olive oil
SAVE RECIPE
Equipment
- Chamber sealer
- Water bath
- Hand blender
- Piping bags
- Vacuum bags
Method
1
Preheat a water bath to 80°C
2
To begin, place the onions in a vacuum bag with the olive oil, salt and sugar. Seal in a chamber sealer and place in the water bath for 4 hours. Set the onions aside and increase the temperature of the water bath to 90°C
- 5g of sugar
- 20 baby onions, peeled
- 50ml of olive oil
- 5g of salt
3
Place the bacon in a vacuum bag and seal in a chamber sealer. Cook in the water bath for 1 hour, then plunge into iced water to refresh. Remove the bacon from the bag and cut into 5mm dice
- 200g of smoked streaky bacon
4
Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5
5
Bake the potatoes for 1 hour, or until tender and cooked through. Whilst still warm, cut the potatoes in half, scoop out the flesh and pass through a fine drum sieve
6
Weigh out 150g of the dry mashed potato and place in a mixing bowl with the remaining gnocchi ingredients. Mix until fully combined, then transfer to a piping bag. Cut the piping bag 5cm from the tip
- 1 pinch of curly parsley
- 50g of potato flour
- 50g of egg
- 20g of egg yolk
- 2g of salt
- 1 pinch of dill, chopped
7
Preheat a water bath to 80°C
8
Line a work surface with a layer of cling film. Pipe the gnocchi onto the cling film in a long, continuous ‘sausage’, approximately 40cm in length. Roll the cling film around the gnocchi and tie each end. Repeat this process with the remaining gnocchi mix
9
Poach the gnocchi in a water bath for 10 minutes. Refresh in iced water, then remove the cling film and cut into 2.5cm long pieces. Set aside in the refrigerator until required
10
For the horseradish cream sauce, heat the oil in saucepan over a high heat. Add the reserved sea bass bones and roast until all of the moisture has evaporated. Add the vegetables and continue to cook until the vegetables have slightly softened
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 50ml of vegetable oil
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 1 leek, roughly chopped
11
Deglaze the pan with the white wine and reduce by half. Add the cream, bring to the boil and once boiling point is reached, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Add the grated horseradish, then pass the finished sauce through a fine sieve
- 400ml of whipping cream
- 400ml of white wine
- fresh horseradish, finely grated, to taste
12
Preheat a water bath to 55°C
13
Place the sea bass fillets in a vacuum bag and seal in a chamber sealer. Cook in the water bath for 15 minutes
- 600g of sea bass, filleted and cut into 4x140g portions, bones reserved
- flaky sea salt
14
Cut the lettuces into halves, keeping the core intact. Lightly brush with oil and caramelise in a hot pan for 1—2 minutes on each side. Add the butter, stock, confit baby onions, gnocchi and diced bacon. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes or until the lettuce is tender and all of the ingredients are warm
- 200ml of fish stock
- 2 baby gem lettuces
- 50g of butter
- chopped chives
- olive oil
15
Remove the sea bass fillets from the vacuum bag and sear in a hot pan for 30 seconds on each side. Season with sea salt crystals and keep warm
16
Heat the horseradish sauce to around 70°C and aerate with a hand blender
17
To serve, place 1 piece of lettuce, 5 pieces of gnocchi, 5 onions and a spoonful of the diced bacon onto each plate. Top with the sea bass fillets and a sprinkling of chopped chives and spoon the sauce generously over each plate. Serve immediately
First published in 2015
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