Salt-crusted sea bass with sauce vierge

Sauce vierge is a popular French accompaniment to fish and seafood. It is made with olive oil, lemon juice and chopped tomato and fresh herbs.

• serves

  2

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 1 kg rock salt
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander
• 1 whole sea bass (about 600 g) or snapper, cleaned
• 6 sprigs thyme
• 6 sprigs coriander
• 2 lemons, sliced

Sauce vierge

• 3 tomatoes
• 4 asparagus, peeled and halved
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 golden French shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp thyme leaves
• 1 lemon, segmented
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat a fan forced oven to 200 ˚C.
   
2. Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until foaming. Whisk in 60 ml (¼ cup) water, then add the salt and chopped coriander and stir to combine well.
   
3. Fill the cavity of the sea bass with thyme and coriander sprigs.
   
4. Place the salt mixture on the base of a large heavy based tray and lay half the lemon slices along the centre, about the length of the fish. Place the fish on top, then arrange the remaining lemon on top of the fish. Cover the whole fish with the salt crust, making sure there are no gaps.
   
5. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until cooked through.
   
6. Meanwhile, for the sauce vierge, score the bottom of the tomatoes with a small knife and remove the cores. Drop the tomatoes into a saucepan of boiling water and blanch for 5 - 10 seconds, then plunge into iced water to refresh. To the same boiling water, add the asparagus and cook for 1- 2 minutes or util just tender. Plunge into the iced water and stand until chilled. Peel the tomatoes, discarding the skin. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and remove the seeds. Cut the flesh into a 1 cm dice.
   
7. Place a frying pan over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil and the shallots and fry for about 1 minute or until just soft. Add the thyme leaves and cook for another minute or until fragrant. Add the remaining olive oil and tomatoes. Remove from the heat, add the asparagus and stir to combine. Just before serving add the lemon segments and chopped coriander and season with salt and pepper.
   
8. To serve, crack the salt crust on the fish and discard. Remove the skin from fish, fillet it and place on the serving plate. Remove the bones from the fillet, then remove the centre bone, and the bottom fillet. Spoon the sauce vierge over the fillets fish and serve.

Photography by Blink TV. Styling by Blink TV. Food preparation by Guillaume Brahimi.

From Normandy to the Spanish border, follow Guillaume Brahimi along the French Atlantic at SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.