Chilean sea bass with morel mushrooms and chestnuts

in a light blood orange sauce

With woodsy morel mushrooms and chestnuts, this dish is truly special, especially for fall. It’s a perfect choice when you’re looking to pull out all the stops. It’s elegant and makes a beautiful presentation, but it’s surprisingly simple to prepare.

Chilean sea bass—which isn’t really a bass at all, but the name sounds more appealing than Patagonian Toothfish—has a firm texture and a buttery flavor. I enhance that beautiful buttery-ness with…butter. This sauce comes together quickly and augments the fish perfectly. And, if this fish doesn’t yell special occasion loudly enough, the addition of morel mushrooms will certainly send the message.

Not wanting to come off too bougie… if this recipe is beyond your budget, it will still be tasty with a less expensive, firm-fleshed white fish and conventional mushrooms. If blood oranges aren’t available, you can use any oranges you can find, and add a squeeze of lemon to add a touch of tartness.

…And there’s even a vegetarian version of this dish.

Some fish make for wonderful for sushi. Some are lovely served medium rare to rare. Not this one.

Chilean Sea Bass needs to be cooked all the way through or it will be tough.

I’m serving this as the entrée at an Erev Yom Kippur lunch, so I’m going with 4 ounce portions to keep the meal light.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. Chilean sea bass (from your local fish market, or from Costco)

• A splash of avocado or other neutral cold-pressed oil

• As many dried morel mushrooms as you can bear to use.

• 1 ½ cups no-chicken broth

• 1 large shallot, minced

• 1 stick sweet butter

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 5 ounces pre-cooked chestnuts, cut in half or quarters, depending upon their size. (The packaged ones are fine)

• 2 tablespoons flour

• A sprig or two of fresh thyme

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 cup blood orange juice

• a splash of white wine (optional)

to prepare the sauce:

Note: To serve this with a meat meal, substitute vegan butter for the butter, and chicken broth for the no-chicken broth if you like.

• Put the dried morels into a small bowl. Bring the broth to almost a boil and pour it over the mushrooms. Let them stand for at least 30 minutes, then drain the mushrooms, preserving the broth.

  Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan and add the shallots. Add a pinch of salt and sauté the shallots over medium heat until soft and translucent.

• Add the garlic and the chestnuts and sauté for a few more minutes until the chestnuts develop a bit of color. Then, add the mushrooms and sauté for another minute or so.

• Sprinkle the flour over and stir to coat everything evenly and to eliminate the raw taste of the flour. If you’re using the wine, add it now and stir until it’s almost evaporated.

• Add the reserved mushroom soaking broth and stir until a smooth sauce forms. Add the thyme sprigs and the blood orange juice. The sauce will be on the thin side. Simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the rest of the butter, one small piece at a time. Check your seasonings, then cover the pot and keep the sauce warm until your fish is ready. Remove the thyme sprigs and the bay leaf before serving.

to prepare the fish:

Cut the fish into serving size pieces, 4—6 ounces per person.

• Preheat the oven to 425°

• Sprinkle both sides of the fish pieces with salt and pepper

• Choose a skillet that is oven-safe and large enough to hold all of the fish at one time.

• On the stove top, heat the skillet until good and hot. That will make the difference between fish that sticks to the pan and fish that doesn’t stick.

• Pour a small glug of oil into the pan, wait 30 seconds for the oil to get hot, and add the fish pieces, skin side down if they have skin. Lower the heat to medium-high and cook undisturbed for about 5 minutes, until the bottom is golden.

• Slide a thin spatula under each piece of fish and carefully turn them, adding a bit more oil if needed.

• Cook for another 5 minutes or so.

• You want to develop a nice golden crust on both sides. Don’t worry about it being cooked through; you’re going to finish it in the oven.

• Once you’ve gotten your fish nice and golden on both sides, slide the pan into the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Check it with a fork—it should slide right in. If it’s still a little tough, bake it for a few minutes more and check again.

To serve:  

I’m going to be serving this with black rice. Bamboo rice, which is a lovely shade of green, would also be very nice here. I’m going to set a ring mold in the middle of each plate and fill it with the rice, press it to pack it down, and remove the ring. Then I’’ll set a portion of the fish on top of the rice and pour the sauce over, making sure that the mushrooms and chestnuts are equally disbursed among the plates. I’ll lay a decorative thyme sprig over the top, as a hint of the herbal flavor that lies ahead. Micro-greens on top would also be nice.

I’m also going to add some baby carrots, roasted with orange and honey, to the plate. I’ll dress the carrots with a little good olive oil mixed with a squeeze of fresh orange juice, a little honey, and given a light sprinkle of garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Then I’ll massage all the ingredients onto the carrots to coat them evenly. They’ll roast in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet at 425° for about 15 minutes, until they begin to char, just a bit.