Name: Sea Bass, Crab Beignet and Fennel
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 100 g/4 oz extra fine green beans; 4 flowering courgettes (zucchini); 75 ml/3 floz/⅓ cup olive oil; 6 ripe plum tomatoes; 1 batch tempura batter; 1 tbsp fine capers; salt and pepper; ½ clove garlic, crushed; 5 tbsp lemon oil; 1 bulb fennel; 1 large shallot, finely chopped; 50 ml/2 floz/¼ cup corn oil; 100 ml/4 floz/½ cup fish or chicken stock; 1 clove garlic, crushed; corn oil, for deep-frying plain flour, for dusting; 100 ml/4 floz/½ cup cream; 8 asparagus spears; 50 g/2 oz/½ stick butter; ½ tsp chopped coriander (cilantro); 5 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar; 100 g/4 oz fish mousse; 4 pieces wild sea bass fillet, about 130 g/4½ oz each, trimmed of scales and bones; 100 g/4 oz cooked white crabmeat, pinked over; 8 medium fresh shiitake mushrooms, halved

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Formulas for Flavour

By John Campbell

Published 2001

About

This dish is clean, fresh and exciting to eat. All the different flavours and textures — crisp skin, delicate bass and beignet of crab — work well together. Seabass and fennel are often considered a good match. Here the fennel is made into a cream so that the taste is softened and does not overwhelm any of the other ingredients.

Ingredients

Crab Beignet

100 g/4 oz fish mousse
100 g/

Method

For the Crab Beignet

Gently break off the flowers from the courgettes, ensuring they stay intact. Carefully snap out and discard the stigma from the flowers (1). Reserve the courgettes and flowers separately.