potato encrusted fish

Potato Encrusted Sea Bass
served on a bed of Angel Hair Pasta with a Saffron Sauce

2 large Idaho Potatoes, peeled and excess moisture squeezed out
4 (4-6 ounce) Sea bass filets
salt and pepper
4 Tbls. Dijon mustard
1-3 Tbls. olive oil

1/3 lb. cooked angel hair pasta, tossed with olive oil, set aside

Grate potatoes using the large holes of the grater.

Rinse fish and pat dry with a paper towel, season with salt and pepper. Generously spread one side of fish with mustard. Cover the mustard with grated potatoes to coat. Press down to ensure that the potatoes are on firmly and season again with salt and pepper.

Using a non stick fry pan, heat oil, when hot place fish gently in the pan, potato side down. Sauté until golden, gently flip and finish cooking in the oven.

Saffron Sauce:

2 tsp. garlic
3 Tbls. shallots
½ cup white wine
pinch of saffron
1 cup chicken stock
6 Tbls. heavy cream
6 Tbls. butter (room temp. divided into Tbls.)

Heat 1 Tbls. olive oil in sauce pan sweat shallots and then garlic add white wine and saffron reduce au sec. Add chicken stock and cream let simmer 10 minutes as it will thicken up finish sauce with butter (monte au beurre). Set fish on top of pasta, ladle sauce around plate and garnish plate with chopped chives.

COOKERMOM TIPS:
Make sure your fish is dry and make sure you squeeze all the excess moisture out of the potatoes. When finishing the fish in the oven do it at a high temp about 400 and the general rule of thumb is 7 minutes per inch. Don't forget 10% off at Diamond Seafood in Lake Zurich, just mention Cookermom.

You can have the pasta done and reheat in the microwave.

When making the sauce make sure the flame is not too high or you run the risk of your sauce breaking. When "finishing" the sauce with the butter quickly whisk in a Tbls. at a time, this adds richness to the sauce. When using white wine, use a dry white such as a chardonnay. Good luck, this is a favorite of mine. I cooked this recently on a WGN segment!