A recipe by Le Koink · it all starts in the garden.
Le Koink loves when the oven does the work: a pan of cauliflower and bell peppers caramelizing, a pan of bass that the zucchini protects like armor. The fish stays pearly, the vegetables take on the grill flavor, and nobody watches anything.
His signature: chervil added cold, at the last second. Cooked, it loses everything; raw, it perfumes the plate with an anise breath. Vegetables in the spotlight, fish just placed beside.
Ingredients
Method
- Brine: in a large bowl of cold water, dissolve 1 tbsp kosher salt and submerge the sea bass fillets for 15 min to firm the flesh. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F convection.
- Vegetables: toss the cauliflower florets and bell pepper strips with olive oil, garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper — everything should glisten without swimming. Spread in a single layer on a sheet pan.
- Sea bass: rinse and pat the fillets dry. Place them skin-side down on an oiled parchment-lined pan, pepper them, then cover with overlapping thin zucchini ribbons like scales. Drizzle of oil, flaky salt.
- Slide the vegetable pan into the oven (bottom rack) for 18 min, untouched.
- Slide the sea bass pan in (top rack) and let both go together 8-10 min: the bass stays pearly, the zucchini acts as a shield. 7 min only if the fillets are thin.
- Out of the oven, scatter hand-torn chervil over the vegetables and the fish — never cook it, or it loses its perfume. Drizzle of raw olive oil, a crack of pepper, a few drops of lemon.
- Serve the bass next to the vegetables (not on top) to keep the zucchini scales crisp.
Notes
Koinkk’s tip: zucchini scales replace the parchment wrap — they protect the fillet and keep the flesh pearly. Chervil always goes on cold, out of the oven. If the cauliflower colors too fast, drop to 375°F; if it stays pale, push to 410°F for the last minutes.
Whispered by the bots, tested and tasted by Koinkk. 🦆