Striped Bass With Pipian Sauce Recipes

OUR NEW FAVORITE STRIPED BASS RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F with a rack in the center.
• Into a large, heavy pan with a lid (such as this one or this one), place the shallots, bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic, capers, wine, stock, thyme, half the salt, and half the pepper. Give it a stir.
• Bake, covered, for 20 minutes.
• Pat striped bass fillets dry with paper towels.
• Carefully remove pan from oven and arrange filets in pan on top of sauce, nestling them in a bit. Sprinkle fish with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and dot with butter.
• Return pan to oven, uncovered. Bake until fish is just cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes depending on thickness. Sprinkle with the basil.
• To serve, place about a cup of orzo into each of four wide, shallow bowls and top each with a piece of fish. Spoon some veggies and plenty of sauce overtop.

MEDITERRANEAN STRIPED BASS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Pat the fish dry and season fillets with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Drizzle the oil and heat a cast iron or oven safe pan over medium heat. When pan gets hot (it should sizzle when you add something to it) drop in the fillets of fish. Cook for 1 minute on each side. Remove and set aside.
• In same pan, drizzle more oil if needed. Saute the bell pepper and onions for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the garlic and green onion and saute for another 1 - 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add in the tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally (do not burn the garlic!).
• Stir in the balsamic vinegar, wine, lemon slices, lemon zest, capers and thyme. Cook for another minute and remove from heat. Create some space in the pan for the 4 fillets by moving the contents to either side. Place the fillets skin side down in the cast iron pan nestled in the pan contents.
• Place the pan in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

STRIPED BASS PUTTANESCA WITH SEARED FINGERLING POTATOES

Steps:

• In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until just fragrant, 1 minute. Add the anchovies, capers and olives and cook until the anchovies have begun to dissolve in the oil, about 5 minutes. Pour in the wine and the Basic Tomato Sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the fish fillets, making sure they are submerged in the sauce, and gently simmer until the fish is cooked through and the flesh is milky white and slightly flaky, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Meanwhile, cut each fingerling in half lengthwise and place in a medium bowl. Toss well with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the potatoes, cut side down, and cook until well browned, about 5 minutes.
• Serve the potatoes alongside the puttanesca and garnish with basil and freshly ground black pepper.
• In a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
• Add the garlic and cook until fragrant but not browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, bring to a simmer, and cook until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Stir in sugar, and season with salt, to taste.
• Let extra sauce cool completely and then seal in airtight containers. Refrigerate for up 1 week and freeze for up to 1 month.

STRIPED BASS WITH PIPIAN SAUCE

Steps:

• Combine poblano chile, pumpkin seeds, broth, cilantro, and hierba santa in blender; puree until smooth.
• DO AHEAD Can be made up to 6 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
• Soak corn husks in warm water until flexible, at least 1 hour. Drain; pat dry.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium heat until hot. Working in batches, fry corn tortillas until light golden but still soft and pliable, about 30 seconds per side for each. Transfer to paper towels; cool.
• Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in clean large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook spinach until just wilted. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Transfer spinach to sieve. Using back of spoon, press on spinach to remove excess liquid.
• Place tortillas on work surface. Divide spinach and cheese among tortillas. Roll up tortillas, enclosing filling.
• Place 2 corn husks in roasting pan, overlapping slightly to form base for fish. Arrange 2 filled tortillas lengthwise and seam side down on corn husks. Place 1 fish fillet over tortillas; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Overlap remaining corn husks in same pan, using 2 for each base; top with filled tortillas and fish; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place 1 tablespoon butter atop each fillet. Cover pan with foil and bake until fish is just cooked through, about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, transfer sauce to small saucepan. Bring to near boil, then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add cream; season to taste with salt and pepper. Adjust consistency, adding water by tablespoons to thin, if desired.
• Transfer 1 corn-husk base with fish and tortillas to each of 4 plates. Spoon warm sauce over fish. Serve, passing remaining sauce separately.
• *A fresh green chile, often called a pasilla, available at some supermarkets, Latin markets, and specialty foods stores.
• **An herb from Mexico available at Latin markets.
• ***Available at many supermarkets and at Latin markets.

ROASTED STRIPED BASS WITH CHIVE AND SOUR CREAM SAUCE

Steps:

• Make sauce:
• Blend sour cream, water, juice, salt, and chives in a blender until mixture just turns pale green. Season with pepper.
• Prepare fish:
• Preheat oven to 450°F.
• Remove any pin bones from fish with tweezers or needle-nose pliers and pat fish dry with paper towels. Score skin in several places with a thin sharp knife to prevent fish from curling (do not cut through flesh) and season fish with salt and pepper.
• Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking, then sear fish, skin sides down, in 2 batches until skin is golden brown and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes (fish will not be fully cooked). Transfer, skin sides up, to an oiled shallow baking pan.
• Roast fish, uncovered, in middle of oven until just cooked through, 7 to 8 minutes.
• Spoon 3 tablespoons sauce onto each of 6 plates and top with potatoes and zucchini. Squeeze a lemon wedge over each fillet, then place fish, skin sides up, over vegetables. Top fish with sprouts.
• *Available at farmers markets.

STRIPED BASS POACHED IN SPICY SOY SAUCE

Steps:

• Combine the soy sauce, water, sugar, scallions, chile (if using) and 1/2 to 2/3 cup water in a skillet just large enough to hold the fish. Turn the heat to medium high, and bring to a boil.
• Add the fish, and adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles but not furiously. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, turning once or twice, until the fish is coated with a brown glaze and cooked through. Serve with white rice, spooning the sauce over all and garnishing with the scallions.

STRIPED BASS ALL'AMATRICIANA

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread olive oil in a baking dish just large enough to hold the fish in a single layer. Season the flesh side of the fish with salt and pepper, and set aside on a plate or cutting board.
• In a heavy saucepan, heat the guanciale on medium low, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered and the cracklings are golden. Add the onion and cook until onion is soft and barely colored. Stir in garlic and continue cooking until it softens. Add tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer gently about 15 minutes, until tomatoes have come together and reduced a bit. Stir in chile flakes and remove from heat.
• Heat baking dish in the oven and when the oil is hot, remove it from the oven. Place fish, skin side down, in the dish. Spread the tomato mixture on the fish. Return dish to oven and bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the fish just turns opaque and is cooked through. Serve at once or set aside at room temperature to serve in 30 minutes or so. Scatter basil on top just before serving.

PAN-FRIED STRIPED BASS WITH LEMON SAUCE

Steps:

• For the sauce, whisk together: 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, Salt, Fresh-ground black pepper.
• Taste for salt and lemon juice and adjust as desired. The sauce will separate as it sits; this is not a problem.
• Season: 4 pieces striped bass, skin on (4 to 6 ounces each) with: Salt, Fresh-ground black pepper.
• Choose a heavy-bottomed pan for frying the fish. Take another, slightly smaller pan that will fit into the pan for the fish, and wrap its bottom with foil. This pan will be used as a weight to hold the fish flat against the frying pan to ensure that all of the skin will cook and crisp. (You will see the fish contract when it goes into the hot pan, as the skin shrinks on contact with the heat.) Warm the larger pan over medium-high heat. When hot, pour in: Olive oil, enough to generously coat the bottom.
• Add the pieces of bass, skin side down, and place the foil-wrapped pan on top of the fish. Cook until the skin is brown and crispy, about 7 minutes. Check now and then to see that the fish is indeed browning, but not overbrowning. Adjust the heat up or down to speed up or slow down the cooking as needed. When the skin is browned, remove the top pan and turn the fish. Cook for another minute or so, until the fish is just cooked through, but is still moist and tender inside. Meanwhile whisk the lemon sauce together again and pour it onto a warm plate. Serve the fish skin side up, on top of the sauce.
• Garnish the fish with a couple spoonfuls of chopped tender herbs such as parsley, chives, chervil, cilantro, or basil.
• Soak, rinse, and squeeze dry a tablespoon or so of capers. When the fish is cooked add the capers to the hot pan and sauté for a minute or two. Remove with a slotted spoon and scatter over the fish.
• Make a Beurre Blanc (Warm Butter Sauce; page 228) instead of the olive oil sauce.