This healthy Mediterranean Sea Bass is smothered in a piquant, healthy, Mediterranean-inspired sauce made from tomatoes, white wine, fennel and olives.
Mediterranean Sea Bass Recipe
It has a light, moist texture, briefly pan-seared then quickly finished in the oven. The whole dish takes 35 minutes from start to finish, so it’s ideal for weeknight suppers yet elegant enough for company.
I received a ton of new cookbooks this Spring, so I am slowly making my way through them! This recipe is from the Mostly Plants Cookbook, which features 101 flexitarian recipes from the Pollan family. I gravitated towards this fish dish, because I love finding new ways to eat fish which I try to eat at least twice a week. You can see more of my fish recipes here.
The Mediterranean flavors of the sauce made from tomatoes, white wine, fennel and olives were delicious, I served it with some crusty bread to scoop up that sauce but you can eat it without.
Any white fish can be used in this recipe, I couldn’t find sea bass so I used halibut. Striped bass or cod would also be great.
Mediterranean Sea Bass
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1/2 cup chopped fennel
- One 28 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, with their juices
- 3/4 cup fresh basil leaves, very thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
For the fish:
- Four 4-6 ounce skinless Chilean sea bass fillets, or other sustainable firm white-fleshed fish fillets such as halibut, cod or striped bass
- Organic olive oil cooking spray
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Set the racks in the middle and upper thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 425 F
For the sauce:
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the onion, garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until golden, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
- Add the fennel and cook until the vegetables are soft and translucent, an additional 3 to 5 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the tomatoes with their juices. Using the back of a wooden spoon, smash the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the basil, wine, olives, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.
- Reduce to low and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the sauce is slightly thickened, while you prepare the fish.
For the fish:
- Pat the fillets dry, lightly spray them with cooking spray, and season with salt and pepper.
- In a heavy ovenproof skillet over high heat, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the fillets, rounded-side down, and cook for 2 minutes.
- Carefully flip the fillets with a metal spatula and place the skillet in the oven. Bake until the fish is no longer translucent, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Switch the oven to broil and place the skillet on the upper rack. Broil until the tops of the fillets are golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes.
- Arrange the fillets on individual plates, spoon on the sauce, and serve.
