Ingredients
- Skin-on sea bream fillets 4 × 140 g
- Fennel bulbs with their fronds 2 small
- Olive oil 4 tbsp
- Unwaxed lemon 1
- Fleur de sel 1 pinch
- Freshly ground white pepper 1 pinch
- Shallots 2
- Dry white wine 10 cl
- White wine vinegar 5 cl
- Whole liquid cream 1 tbsp
- Very cold unsalted butter 150 g
- Flat-leaf parsley 1/2 bunch
- Dill 1 bunch
- Grapeseed oil 10 cl
- Microgreens 1 small punnet
- Edible white flowers 8
Preparation
- Make the herb oil: blanch the parsley and half the dill for 15 seconds in boiling salted water, then plunge them straight into iced water. Squeeze and dry them carefully.
- Blend the herbs with the grapeseed oil for 2 minutes, then strain through muslin or a coffee filter. Chill.
- Remove the fronds from the fennel and set them aside with the rest of the dill. Slice the bulbs into very thin ribbons on a mandoline and plunge them into iced lemon water for 10 minutes, so they stay crunchy and curl.
- Take the fillets out of the fridge 15 minutes before cooking. Dry the skin with kitchen paper, score it lightly in two or three places and salt only the flesh.
- Finely chop the shallots and put them in a small saucepan with the white wine and vinegar. Reduce over a medium heat until only about 2 tablespoons of liquid remain.
- Add the cream, lower the heat to the minimum and whisk in the cold butter in small cubes, one at a time, without stopping. The sauce must never boil.
- Strain the beurre blanc, season with salt and pepper and add a few drops of lemon juice. Keep it warm off the heat, in a barely warm bain-marie.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Place the fillets skin side down and press them for 20 seconds with a spatula so they stay flat.
- Cook for 4 to 5 minutes without touching them, until the flesh turns pearly two-thirds of the way through. Turn the fillets over, turn off the heat and leave for 1 minute on the flesh side.
- Drain and dry the fennel ribbons, then dress them with a drizzle of olive oil, fleur de sel and a little lemon zest.
- To plate: draw a line of beurre blanc with the back of a spoon and place the fillet on it, skin side up. Arrange the fennel ribbons, the dill and fennel fronds, the microgreens, two flowers per plate and a few dots of herb oil. Finish with a grain of fleur de sel on the skin.
