Food and Drink / Lancashire Recipes / Pan Fried Sea Bass on a Bed of Caramelised Red Cabbage

Pan Fried Sea Bass on a Bed of Caramelised Red Cabbage

What you need: (Serves 4)
4 X 175-200 gms thick, meaty portions sea bass, with skin left on
1 medium sized red cabbage, shredded
75 gms unsalted butter
300 ml red wine
85 ml crème de cassis
150 ml veal stock
Salt and pepper

For the sauce
300 ml fish stock
150 ml dry white wine
150 ml noilly prat
150 ml veal stock
1 clove garlic, crushed
1tsp chopped shallots
300ml double cream

What to do:
Make three incisions on the skin of each portion of fish with a sharp knife. Place the cabbage in a saucepan with 25g of the butter. Add the wine, cassis and veal stock. Bring to the boil and simmer gently on a low heat for approximately 45 minutes until the liquid has reduced and the cabbage has caramelised. Stir occasionally. Check for seasoning and keep warm.

To make the sauce, place all the ingredients except the cream in a pan and reduce by two-thirds by fast boiling. Add the cream and reduce again until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon generously. Remove from the heat and pass through a fine sieve.

Heat the remaining butter in a pan until hot and seal the sea bass on the flesh side, then turn over on to the skin. Cook over a medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes.

To serve, divide the cabbage on to four plates. Lay the sea bass skin side up and pour the sauce around.