Simple Summer Sea Bass

☀️ 🐟 Simple Summer Sea Bass 🐟 ☀️

How about a colorful dinner that is summery, sustainable, super-easy, and super-tasty? Last summer I shared a simple Grilled Swordfish over a Tomato Cucumber Salad that became quite popular, this summer it’s Chilean Sea Bass over Summer Vegetable Couscous.

Rich, melt-in-the-mouth Chilean Sea Bass aka Patagonian Toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) is simply delicious and almost impossible to overcook due to its flesh high fat content.

And, yes, it is after Labor Day, but it is still officially summer for a few more weeks, and still over 100°F here in Vegas every day… Yesterday was the 70th day reaching at least 105°F in 2024.

Chilean Sea Bass over Summer Vegetable Couscous Recipe

Summer Vegetable Israeli Couscous

• olive oil
• scallion, thinly sliced
• garlic, minced
• zucchini (and/or yellow squash) bite-sized pieces
• cherry tomatoes, halved
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper
• basil leaves
• israeli (pearl) couscous

Cook Israeli couscous according to package instructions.

Heat olive oil in a sauté pan. Add scallion and garlic and cook for about one minute. Add zucchini and tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes wilt and give up their juices, and squash is cooked but not soft. Season with salt and pepper. Add small basil leaves to wilt.

Toss some of the cooked couscous with the vegetable mixture. To keep it light, there should be more vegetables than pasta.

Chilean Sea Bass

• sea bass fillets
• coarse sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
• flour
• olive oil
• chicken stock

Let fish fillets come close to room temperature. Pat dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour, shake off excess.

Cook fish in a glug of olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium to medium-high heat until golden brown on both sides. Then add about 1/3 cup of chicken stock (or more stock for several fillets) and continue to cook until the sea bass is cooked through and hot in the middle. Adjust heat as necessary. Do not flip the fish again.

Sustainablility

Populations of the fish went from sustainable, to overfished, and now back to sustainable again according to the Marine Stewardship Council. And although the fish I am using is called “Chilean” it is actually a product of Australia, fished in the Southern Ocean. It has met the global standard for sustainability where there are enough fish left in the sea to reproduce indefinitely.

To Serve

Israeli couscous is a type of pasta that is toasted in an open flame oven, which allows it to absorb liquids while remaining al dente. It’s great mixed with the veggies and pan juices.

Spoon vegetable couscous onto plates. Top with sea bass. Spoon some of the hot fish pan juices over the fish and vegetables. Garnish with basil.

Enjoy the rest of summer! ☀️