Royal sea bream with gooseberries and a salted crust
INGREDIENTS
(serves four to six)
1 sea bream (1.3-1.5kg)
1 small onion
125g ripe gooseberries
White pepper powder
2kg sea salt
36 gooseberry leaves blanched
100ml fish stock
1 kiwi fruit liquidised
Few drops Tabasco
120g unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
METHOD
Empty the sea bream. Take away the fin but do not scale. Thinly slice the onion and mix with the gooseberries. Add a little pepper powder then stuff the fish with the mix and sew up.
Put a layer of sea salt in the bottom of a cocotte or oval gratin dish. Display 18 nice gooseberry leaves on top of the salt. Place the fish on top of the bed and cover the other side of the fish with the remaining leaves and salt. Envelope the tail of the sea bream in a little aluminium foil to prevent burning and put the dish in the oven for 35-40 minutes at 200-220ºC.
Put fish stock in a copper pan and add the crushed kiwi fruit and a few dashes of Tabasco. Bring to the boil for two minutes then let the liquid cool and blend in a food processor adding flakes of the butter to the liquid a little at a time. Thicken with egg yolk.
Rectify the sauce then serve with boiled new potatoes or rice.
