Striped Bass with Oranges and Fennel

Last week I saw the sign at Whole Foods market: Celebrate Chinese New Year by serving whole fish, to symbolize prosperity and abundance for the coming year. That sounced like a great opportunity to cook and serve a whole fish, as I had recently seen on Helen's blog, Beyond Salmon. I took liberties, however, and substituted striped bass for sea bream in her recipe for Sea Bream with Fennel and Oranges. It was such a beautiful picture, and I love fennel and oranges, so I just had to give it a try, albeit with striped bass. I did study Helen's helpful chart about fish types and hoped that my slightly firm bass would be a suitable substitution. I decided it would be OK!

Using Helen's guidance, and remembering my fish monger's advice of ten minutes cook time per inch of thickness, I began by broiling the whole fish for five minutes on each side. Then I turned the heat down to 425 until it was done. (My family members tend to prefer slightly over-cooked fish, and I accede to their wishes.)

The result was a nicely cooked couple of fish, with the oranges and fennel slightly browned. Although I originally planned to serve the fish whole, this is where my nerve failed me. Some of my family members, (who shall remain nameless), are decidedly finicky eaters, and while I find a whole fish presentation elegant...I would have been in the minority.

So I pulled off the skin, heads, tails, etc. and removed what bones I could. Then I placed the resultant nicely cooked fish on each plate, and covered them up with the oranges and fennel. This disguise did well at masking the less than intact fillets on the plate. I will spare you the pictures.

The result was tasty fish, although I was surprised that the orange and fennel was not enthusiastically received. I learned that while I love fennel, I prefer it roasted more thoroughly. Nevertheless, I was proud that I stretched a bit beyond my comfort level in the kitchen and tried something new--one of my new year's resolutions.

The wine? Fish Eye Pinot Grigio was just right. Here's looking at you, kid. Have a prosperous new year!

Comments

[Amy]

Kudos to you, Andrea! We all probably should push our limits a little more. Thanks for the nudge.

[Helen]

Hi Andrea,

I love the picture of the fish heads and the wine bottle! I'll have to find that wine to go with my fish:)

Striped bass was an excellent substitution for this recipe. I applaud your sense of adventure! I know it must have seemed like a risky thing to do, but I promise it gets easier each time. If you've never had the skin from striped bass, it's definitely worth a try (expecially when the fish was crisped under the broiler).

By the way, do you have a gas or electric oven. The reason I am asking is that electric broilers are not very good at browning stuff. One thing that might help with browning fennel and oranges is slicing fennel really finely (1/8" thick or so) and getting rid of the membranes on the oranges. This will leave only the good tasting part of the orange and let the sugars of the released orange juice help with caramelization. I don't do a good job explaining that in the recipe at all. It's always so helpful when people give me feedback on the recipes. I'll take some pictures of how to section an orange tonight and will post them soon.

It's a bit of a fussy technique, but makes a huge difference in the taste.

Cheers,
-Helen

[thebizofknowledge]

I stumbled across your blog while I was doing some online research. Fennel and orange seems a highly unusual but very intriguing flavor combination to me. Sounds very good!