Fish for Dinner - Asian-Style Pan-Fried Corvina Sea Bass with Shiitakes and Leeks

Image: William Waterway

Corvina was recently the featured item from Hooked on Fish, our local source for sustainable fish -- delivered, no less! Having no real knowledge about this guy I turned to Seafood Watch, the non-profit program based at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, whose mission is to "help consumers and businesses make choices for healthy oceans," and also something called FishBase which is a pretty comprehensive database of all things fishy. The info is fairly scholarly and I probably won't be visiting there again but if you're a real fish-o-phile (the official name is ichthyologist but I like my version better) you'll want to check out this site. 

My interest was piqued enough to swipe right and dive into the dating pool with Mr. Corvina, as part of my dinnertime initiative to cook and eat more fish despite my certainty since childhood that the only seafood worth eating were fishsticks from a box with tartar sauce. 

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How We Prepared It:

• Asian-style Pan-Fried Corvina Sea Bass with Leeks and Shiitake Mushrooms
  
• Steamed Carrots in Butter sauce
  
• Brown Rice Pilaf
  
• Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc (2012) This was a splurge pour for just the two of us at home on a random Friday, but the fish recipe we used came from the Merry Edwards website, and since all the branding was right there, and because we happen to have a couple bottles of the good stuff in the wine fridge downstairs … well, there were too many factors pointing towards Yes to waste time and energy saying No. You know?
  

The verdict:  Although this dish shared a few key ingredients with a previous Fish Dinner culinary adventure -- namely the leeks and shiitakes -- this preparation established its own personality right away. Sometimes it really is the little things that make a difference, and in this case it's the fried ginger matchsticks. Crispy and tangy -- these little power-pops of flavor nearly didn't make it to garnish the dish. A little munching happened on the way to the dinner table. Sue me. Will definitely make this again. 

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Asian-Style Pan-Fried Corvina Sea Bass with Shiitakes and Leeks

Recipe only slightly adapted from Merry Edwards Winery

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 piece scaled Corvina sea bass, approx ¾-inch thick and 1 to 1 ¼ pounds (may substitute halibut, sablefish, black cod or butterfish)
  

• ¼ cup olive oil + 3 tablespoons
  

• Approximately ¼ cup flour
  
• 1 leek (yields approx 2 cups after slicing thinly), separate white part from green – rinse well!
  
• 8 medium Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  
• ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, sliced into very thin matchsticks – AJ note: make a little extra to account for the nibbling!
  

 
Preparation:

• Rinse the fish in cold water and pat dry with paper towel. Season the fish with salt and pepper to taste. Lightly coat the fish with flour, especially the skin.
  
• Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add ginger and toss. Remove when golden brown and crunchy. Place in a paper towel and blot off excess oil. Reserve as garnish. (AJ: Haha- not if I get there first!)
  
• Gently place fish into ginger-infused oil. Cook approximately 4 minutes each side or until tender, flaky and lightly browned on both sides. Using a spoon, tilt pan and continuously pour oil onto the fish skin so that it will crisp. 
  
• Place the fish on a plate with a paper towel. Blot excess oil. Let it sit here until the other ingredients are done.
  
• Reuse cooking pan to heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Stir-fry the mushrooms, adding a tablespoon of Sauvignon Blanc. Remove from pan when liquid is fully absorbed.
  
• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Stir-fry the leeks over medium heat by cooking the white part first for a minute, then adding the green part. Cook for another minute. Add 1/4 cup wine and reduce heat to low. Simmer for several minutes or until the leeks are tender but retain nice green color. 
  
• To compose, transfer the leeks to a serving plate. Place the fish on top of the leeks, and then mound the mushrooms on top of the fish. Add the ginger matchsticks as the final garnish. 

And now please enjoy a little musical P.S. -- Bette Midler's marvelous cover of this girl group classic from The Marvelettes: