“Food can bring people together in a way nothing else can.” Yotam Ottolenghi
Hi there,
The other day Dom and I went shopping at Costco and mistakenly bought two pieces of sea bass. I have come to cooking fish very late in life. And to be honest, I usually need the fish disguised in lots of flavors. I found the idea for preparing this meal on line from an article that was published in the 1990’s. I tweaked it to make it easier and to use ingredients that I had on hand. We liked this dish so much that it is on the menu for friends we are having over Saturday night.
Ingredients:
- 2 nice sized sea bass filets
- 1/4 pound of shrimp
- 1 and 1/2 cups of chicken broth
- box of pearled couscous. I used the Near East mix pictured below
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 6 blood oranges
- 1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 12 large green olives, Cerignola preferred
- 6 large dates
Directions for the couscous:
Bring the broth to a boil. Add the couscous and the seasoning packet and the chickpeas to the broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed.
Using a microplane grater, remove the zest of three blood oranges and set aside. Peel the remaining skin from the 3 oranges and cut segments into 1/4 inch pieces.
Quarter the olives and dates then add the quartered oranges, olives and dates to the couscous.
Directions for the sea bass:
Dry the sea bass filets thoroughly and season with salt and pepper.
Juice the remaining 3 blood oranges.
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
Over medium heat warm a sauté pan with the olive oil and butter.
Add the sea bass to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes then and add the shrimp to the pan. Turn over the filet and sauté the sea bass and shrimp an additional 2 minutes.
Cook in the oven for 10 minutes.
Remove the fish from the pan and keep warm. Place the sauté pan back on the stove and add the orange juice and the orange zest to the to the pan drippings. Bring to a boil and reduce by half.
Pour the orange juice reduction over the sea bass and serve.
Special notes: clementines can be substituted for blood oranges and any type of thick white fish would work well with this recipe. A sprinkle of fresh mint over the top would look nice. (I didn’t have any that day.)
See you soon, ❤️💕Bernadette
11 responses to “PERSIAN STYLE SEABASS AND COUSCOUS – you will think Aladdin came to your kitchen”
I’m not much of a fish eater, but this dish is creative and definitely worthy of company!
Jenna
Thanks Jenna
Yum Bernadette! This looks so delicious, and I love the bold flavors you used here. Can I come over on Saturday too?
If you can make your way to New Jersey, we would be happy to have you. A cosmo will be waiting for you.
I’ll take it!
Huh. How in the world did you mistakenly come home with fish? Was it supposed to be someone else’s?! Anyway, I love what you did here. Olives really brighten up dishes, I think.
No, Dom though he was buying halibut which I have made before. I was shocked when I saw I had sea bass which I have never prepared before. Turns out this may become a favorite.
Ohhhhhhh. So you were buying fish! Okay…
Hey Bernadette! Just reaching out to let you know that you’ve been nominated for the Golden Bloggerz Award: https://thenourishcookbook.com/2021/04/07/golden-bloggerz-award/ Congratulations 👏👏
Bern this sounds absolutely delicious I have not eaten couscous for years my one and only experience was a rather bland mess made by a friend who loved the stuff…This sounds absolutely delicious and have bookmarked this to try…Lovely recipe :)x
Thank you. The recipe would lend itself to all different additions and with the amazingly different fruit and vegetables you have access to, I am sure you could have a lot of fun with it.