Selected Recipe (1)

ingredients: 8 ounces boneless fresh sea bass with "skin" 5 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled 2 ounces langostino meat 1 ounce lobster beurre Monte 1 ounce, peanut oil 2 ounces heavy cream 2 ounces whole unsalted butter salt and pepper (to taste)

Wild Striped Sea Bass

To create the lobster beurre Monte, in a saucepan, reduce 16 fluid ounces of water and 1 fluid ounce of champagne vinegar to 2 fluid ounces. Temper 16 ounces of butter in the pan with a whisk until the butter is fully suspended. Hold the beurre Monte at 155 to 160 degrees. Yield is 1 pint or 16 fluid ounces. Prep time is about 15 minutes. (Blake's poaches lobster tails and whole lobsters for five to 10 minutes — depending on size — in the beurre Monte, then grills them over a wood fire. Saved and chilled overnight, the now lobster-tinged butter can be tempered into a reduction for the next day's beurre Monte.)

Place the sea bass skin-side down in a saucepan with 1 ounce of peanut oil at 400 degrees. Make sure oil is almost to the smoking point. Pan roast for one minute to crisp the skin and then finish in a 475-degree oven for five minutes. Strain the beurre Monte and apply a half ounce to each side of the fish or circle the plate with it.

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To make the potato side of lobster mash, place the peeled potatoes in a stockpot and boil for 45 minutes or until soft to the touch. When done, strain for 10 minutes. Place the potatoes in a food mill and grind until texture is smooth. Sauté the langostinos, reserve them in their own liquid and fold into the potatoes, also adding heavy cream and butter, then salt and pepper to taste.