Description
The addition of a fennel salad stuffing and truffle butter sauce put this dish above the rest.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 bulb fennel, shaved and chopped
- 1/2 red onion, shaved
- Olive oil
- 1 lemon, juiced and zested
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 4 whole branzini (1–1 ¼ each), scaled, deboned with backbone removed
For the truffle butter sauce:
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp thyme
- 1 shallot
- 1 lemon, juiced and zested
- ½ cup cream
- ½ lb butter
- 2–3 tbsp truffle oil
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
For the branzini and fennel salad stuffing:
- On a mandolin, thinly shave fennel and red onion into a mixing bowl. Chop fennel tops and mix with shaved salad.
- Lightly coat salad with olive oil, zested lemon and juice of one lemon. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- To finish, season inside of fish with salt and pepper. Stuff with shaved fennel salad.
- Heat Teflon sauté pan with oil, place fish in pan over medium heat, two fish per pan at a time so as not to overcrowd pan.
- Cook over medium heat for 3-6 minutes per fish side.
- Finish in oven for 5-8 minutes at 375 degrees.
- Remove from pan and serve with roasted potatoes and butter sauce.
For the truffle butter sauce:
- Reduce white wine, bay leaves, thyme, chopped shallot, and lemon juice by two-thirds. Add cream and reduce until thick.
- Mount with butter and truffle oil. Add salt to taste and more lemon if needed.
- Strain and serve with fish.
For the roasted potatoes:
- Blanch fingerling potatoes in boiling water until tender. Cool potatoes.
- In sauté pan heat with oil brown the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and finish with butter and chopped parsley.