Sea Bass in Lemon Parsley

Being the carnivore that I am, I used to dislike seafood when I was young. It was always meat meat meat! It all changed, however, when I first tasted a succulent lean fillet of sea bass when I was around 14.

The other day, I went to Santis and found some good sea bass steak. I bought a piece and I filleted it at home.

The cooking was simple. Just sear the fish and finish it in the oven, careful not to overcook the fish. You don't want to ruin an expensive fillet of fish.



First, marinate the sea bass with some dill and lemon juice for around 30 minutes. Season it with salt and pepper. Sear the fillet both sides then put it in the oven to finish cooking.

For the sauce, put some parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil in the blender and blend everything.

For the carbs, I made some simple mashed potatoes and voila, dinner!

Opinion

The texture and flavor of the whole dish was good. Flavors were clean and simple and blended well with each other. The problem here was my mashed potato. I should have put more cream and butter so that I have a better consistency and a richer product. Moreover, it will also give a better presentation with the end product.

Scallops Halfway

I was driving along Banawe one time and I saw a cold storage store. So, being curious about what's inside, I parked my car and went in. I found these gigantic sea scallops and I wasn't really sure if I want it since it has been already frozen *anything frozen that came from the sea is not that good anymore after being thawed* but still, I bought it.

When I came home, I didn't know what to do with these sea scallops. Then, an idea poped-up, I'll make it two ways, one is a simple asian scallop dish and one will have a hollandaise sauce *finally, got an excuse to make a hollandaise*.

The Japanese scallops were easy. I just seared the scallops, then steamed it with the asian sauce.



Scallops

Season the scallops with salt and pepper then sear them on the pan, make sure they aren't wet so it sears nicely. After searing, steam it with the sauce and ginger *sauce is a combination of japanese soy sauce and some mirin, maybe with a ratio of 1:1* then garnish it with some scallions.

While it was steaming, I was making my hollandaise sauce. After making the sauce, I went to my room to get the camera, and when I came back, the emulsion broke! Arghh! No more scallops with hollandaise. Huhuhu! Luckily, the Japanese scallops were quite successful so there was at least something to eat!

Opinion

Texture was really good. The scallops gave me a good mouth feel when I took a bite. The sauce went well with the scallop *it was like the typical soy based sauce for seafood in most chinese restaurants here in Manila*. My problem here was that, since the scallops were frozen, it lost some of its juices and moisture. The scallop alone didn't have the strong ocean taste that I was looking for. It was actually a little bland. Eating the scallop without the sauce was like eating a 'fishball' on the street because most of its flavor got separated already. The only flavor of the scallop that I tasted was in the sauce since I placed some of its defrosted juice there.