Blackened Chilean Sea Bass

This is a lil something I came up with because I saw these beautiful sea bass filets at the market and couldn’t pass them up. I’ve only ever had sea bass prepared in a very traditional way with salt, pepper, lemon, and butter so I thought I would take some inspiration from my Palestinian culture and throw this together. It’s kind of like a spin of Sayediyeh which is a very popular fish and rice recipe, I just added some of my own personal flare to it.

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Serves: 2

Time: 1 hour

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Ingredients

For the Salmon:

• 2 Chilean Sea Bass Filets

• 1 tsp Salt

• 1 tsp Black Pepper

• 1 tsp Aleppo Pepper

• 0.5 tsp Chili Powder

• 2 tbsp Avocado Oil

• 1 tbsp Unsalted Butter

For the Tomato Sauce:

• 3 large Tomato

• 1 Shallot

• 4 Garlic Cloves (minced)

• 1 Serrano Pepper

• 1 tsp Salt

• 1 tsp Black Pepper

• 5 tbsp Tomato Sauce

• 3 tbsp Olive Oil

For the Tahini Suace:

• 0.25 cup Tahini Paste

• 2 tbsp Lemon Juice

• 2 tbsp Water

• Salt to taste

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Instructions

Start by making the tomato sauce. Slice the tomatoes into quarters and remove the seeds. Then dice the quarters and keep to the side. Next finely dice the shallot, garlic, and serrano pepper.

Heat a medium sauce pan and add 1.5 tbsp of olive oil. Add the diced shallots and saute for 2 minutes. Next add the garlic and saute until fragrant. And last add the diced tomato and serrano pepper and saute for another minute. Add the tomato sauce, salt, and black pepper and a half cup of water. Simmer for 5 minutes so the flavors infuse and reduce to a slightly thick sauce. Keep to the side.

For the tahini suace, mix the tahini paste, lemon juice, water, and salt together in a small bowl. This sauce will thicken as it sits so you want it a bit runnier than the consistency you’re aiming for.

For the sea bass, pat them dry then place in a large bowl. Add the salt, black pepper, aleppo pepper, chili powder, and avocado oil. Mix well and set aside. Get a large pan on high heat for two minutes then drop to medium. Add just enough avocado oil to coat the bottom and drop in the filets skin side down. Cook without touching for about 5 minutes. Drop to low heat, add some butter and baste for about 3 minutes.

Plate the filet over rice and the tomato sauce. Top with the tahini sauce, toasted almonds, and fresh parsley, and enjoy.