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Recipe - Roasted Sea Bass with Crispy Chorizo
“We use this wonderful local fish combined with spicy chorizo and rustic mashed potatoes to create a delicious dish in the style of Bistro Wine Connection.”
Courtesy of Wine Connection

Serves 2

300 gm potatoes
50 gm butter
25 cl fresh milk
360 gm sea bass filet (skin off)
25 gm chorizo cut in thin slices (2 mm)
40 gm yellow bell pepper
10 Kalamata black olives 6 cherry tomatoes
6 cl extra virgin olive oil
5 gm parsley
Juice of one lime
Nutmeg seasoning
Salt and pepper

Mashed potatoes

Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water. Peel the skin off, and cut into large pieces. Add the milk, butter, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Over a low flame, mash the potatoes with a fork or whisk to a smooth texture, adding more milk if necessary.

Sea Bass filet

Using a non-stick pan, fry the filet of sea bass in olive oil for 45 seconds on each side. Add the chorizo slices, yellow bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and Kalamata olives and season with salt and pepper. Place the pan in an oven pre-heated to 170°C, for three minutes. Remove from the oven and add the lime juice.

To serve

Place the mashed potatoes in the middle of the plate and carefully arrange the sea bass filet on top. Garnish with tomatoes, bell pepper and add a splash of chorizo oil from the pan. Place the chorizo slices around the plate.

About Chef Laurent Valette

Even as a boy growing up in Lille, France, Laurent always wanted to be a chef. He studied at the Lille Gourmet Culinary School, from where, after three years, he graduated with distinction. During these early years, he travelled around France learning all the complexities and subtleties of French cuisine. He returned to Lille work at The Huitriere – a Michelin rated restaurant. Next, bitten by wanderlust, Laurent decided to seek out new horizons. He travelled to Belgium where he had the opportunity to learn new culinary skills from the renowned chef, Pierre Yves Gosse at the Relais Chateau de la Cense du Bois. Still keen to refine his skills and discover new gastronomic styles, he travelled to Italy, Spain and Morocco. There he decided to call a halt, and took a challenging position as executive chef in one of the most fashionable restaurants in Casablanca – The Trica. He stayed there for five years.

Laurent has also had extensive experience in banqueting in France, and is very knowledgeable about charcuterie and butchery. In Italy he learned how to prepare fresh pasta and pizzas.

He loves to combine the traditional techniques of his French background with the Mediterranean influences he acquired on his travels.

Now he’s the Executive Chef of all the kitchens of the Wine Connection Deli and Bistro group, where he’s created an original and tasty Mediterranean menu, which includes pizzas and pasta. The emphasis is on top quality ingredients and value for money – all served in a delightful bistro ambience.

He feels very privileged to be able to use the resources of Wine Connection to access fresh imported cheese, cold cuts and Australian chilled meats. All those products are imported direct from the producers. This allows Laurent the opportunity to create new special menus on a monthly basis.

For more information
Wine Connection
Tel: +66 (0)76 366091, +66 (0)76 282411 ext 2
Website: www.wineconnection.co.th