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Sea Bass with Saffron, Sherry and Pine Nuts
Sea Bass with Saffron, Sherry and Pine Nuts reads nutty 5.0, sweetness 4.9 and salinity 4.2 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Spanish main, about 20 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.
The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10
- Umami & Savory — 5.1 / 10
- Sweet & Fruity — 5.9 / 10
- Sour & Bright — 1.3 / 10
- Bitter & Earthy — 1.4 / 10
- Rich & Fat — 6.1 / 10
- Aromatic & Spice — 3.9 / 10
The measured notes (of 18)
Nutty 5.0 · Sweetness 4.9 · Salinity 4.2 · Umami 4.0 · Floral 3.9 · Richness 3.7 · Marine & Briny 3.1 · Fruity 3.0 · Funk & Ferment 1.6 · Earthy 1.3 · Sourness 1.1 · Bitterness 0.7 · Citrus 0.6 · Herbaceous 0.6
What's in it (7)
- 2 pounds sea bass fillets, skinned
- Maldon or other sea salt
- 2 tablespoons sultanas (golden raisins)
- Good pinch saffron strands
- 4 tablespoons Amontillado sherry
- 3 tablespoons pine nuts
- 1/2 cup water
Time & effort: about 20 min (15 min active) · effort: involved
Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 113.9 kcal, 14.4 g protein, 4.4 g fat, 2.6 g carbs
Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.
How it's cooked (12 steps)
- Cut the fish into smaller pieces, however you want, and sprinkle lightly with salt.
- Put the sultanas in a bowl, strew with the saffron, warm up the sherry and pour it over.
- Put a thick-bottomed frying pan on the heat and toss the pine nuts in it until they take on a deep gold color and give off their waxy aromatic scent.
- Pour onto a plate and put on one side.
- Pour the sultanas in their saffroned sherry into the emptied-out pan and add the water, then put it back on the heat and let it come to a simmer, then add the fish fillets, or as many as will fit in one layer; add more water if they are not more or less submerged.
- After about a minutes simmering, turn them over with a couple of spatulas.
- They cook very quickly and if you leave it too long, theyll flake as you turn them.
- Give them another minute or so on the second side and remove to a waiting plate.
- Continue till youve used up all the fish, adding more water as necessary.
- When youve finished, use the spatula to remove as many sultanas as you can to the cooked fish on the plate, then turn the heat under the frying pan to high and let the sherry-saffron juices reduce till you have a just-liquid yellow syrup.
- Pour this over the fish, then scatter over the toasted pine nuts.
- And thats all there is to it.
Dishes with a similar flavor shape
- Hijiki no Nimono (Simmered Hijiki with Soybeans and Fried Tofu) — Japanese
- Pumpernickel — German
- Mooncake (月饼) — Chinese
- Puto (Steamed Rice Cakes) — Filipino
- Honey Walnut Shrimp — Chinese-American
Keep reading: what nutty, sweetness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.
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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.