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By Root 1068 0

In the Mediterranean Seafood, Alan Davidson comments on the superiority in firmness and flavour of the dusky sea perch or grouper over the generality of the Serranidae. It is apparently imported from time to time, so look out for it. The Latin name Epinephelus gigas gives you a clue to its appearance, as Alan Davidson observes; the first word means ‘with clouds upon it’, which is a good description of the dark patches blurring the yellow or reddish-brown of the skin. Groupers have chameleon-like qualities, with Nassau grouper apparently capable of eight different colourings.

These firmer fish can be treated like turbot and John Dory. Alan Davidson gives one particularly unusual and piquant recipe, a Spanish one, for grilled or fried steaks of grouper with orange sauce, really a sauce bigarade. He also recommends the following recipe.

MÉROU AU BRESSE BLEU

Serves 6

6 slices grouper (or turbot, halibut, monkfish, etc.) from 150–200 g (5–7 oz) each

seasoned flour

clarified butter*

1 baby Bresse Bleu cheese

1¼ litres (2 pt) fish velouté*

3 egg yolks

salt, pepper (see recipe)

The slices should be even and well trimmed. Flour and cook them à la meunière in the clarified butter. Grate the cheese and work it over a low heat in a small pan until it turns to a paste. In another pan heat the velouté sauce, thicken it with the egg yolks and add the cheese paste. Season if necessary. Put the fish slices into a buttered ovenproof dish, in a single layer, and cover with the sauce. Glaze in a hot oven for a moment or two.

The recipe came originally from Monsieur Max Maupuy of the Restaurant Max in Paris. He also suggests serving mérou, poached in a court bouillon* and left to cool, with a choice of two sauces. The first is Rougaille, which is simply the drained chopped flesh of 1 kg (2 lb) of tomatoes, chilled and mixed with a tablespoon of strong French mustard, and seasoned. The second consists of half a baby Bresse Bleu cheese mixed with a generous 450 ml (15 fl oz) of double cream, and passed through a fine sieve; the seasoning is a pinch of cayenne pepper. Serve the sauce cold but not chilled.

SEA BASS ANISETTE

Serves 4

1 kg (2 lb) sea bass fillets

Pernod-flavoured mayonnaise*

3 heads fennel

125 g (4 oz) butter

salt

MARINADE

¼ teaspoon coriander leaves, chopped

¼ teaspoon ground mace

8 peppercorns, slightly crushed

6 tablespoons olive oil

Leave the fish in the marinade for 3 hours before cooking it. Make the mayonnaise. Slice up the fennel, putting one-third aside. The rest can either be served as a salad with vinaigrette dressing, or it can be blanched in boiling salted water for 10 minutes, then cooked gently in 60–90 g (2–3 oz) of butter until soft – I think the second way is best if the fish is being eaten hot.

Butter a grill pan, lay the reserved fennel on it, then the fish fillets (dispense with the grill rack) which should be cooked under a medium-hot grill for 7 or 8 minutes a side. Sprinkle with salt.

Serve the fish immediately with the cooked fennel and the Pernod-flavoured mayonnaise; with new potatoes as well if you like. Or leave it to cool, and serve it with the fennel salad and the mayonnaise.

SEA BASS OR BREAM À LA VENDANGEUSE

The name of this dish – bass in grape-picker’s style – isn’t the fancy of some Parisian chef. It reflects the reality of a land where, in many districts, the ordinary person’s food is still genuinely local. Main items such as meat and fish are cooked with what is to hand. So in September and October, after a day in the vines, pickers will go home with a basketful of grapes. Grape-picking is an affair of sweat and ribaldry. No autumn melancholy in the air, but the shrieks of women pickers trying to bring some young man to his knees as they pile more and more grapes into his huge shoulder basket. He escapes at last, leaves and fruit in his ears, and staggers to the press.

Serves 4–6

1–1½ kg (2–3 lb) sea bass or sea bream (or John Dory or grey or red mullet)

125 g (4 oz) butter