Chilean Sea Bass

This is probably the easiest dish I have because it doesn’t require any marinating or wait time. Basically you slap a filet of Chilean Sea Bass (an overfished cold-water delicacy, either Dissostichus eleginoides or Dissostichus mawsoni — both toothfishes — problematic to consume because of their dwindling population) in a steamer and forget about it for 15 minutes.

Then you drizzle some sort of sauce over the cooked fish.

I hope you catch the irony that I described this process in the most unceremonious way possible — this dish is probably one of the most decadent (aka luxurious aka $$$$) and elegant dinners I can make. And also environmentally unfriendly. Luckily, what keeps my family in check is the price point. This will go for at least $30 per pound, store-bought.

What makes this dish so special to me is that my dad makes the best Chilean Sea Bass in the whole wide world. Where fathers stereotypically anoint themselves as Master of the Grill or Pancake-maker or Sunday-Brunch Chef, or whatever it is that dads are supposed to be good at when it comes to food, my dad has cornered the market on the person who can make the best expensive dishes, at home. This includes Veal Saltimboca, Roasted Geese with Mandarin Orange Sauce, Clay Pot Chilean Sea Bass, Bison Burgers, Poached Eggs and Eggs Benedict, and things like these (will post recipes when he shares them with me). For a goofy pediatrician father who stylizes himself as a Steve Martin-Chevy Chase-Pierce Brosnan-whatever-celeb-he-feels-like-imitating-that day, he is also, a man of taste. Enter the cigars (don’t ask me from where, I don’t know tobacco products like that), Bebo & Cigala music every Sunday with his Nespresso Coffee in a cup that I bet has some sort of fancy story, fancy cufflinks, fancy watches (he has several), fancy skincare products (Shiseido, Lancome, he knows them), and lots of cashmere and Lululemon. The man can be a brand ambassador for Lululemon.

On a lot of days, he will proudly sport this Bruce Lee shirt — pictured here:

^ Bruce Lee shirt modeled by Tony Stark (aka Robert Downey Jr.) in a Marvel movie. Dad specifically wanted this one.

And enough about that for now. The recipe for steamed Chilean Sea Bass below.

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RECIPE

Pour soy sauce, a SMALL amount of toasted sesame oil (less than 1 tbsp), and sliced ginger into the bottom of a steamer — make sure you pour enough liquid so that after 15 minutes, it will not all evaporate and burn your pot! Heat the liquid until boiling. Place the steamer metal thing in the vessel. Place sea bass on a steamer metal thing. STEAM BABY STEAM! For 15 minutes.

Turn the heat off.

Remove Chilean Sea Bass and plate. Garnish with sliced green onion. Pour the remaining liquid from the steamer pot onto Sea Bass. Serve. Do not be afraid of flakey buttery fish. It is cooked. This is how fish is supposed to taste and feel. NOT DRY. and DELICIOUS.

I recommend eating this dish with white short-grain rice, preferably the Koshihikari variety (the Rolls-Royce of white rice, reserved for sushi). If you’re going to go big with the C.S.B (Chilean Sea Bass), do it the right way and pair the C.S.B. with other similarly delicate dishes. My father also likes to steam bok choy and other light vegetables. The point is like pairs well with like — do not overwhelm the senses with anything fried or onion-y that will overpower the C.S.B.

My picky little sister states this is her favorite dish of all time. That girl has expensive tastes if this is the standard. :)