The summer heat wave can justly be soothed by something fresh and light to eat, like a thick steak of seabass. And not pan-fried, but poached. Here is the winning recipe that won a Gold in the “Neptune’s Catch” competition in Singapore at the Food Hotel Asia, where our Filipino chefs participated IN and established a strong solid front for the Philippines!

ONE of the best choice fish in a culinary competition is seabass, a thick, fat slice of it. This fish is so fat that it’s almost impossible to overcook it and it is naturally delicate in flavor, with a good dose of umami interlaced into its briney juices. The thicker and bigger the fish, the better. Seabass of this size are in cold waters, such as the Chilean Seabass, a heavily fished species that it is on the verge of extinction. But there are other seabass. In fact, we have a local seabass, the apahap, all white meat, clean-tasting with nary a hint of fishiness, fresh in taste even when blast-frozen at the farm gate. Fresh or frozen, it is an expensive fish.

For a time, many chefs used seabass in anything, and moreso in competitions involving plated dishes because it is so white and neat to look at, easy to plate and garnish and looks so elegant in any kind of plate, especially that white-on-white effect. It is in the cooking method where seabass cooks spell the difference between winning or not. It is tempting to pan-fry seabass, an easier method compared with poaching, but any professional chef will tell his apprentices to go for poach...it’s more challenging and makes the preparation flexible.

A PLATE OF GOLD. The award-winning Poached Seabass with Kataifi-bound Prawn, Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade, Sautéed Summer Vegetables, Bacon and Pea Sauce, and Truffled Potato Puree, by Chef-Instructor Joey Herrera.

Poached fish can be enjoyed warm or cold, and is flavor-friendly to other things you wish to add to it. Try a gentle soy sauce-sesame oil broth or maybe a sinigang  sauce. There are endless possible flavors to dress it: lemon butter, Hollandaise sauce, pesto, sofrito, curry, or a combination of all these. I’ve always wondered what if it was finished with patis-calamansi-chili or bagoong dressing.

Winning recipe

WELL, anyway, the wise judges at the Food Hotel Asia Culinary Challenge gave a Gold for Center for Culinary Arts (CCA) Chef-Instructor Joey Herrera’s Poached Seabass. It’s good that Chef Joey listened to the advise of his senior: Chef Ariel Manuel (of Lolo Dad’s), a veteran culinary-competition champ and trainor of champions; also Chef Roxs Cailao of Katre, who has competed and led the US Team in the world culinary Olympics back in the ’80s; and Chef Paeng Soon, self-taught and master in Chinese cooking, also taught by his father David Tan.

“Poach the fish...and you won’t go wrong.” And so he did—and Chef Joey accompanied it with a sweet pea purée, sun-dried tomato tapenade and one prawn entwined in some pastry. The base: fine mashed potato purée flavored with truffle oil. Simple as it was, and simple as it looked, it was neatly plated and the judges liked that. Simply said, it won a gold. Here is the rest of the results of the CCA Team:

Chef-Instructor Michael Yap—Bronze/New Asian Cuisine; Chef-Instructor Ching Yoingco—Bronze/New Asian Cuisine; student Susan Apostol—Bronze/Pastry Showpiece; and student Walter Wong—Bronze/Plated Desserts.

To the CCA Team: you’ve made us Filipinos proud again. Next week we will feature the winning recipe of the Les Toques Blanche Philippine Culinary Team. As we write this, the members are still in competition but we are confident that they will reap a golden harvest.

Now, here’s Chef Joey Herrera’s gold-winning recipe:

Poached Seabass with Kataifi-bound Prawn, Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade, Sautéed Summer Vegetables, Bacon and Pea Sauce, and Truffled Potato Puree (Serves four)

450 gm Chilean seabass

140 gm smoked slab bacon

6 pcs prawns, shelled and deveined

1 baby carrots

1 dozen pearl onions

80 gm dozen haricot verts

1 pc fresh fennel bulb

100 gm shallots

300 gm fresh petit pois

11 chicken stock

½ liters fresh curly parsley

100 gm bunch fresh mushrooms in season

50 gm peppercorns, black

1 pc bayleaf

500 ml pernod

500 ml white wine vinegar

100 ml gin

Ice

Procedure

For the sauce

1. Lightly sweat sliced shallots, diced bacon in butter.

2. Add peas, enough stock to cover. Simmer briefly.

3. Add parsley leaves, blend into smooth slightly thick liquid.

4. Strain liquid through fine mesh sieve. Discard solids, reserve sauce for finishing.

For the court-bouillon

1. Heat gin in a poaching pan. When hot enough, flambé.

2. As flames from gin die out, add Pernod.

3. Add Fennel shavings, parsley stems, peppercorns, bay leaf and sliced shallots.

4. Simmer briefly, strain.

5. Discard solids, set aside court-bouillon for poaching.

For the vegetables

1. Peel baby carrots, pearl onions, hull haricot verts, quarter mushrooms.

2. Blanch vegetables in boiling water, shock in ice bath.

For the truffled potato purée

1. Boil potatoes, pass through a river.

2. Fold in stock, butter and milk.

3. Force through a fine sieve, season.

For the prawns

1. Roll prawns in a layer of Kataifi pastry until just before the last tail segment.

2. Shallow-fry in clarified butter, turning once.

3. Keep warm.

For the tomato tapenade

1. Finely chop sun-dried tomatoes, shallots and parsley.

2. Reconstitute/rehydrate by slowly simmering in a little stock.

3. Fold in cold butter to arrest cooking and emulsify.

Assembly

1. Poach seabass portions in court-bouillon.

2. Sautee vegetables in clarified butter, season.

3. Assemble dish on heated plate with sauce, potato under the vegetables, fish, tapenade and prawn. n

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