New Zealand sea bream is a species of fish I hadn’t seen before up until a few years ago. I am and was more familiar with the mediterranean sea bream or dorade, I have a recipe for that here The fish is a beautiful and is very similar to red snapper although it is not the same fish but could easily be a substitute for this recipe. This recipe is pretty easy and straightforward. I cooked all the vegetables and then added a chimichurri type sauce over the fish. Instead of the chimichurri being strictly herbs, I decided to make a vegetable one. Here is the recipe on how to make new zealand sea bream, I hope you enjoy it!
Recipe Ingredients
Sumac Yogurt
1 tbsp sumac
1 cup yogurt
1 lemon juiced
1 tsp salt
1 whole sea bream
1/3 lb green beans blanched and chopped small
1/3 lb yellow beans blanched and chopped small
1 red bell pepper roasted and small diced
1 orange bell pepper roasted and small diced
1 large heirloom tomato small diced
1 jalapeño small diced
1 tbsp of fresh dill chopped
1 tbsp of dried oregano
3 tbsp of chives chopped
4 tbsp of sherry vinegar
1 cup of olive oil
1 tsp of chili flakes
2 tsp of salt
Radish flowers
Recipe Instructions,
For the yogurt,
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well and season. Set aside
For the vegetables.,
Place all the blanched, roasted and chopped vegetables in bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients (oil, herbs, vinegar, chili flakes, and salt) to the bowl. Season well and set aside
How to cook sea bream ,
In a large saute pan add oil on medium high heat. Season both sides of the sea bream with salt and place in the saute pan skin side down. With a spatula press the fish down until it sits flat in the pan. (when you add the fish to the pan it will curl up, you need to press down firmly until the skins "sets" and then the fish will lay flat and sear evenly on the skin side so that it will brown properly). Cook the fish for about 4-5 minutes only on the skin side. The flesh side should cook 85% of the way. Then flip over for 30 seconds and take out of the pan. Place a spoonful of yogurt sauce down onto the plate. Add the fish on top of the yogurt sauce. Finish with a few spoonfuls of the vegetable “chimichurri”. Finish with radish flowers, serve and enjoy!
