PARVE • PREP: 15 minutes• COOKING TIME: 15 minutes•  SERVES: 5 app/3 main

Hi Everyone!! I’ve missed you all! Sorry about the delay getting back to you after Passover, but I have a good excuse- for those of you that don’t know, I got pretty sick over the week of Passover and needed some extra time to get back to myself.

HERE I IS!! I’ze back!! And I am so grateful to be feeling well, back to my life, back in my kitchen, thinking up recipes that make my kids groan and my husband roll his eyes and grimace when he thinks I am not looking. What could be better???

Did you guys have a great holiday? How did you celebrate? Tell me everything. I was mostly sick as a dog so I missed quite a bit of it.. but my kids and husband reported a beautiful holiday and apparently the food at my mom’s house was incredible. WANT A RAINCHECK.

You’ve all had enough of a break- get back into the kitchen with me and let’s make some sea bass together.

This recipe makes a gorgeous appetizer (fish served warm or at room temp) or a fabulous weeknight meal. The magic ingredient is pine nuts, which elevate the flavor profile beautifully. Let me know how you like it!

Sea Bass Crusted with Pine Nuts

INGREDIENTS:

• ¾ c. pine nuts (pignolia nuts)
• ¼ c. corn flake crumbs, unseasoned
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
• ¾ lb. fresh sea bass, skinned, in one piece
• ½ lemon

INSTRUCTIONS:

Prepare the crumbs:

1. Preheat oven to 370 degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spread the pine nuts on the cookie sheet and roast in the oven for 4 minutes and 30 seconds exactly. (Careful, they burn fast!)
3. Remove pine nuts from oven.  Reserve ¼ cup toasted pine nuts, set aside. Leave oven on
4. Pour the remaining toasted pine nuts into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse briefly until the mixture is a coarse crumb (see pic) – careful, too much processing will turn the pine nuts into a paste
5. Reserve ¼ c. of the crushed pine nuts, leaving the remaining crumbs in the food processor
6. Add the corn flake crumbs, salt, garlic, and pepper to the food processor. Pulse combine

Prepare the fish:

1. Preheat the oven to 370 degrees
2. Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper
3. Rinse and dry the fish
4. For an Appetizer, Cut the sea bass into 10 small rectangles, approximately 1”x1”x2”. For a main dish, cut the fish into 5 even slices, approximately 1” deep
5. Squeeze half a lemon over the sea bass
6. Using your fingers, press about 2 tbsp. of the crumb mixture onto the top of each piece of fish
7. Line the fish up in the 9×13 pan
8. Bake the fish for 10 minutes at 370 degrees

Shaved Asparagus Salad

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bunch asparagus, washed but not trimmed
• 1 carrot, peeled
• ½ lemon
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper, ground
• ¼ c. olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Using a vegetable peeler, hold the asparagus by the bottom of the stalk and pushing the peeler away from you, shave each piece into long ribbons. You can shave the entire asparagus – the remaining few inches of the stalk can be discarded.
2. Using the same peeler, shave the carrot into the asparagus
3. In a small bowl, combine the lemon, Dijon, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Mix well.

TO ASSEMBLE:

1. Immediately before serving, toss the asparagus with the dressing and the reserved pine nut crumbs
2. Put approx. ½ c. asparagus on each plate. Lay two pieces of fish on top of the asparagus
3. Sprinkle the plate with a few reserved (whole) toasted pine nuts

NOTES:

• Serves beautifully at room temperature
• I tried this a few ways – I was happiest with the flavor when the asparagus was dressed immediately before serving
• The pine nuts in this recipe offer an umami richness that would be beautifully enhanced by some aged parmesan. Should you wish to make the dish dairy, add ¼ c. parmesan to the crumb mixture and  tbsp. parmesan to the asparagus when assembling. YUM.