The Man from Mosel River

I have been away for a while. Let me tell you about a very memorable dinner I had with my friends Joyce and Rainer and a couple of other friends in Bangkok the other day. It started as a kind of late Chinese New Year celebration. We jointly tossed a special Singapore salad with the most astonishing ingredients of which I cannot give you a run down. Eating this dish together brings you luck of course. We had it as a kind of entree.

The main dish, however, is what I would like to introduce to you today:

Baked Sea bass with Basil-Feta Crust

This is a most amazing creation. I always thought that fish and cheese do not go well together. Wrong. They can build a terrific partnership and create an explosion of your senses in your mouth. The recipe goes as follows (4 serves):

Crust ingredients
– 3 garlic gloves
– feta cheese (one block)
– bread crumbs
– basil leaves
– black pepper, salt
– 4 table spoons of best extra virgin olive oil

Fish
– 4 pieces of Sea bass fillet, but any other “white” fish will do

How to do it
– Grind peeled garlic cloves and basil leaves together into a coarse consistency, mix the olive
oil into it
– put ground basil mixture into mixing bowl together with bread crumbs and Feta cheese. Mix
well together. Add pepper and two more tablespoons of olive oil.
– was sea bass fillet and sprinkle with pepper and salt. Place on oven-proof dish.
– put basil-feta mixture on fish covering the surface.
– bake for 30 minutes in 180 c oven
– serve with vegetables as desired.

We drank a Sicilian white wine with the fish. I would have loved to have a Two Hills Sauvignon Blanc instead; the wine we had at Rainer and Joyce’s wedding some years ago for instance. Of course also a Sauvignon Blanc from another cool climate wine region would do. But Sauvignon Blanc definately be my preferred choice with this dish.