450 g Fonda sea bass

4 young fennel bulbs

tender young lettuce and edible wild flowers

Sancin limoncello

4 tbsp Buga olive oil

roughly ground red pepper

flower of salt

4 rye bread slices

This original recipe represents and encompasses the essence of fresh fish and the true spirit of Piran sea bass. All in one plate. It was a real challenge for me to decide how to prepare a fish so famous for its freshness and fullness of taste.

Clean the sea bass, fillet it and remove the bones.
In our restaurant, the dish is prepared on an ice plate. The fish is thinly sliced. The slices are placed on grated snow made from fennel. The fish is seasoned with limoncello, red pepper, flower of salt and Buga cream. It is served with a selection of lettuce and wild flowers, and a slice of toasted rye bread.

Take some soup vegetables (onion, celery, fennel, leek), cut into large chunks and sauté lightly on extra virgin olive oil. Add fish bones, heads (no gills or eyes) and skin left over from filleting. Sauté for 2-3 min, then add enough cold water to cover the vegetables and fish. Leave to simmer (reduce) for about 40 min. Remove the foam from the surface, add some salt and fresh herbs (fennel leaves), marjoram, thyme and some grated lemon zest. Wash 10 small green courgettes, cut them lengthwise and in half, remove the white flesh and slice the green parts. Take a large pan with high walls and sauté 2 halved garlic cloves on extra virgin olive oil. As soon as the garlic starts to turn yellow, remove it and add a few twigs of fresh thyme, the green courgette slices, some Piran Salina flower of salt and sauté on medium for 5-6 min. Add the reduced fish stock and cook on medium for another 6-7 min. Take the soup off the heat and cool quickly in a bowl of water and ice to make sure that the courgettes stay green. When the soup is cold, blend it with a stick blender into a thick green cream. Clean one 800 g Fonda Piran sea bass, remove the gills and blood along the spine but do not scale it. Rinse off the blood and soak in sea water for 10 min (if there's no sea water available, just rinse it). In a baking tray, make a layer of Piran Salina salt for baking about 1 cm high, place the fish on top and close the cut along the stomach to prevent the salt from entering the stomach cavity. Cover the whole fish in salt 1-2 cm thick. Preheat the oven to 180 °C and bake for at least 35 min depending on the size of the fish (if you have a steam oven, shut off the valve). During baking, the salt will harden and turn light brown. Crack the salt crust with a knife or kitchen mallet and remove all of the salt from the top half of the fish. To remove the skin (which can't be eaten because it hasn't been scaled), take a knife or fork and cut along the back from head to tail. Remove the foil from the stomach and make another cut past the pelvic fins to the tail. The skin is easily removed – lift it or roll it on a fork while taking care not to drop too much salt on the fish. Once the top half of the fish has been cleaned, it is ready to be served. Then remove the bones and head and clean the other half. If the fish is baked just right, the meat will not stick to the bones. Warm up the courgette cream, ladle it on to plates and place the sea bass meat on top.

Piran sea bass terrine with crayfish mayonnaise

4 Piran sea bass fillet without bones or skin, 120 g each

50 g smoked Piran sea bass

½  ripe avocado

1 red pepper

50 g small chanterelles, cleaned

8 pods of green beans (green princess) of same size

3 very ripe tomatoes

1 sheet of gelatin

Piran Salina flower of salt, freshly ground pepper, lime juice, olive oil

Crayfish mayonnaise

2 egg yolks

40 ml sunflower oil

30 ml olive oil

1 red pepper

1 tsp mustard

40 g crayfish meat

20 ml fish stew or crayfish stock

Piran Salina flower of salt, freshly ground pepper, lemon juice

Piran sea bass terrine with crayfish mayonnaise

Blend the tomatoes and strain through a cheesecloth until you are left with pale, translucent juice. You can leave it to strain overnight.

Roast the pepper in the oven, remove the skin and seeds. Dry the pepper with a paper towel and slice into fillets.

Cut the avocado into slices 0.5 cm thick and season with lime juice, salt and pepper.

Take an oval-shaped tin, line it with cling film, soak a sheet of gelatin in water and add 50 ml of tomato stock (it should still be liquid).

Sauté the chanterelles in a pan.

Steam the green beans in boiling water until soft and cool quickly.

Flatten the Piran sea bass fillet and place it gently into the oval tin so it hangs over the edges. Cover with steamed green beans and sautéed chanterelles. Add 30 ml of tomato stock and gelatin.

Mash the smoked Piran sea bass with a fork and add the remaining tomato stock.

Place the red pepper fillets into the tin and cut off the ends if necessary. Top with a layer of avocado and a layer of smoked Piran sea bass.

Fold the edges of sea bass fillet over the terrine. The terrine should be at least 0.5 cm higher than the tin edges. Weigh down with a flat object and leave for at least 4 hours.

After adding each layer, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Crayfish mayonnaise

All ingredients must have the same temperature.

Roast the pepper in the oven, remove the skin and seeds. Dry the pepper with a paper towel and cut into squares.

Beat the egg yolks, add mustard and lemon juice, than add both types of oil slowly and evenly to create an emulsion.

Add sliced crayfish tails, roasted red pepper and reduced crayfish stock or fish stew. Season to taste.

Serve with the sea bass terrine.

1 Piran sea bass fillet, 170 g

1 artichoke

1 courgette

1 shallot

1 clove of garlic

2 cherry tomatoes

Piran Salina flower of salt, freshly ground pepper, lemon, white wine, olive oil (Leccino sort)

Halve the cherry tomatoes, season with flower of salt and pepper and dry in the oven for 3 hours at 100 °C.

Clean the artichoke so it has a nice round base. Heat up a pan, add some olive oil and place the artichoke inside. Add enough white wine and lemon juice to cover the artichoke and cook until soft. Carve out the heart with a spoon and set aside for later.

Cut the outside of the courgette into even cubes, boil briefly in water until soft and cool quickly.

Slice the inside of the courgette into even pieces, chop up the shallot and clove of garlic. Heat up a pan, add the garlic, shallot and courgette insides, season with salt and pepper to taste and sauté until soft.

Combine the artichoke heart and sautéed courgette insides into an even paste and season with Leccino olive oil, flower of salt and freshly ground pepper.
Fill the carved out artichoke with the paste and arrange the courgette cubes in a chessboard pattern – checkmate!
Roast the Piran sea bass fillet in a pan, starting with the skin side.

Warm the courgette-stuffed artichoke in the oven for 6 minutes at 120 °C.

Decorate with droplets of olive oil and dried cherry tomatoes.

1 kg Fonda sea bass
300 g cooked chickpeas
1/2 onion
1 carrot
50 g celery
200 ml olive oil
100 g arugula
salt
pepper

Fillet the sea bass and remove the skin. Salt and pepper the fillets, then roll them up starting at the head. Tie up the rolls with string to stop them coming apart in the oven and place them on a baking tray coated with olive oil. Chop up the onion, carrot and celery and sauté in olive oil. Add the cooked chickpeas and vegetable soup or water. Cook for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and use a stick blender to blend the chickpeas into a smooth cream. Preheat the oven to 200 °C and roast the fish fillets for 15-20 minutes. When the fish is done, remove the strings, put some chickpea cream on each plate and place the fillets on top. Finally, decorate with arugula pesto, made by blending together arugula, olive oil, salt and pepper.

For 4 people:

4 Fonda sea bass fillets
olive oil

400 g potatoes
200 g chestnuts
50 g butter
150 ml milk
nutmeg
salt, pepper
200 ml double cream

150 g fresh leek
70 g shallot
100 ml double cream
100 ml Fonda sea bass stock

Make a purée from the potatoes, chestnuts, butter and milk, add salt to taste and a pinch of nutmeg.

Pan-roast the Fonda sea bass fillet on the skin side, then place in the oven for a few minutes to finish roasting.

For the sauce, sauté the shallot until translucent, then add the leek and Fonda sea bass stock. Add the cream and season with salt and pepper. Simmer on a low flame until the cream thickens.

To serve, start with the sauce, add a layer of chestnut purée and place the Fonda sea bass fillet on top. Decorate with fried vegetables and grated fresh porcini mushrooms.

600 g Piran sea bass
30 g courgettes
30 g yellow carrots
30 g red carrots
30 g broccoli
30 g cauliflower
400 ml olive oil
400 ml dry white wine
salt
peppercorns
bay leaf
300 g leavened dough
1 egg
flower of salt

1. Clean, scale and fillet the sea bass. Cut into 4 even pieces and salt lightly.

2. Clean and slice the vegetables. Cook the carrot and cauliflower for 5 minutes first.

3. Place the vegetables in an oven-proof pot. Add salt, pepper, bay leaf, olive oil and dry white wine and place the fish fillets on top.

4. Roll the dough and cover the pot with it, sealing the edges. Beat the egg and coat the dough, sprinkle with flower of salt and bake in the oven at 165 °C for 20 minutes.

5. Carefully remove the bread cover. Place the vegetables and fish on plates and add the baked bread cover.