Bass With Cucumber Sauce
1 cucumber
1/4 ts salt, sugar, and wine vinegar
1 c sour cream (or 1 part yogurt and1 part sour cream)
2 tb minced fresh dill or (2 to 3) watercress leaves
6 bass fillets 6 to 8 ounces each poached as directed below
Neatly dicing the cucumber:
Peel the cucumber and halve it lengthwise; scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Cut the halves into quarters and the quarters into crosswise pieces 2 inches long. Finally cut the quarters into matchstick julienne, stack the julienne, and cut into dice.
The sauce:
Toss the cucumber in a bowl with the salt, sugar, and vinegar. Let stand 5 minutes or so, then fold in the sour cream. Season carefully to taste, and fold in the dill or watercress.
The fish:
Cook fish directly in salted boiling water OR wrap tightly in greased heavy-duty aluminum foil with chopped onion, celery, salt and pepper; place in rapidly boiling water. Cover pan, return to boil, then reduce heat to simmer 5-7 minutes cooking time per cm of thickness (10 minutes per inch) for fresh fish and 10-12 minutes cooking time per cm of thickness (20 minutes per inch) for frozen fish. To poach smoked fillets, cover with cold milk flavored with butter, bay leaf, pepper; simmer.
-Use fresh or frozen fish
-Use 2ml of salt per L of water (1/4 tsp per quart) for fish
To serve hot:
Remove and drain the fillets; arrange on hot plates or a platter. Either decorate with sprigs of fresh dill or parsley and pass the sauce separately, or spoon the cucumber sauce decoratively over the fish.
To serve cold:
Let the fish remain in its poaching liquid at least 20 minutes, to pick up flavor. Remove, drain, and chill. Serve on a bed of greens, and decorate with the sauce.
Makes 6 servings.
Ahead-of-time note: May be completed hours in advance; cover and
refrigerate.
