Arte Italia Part II - Pesce cotto al sale con pappa al pomodoro

Well I flipped a coin and decided this week's recipe from the Arte Italia cooking class with Chef Apreda will be the Sea Bass in Pomodoro Sauce. The cooking method for the fish is unique; stove top, salt and herbs, skindown–creates a moist wonderfully flavorful fish. The sauce was great with the fish, but could go with chicken, veal or even pasta. I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did and feel free to use other types of fish too.

(Sorry for the poor picture quality. It was a fast paced class and I grabbed them in between prep duties with my cell phone!)

Pesce cotto al sale con pappa al pomodoro
(Herb and sea salt cooked sea bass with tomato sauce)

Tomato sauce
Approximately 4 quarts tomato puree
Leeks fine chop approximately 3 cups
Dried bread / bread crusts approximately 3 cups
salt
Garlic oil
Olive oil
Fresh basil

In a large sauce pot heat olive oil and garlic oil (approximately ¼ cup of each) add leeks and sauté till translucent, add tomato puree and a generous amount of salt, bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer for approximately 2 ½ hours. Remove from heat and stir in dried bread, let sit for approximately 10 minutes. Using a wand blend bread into sauce, then hand stir in chiffonade of fresh basil approximately ¼ cup.

Sea Bass filets skin on
Coarse sea salt
Fresh: rosemary sprigs, sage, thyme, bay leaves, garlic slices
Large sauté pan

Mix the salt and herbs together in the pan generously covering the bottom about 1 ½ inches deep, heat on the stove till hot (do not let the salt brown) lay the sea bass filets on top of salt skin side down, cook for approximately ½ an hour to ¾ of an hour. Fish will still be moist but cooked through.

To plate:
Scoop a generous portion of tomato sauce into center of plate remove sea bass filet from pan gently scrape off salt, using your finger. Place skin side up on sauce.