Sea bream fillet on fried apple slice with ginger lentils and lemongrass

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 fish (sea bream)
• 2 tsp clarified butter
• 1 large apple (Boskoop)
• ½ lemon(s), the juice
• 2 small carrots
• 5 cm leek (the white part)
• 10 g ginger
• 1 stalk of lemongrass
• ½ cup lentils, small green (type du Puy)
• Sugar
• butter
• Balsamic vinegar (Crema di Balsamic vinegar)
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

Starter or intermediate course in a menu

Add lentils to a cup of water and simmer for 25-40 minutes. Cooking times may vary depending on the age of the lentils, so test for doneness after 25 minutes. If you can’t find these lentils, you can substitute black beluga lentils or brown lentils from Champagne or the island of Pantelleria. Most standard varieties aren’t suitable, as they burst or fall apart easily when cooked. Peel the carrots with a vegetable peeler, wash and dry the leeks, and peel the ginger. Finely dice the vegetables into 1-1.5 mm slices. Cut about 8 cm of the lemongrass stalk into wafer-thin slices and finely chop these again, except for a few for decoration. Melt 20 g of butter in a saucepan and briefly sauté the vegetables. Add the drained lentils and stir through. Season to taste with a dash of lemon juice, a pinch of sugar, salt, and Crema di Balsamico for a tangy sweet and sour flavor. Core the apple with a corer and cut the fruit crosswise into slices about 5 mm thick. Rub the slices with lemon juice to prevent them from browning. Melt a little butter in a pan, sprinkle with a pinch of sugar, and fry the apple slices over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side. Fillet the sea bream, trim away any remaining bones, and make several diamond-shaped cuts in the skin, taking care not to cut too deeply into the flesh. Heat clarified butter in a non-stick pan, rub the skin-side of the sea bream fillets with a little salt and pepper, and sear this side until crisp. Press the fish pieces onto the bottom of the pan with two spatulas to prevent the fillets from buckling. After about 20 seconds, they will lie flat. Reduce the heat and monitor the cooking progress. As soon as the meat is about two-thirds cooked through (you can tell this is done on the sides when the initially translucent flesh turns white), turn the fillets over and let them cook on a platter until cooked through. To serve, place an apple slice in the center of the plate. Leave very large slices whole; cut smaller slices in half and space them slightly apart to create more space for the lentils. Place the lentils in the center, cut the sea bream fillets into pieces, and place them on top of the lentils. Sprinkle a few lemongrass rings on top.