Smoked Chilean Sea Bass with Thai Vinaigrette

Description
This recipe yields 4 servings.

Seabass and tea smoke

 * 4 x 4 oz Chilean sea bass fillets, skin off
 * 2 tbsp uncooked rice
 * 4 whole cloves
 * 1 tsp leaves from 2 Earl Grey tea bags, removed from packets
 * ¼ tsp light olive oil with a dash of toasted sesame oil

Couscous

 * ½ tsp light olive oil with a dash of toasted sesame oil
 * ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh lemongrass
 * 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger root
 * ¼ cup chopped green onion, white bulb only
 * grated zest of ½ lime
 * 3¾ cup fish stock
 * 1 pch freshly ground sea salt
 * 10 oz instant couscous

Vinaigrette

 * 1 cup reserved seasoned stock
 * 1 tbsp thinly sliced fresh ginger root
 * ¼ cup thinly sliced fresh lemongrass
 * 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
 * 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
 * 2 tbsp light olive oil
 * ¼ tsp toasted sesame oil
 * 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves
 * 12 fresh mint leaves
 * 2 tsp arrowroot mixed with 4 tsp reserved, (slurry) vinaigrette

Raw vegetable garnish

 * 1 x 5 inch piece fresh ginger root, sliced into 4 flat pieces length-ways, up to 6
 * 2 green onion, sliced length-ways into thin pieces
 * 1 red bell pepper, cut into long toothpick size strips
 * ½ English cucumber, cut into long thin strips
 * 1 carrot, cut into long thin strips
 * mint leaves, sliced thinly

Seabass and tea smoke

 * 1) Rinse and pat dry the fillets with a paper towel.
 * 2) Cut 3 sheets of heavy duty aluminium foil into 15 inch squares.
 * 3) Roll the edges under to form a circle that fits in the bottom of a dutch oven. The pot should not be made of a light alloy or alloy bonded to other metals. Cast iron, aluminium or steel pans work fine.
 * 4) You should have a foil "saucer" about 5 inches in diameter.
 * 5) When the edge is rolled to about 1 inch high, stop and flatten the foil. Depress the centre to hold the smoke ingredients.
 * 6) In the depression of the aluminium foil saucer, sprinkle the rice on the bottom, the cloves and then the contents of the tea bags.
 * 7) Place the foil dish in the bottom of the dutch oven, cover the pan tightly and cook over high heat until the ingredients in the foil start smoking, about 5 minutes.
 * 8) Brush a long-legged steamer basket with the olive oil.
 * 9) Place the sea bass ion the steamer platform.
 * 10) Put into the dutch oven over the smoke ingredients, cover, and continue smoking over high heat until cooked through, about 8 minutes.
 * 11) Remove from heat and let cool.

Couscous

 * 1) Pour the oil into a medium saucepan and fry the lemongrass, ginger, green onion and lime zest for 2 minutes.
 * 2) Add the stock and bring to a boil.
 * 3) Turn the heat down and simmer for 10 minutes to allow for infusion and reduction.
 * 4) Strain into a large measuring cup - you want to have 3 cups of liquid.
 * 5) Reserve 1 cup for the vinaigrette.
 * 6) Pour the remaining 2 cups back into the saucepan and bring back to a boil.
 * 7) Stir in the salt and couscous, cover, remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Vinaigrette

 * 1) In a medium saucepan, combine the reserved stock, ginger and lemongrass and boil until reduced to ½ cup, about 10 minutes.
 * 2) Strain into a blender jar.
 * 3) Add the lime juice, soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, coriander and mint leaves and whiz for 2 minutes to emulsify or hold together.
 * 4) Reserve 1½ tbsp.
 * 5) Pour the rest into a small saucepan and bring to the boil.
 * 6) Remove from the heat, stir in the arrowroot slurry, return to the heat and bring to a boil to thicken and clear, about 30 seconds.
 * 7) To serve, make a mound of couscous on each plate and place a smoked fillet on top.

Raw vegetable garnish

 * 1) Arrange the raw vegetable garnish (reserving the mint) around the plate.
 * 2) Ladle the vinaigrette atop the sea bass and garnish it with slivers of mint.